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Fear Of Terrorism Pushes U.S To Underground Government
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President George W. Bush has set up a 'shadow government' |
By
Steve Smith
WASHINGTON,
March 1 (IslamOnline) – U.S. President George W. Bush Friday said that he
backed measures to set up a shadow administration that would effectively run the
country in case of a major terrorist or military attack on the U.S. that would
cripple the current government.
"I
have an obligation as the president, and my administration has an obligation to
the American people to put measures in place that should somebody be successful
attacking Washington DC, there is an ongoing government," he said.
According
to a report in today’s Washington Post, an emergency parallel administration
is now in place in the United States to make sure that federal operation would
continue in case of another major terrorist attack in Washington.
"We
take the continuity of government issue very seriously because our nation was
under attack and I still take the threats that we receive from al-Qaeda killers
and terrorists very seriously," Bush said. "That's one reason the vice
president was going to undisclosed locations. This is serious business and we
take it seriously."
“Listen,
we're doing everything we can to protect the homeland of the country. Our
law enforcement is on alert, our FBI has got thousands of agents now chasing
down every possible lead, every hint,” Bush said in remarks published on the
White House website.
“Every
opportunity to make the country safe, we're seizing it. We've got a
national strategy in place to have a good first-time responders initiative…
to make sure that if we're attacked, there is a good response mechanism in
place. We're working on a bio terrorism initiative. We're
strengthening our borders. We're going to have a better understanding of
who's coming in and who's going out of the United States of America. And
we've got better intelligence sharing. We're doing everything we can.”
Bush
had ordered the shadow government operation activated after the 11 September
attacks but planning dates back to the Cold War era, according to the Washington
Post’s article published on Friday
“We
take this issue extraordinarily seriously,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Joseph W. Hagin was quoted as saying. “In the case of the use of a weapon of
mass destruction, the federal government would be able to do its job and
continue to provide key services and respond.”
The
"shadow government" comes in addition to the White House move that has
kept Vice President Dick Cheney mostly out of the public eye and in undisclosed,
secure locations for the past five months.
The
cover up operation is reported to involve 70 or more officials from all
departments, depending on the perceived level of threat to the country.
Those
taking part live and work underground for long spells at secret prepared
locations on the East Coast. The core group of federal executives would
put into effect orders from the president or his constitutional successor.
Execution
of the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan" resulted not from
the Cold War threat of intercontinental missiles, the scenario practised for
decades, but from heightened fears that the al Qaeda network might somehow get
hold of a moveable nuclear weapon, according to three officials with firsthand
knowledge, the Post said.
U.S.
intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, they said, but the
menace is thought great enough to validate the shadow government's disruption
and price.
A
US official had told reporters that President Bush did not predict ever needing
to turn over government work to the secret operation, but believed it was
sensible to put the plan into action in the light of the war against terrorism
and what he said were constant fears of future attacks.
Other
officials, who spoke to the Washington Post newspaper, said the back-up
government consisted of anything from 70 to 150 people at two principal
locations on the East Coast.
Once
activated for what some call "bunker duty", they live and work
underground 24 hours a day, away from their families.
Assuming
command of regional federal offices, officials said, the secretive government
would try to contain disruptions of the nation's food and water supplies,
transportation links, energy and telecommunications networks, public health and
civil order. Later it would begin to reconstitute the government, the paper
said.
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