VA chief from Georgia was designated survivor for Trump speech
WASHINGTON - Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, was the designated survivor for President Donald Trump’s address to a t session of Congress on Tuesday night.
He’s the second Georgian in Trump’s cabinet to be named the designated survivor during such an address. The first was then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue – who previously served as Georgia’s governor – for Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018.
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When the rest of the government is gathered together for a big event, like Trump‘s t congressional address Tuesday night, a designated survivor is kept away to ensure someone in the line of presidential succession stays alive.
Historian and journalist Garrett M. Graff said the concept of designated survivor has long captivated people because it combines the public’s inherent fascination with danger and the romance of an “everyman” being thrust into the presidency.
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The designated survivor concept was formalized by the Carter and Reagan istrations amid fears that Soviet subs just off the Atlantic Coast could fire nuclear missiles and wipe out Washington with barely 10 minutes’ warning.
Beginning in April 1980, the White House Military Office tasked the Federal Emergency Management Agency with ensuring succession. An aide was directed to recommend to the president who should skip events when all possible successors were together outside the White House.
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Officials still prepare for a massive attack or disaster. The military helicopter that collided with a regional jet outside Reagan National Airport in January was on a continuity-of-government mission — training to keep the federal government functioning in case of catastrophe.
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