Continuity of Government

And Dis-Continuity of the Citizenry

I just finished the book, Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die; it’s true to the title and subtitle. The phrase “Continuity of Government” (CoG) always landed on me in a bad way, and as it turns out my gut instinct was correct.

Since Eisenhower, the federal government has built, staffed, maintained, continuously upgraded, and operated innumerable facilities nationwide (mostly in the Appalachian mountains), including “bunkers” like Raven Rock in Pennsylvania, and Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Preppers get a bad name, but for a few government elites in particular, the taxpayers have been funding preparations for generations. Of course it goes way, way beyond the bunkers, to include necessary evacuation (by plane, train, automobile, water craft, helicopter and more) of the select few, the feeding and care of the select few, the physical security of the select few, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. It’s impossible to say with certainty because everything is of course “classified,” meaning the loyal subjects don’t need to know, but I’d guess we’ve spent at least a trillion dollars since WW II on CoG. That’s just a guess, and probably well shy of the actual total.

Notwithstanding all of the efforts to ensure the Continuity of Government, and again as early as Eisenhower, it was established that “Civil Defense” of the citizenry was a non-starter. The Soviets didn’t think that way, but our government did. Also, the facilities built have been protected from electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) since the beginning; not so the electric grid providing the citizenry. Everything you ever heard about Civil Defense was nothing more than propaganda. There isn’t any Civil Defense. Eisenhower said something like, “we wouldn’t even have enough bulldozers to push the bodies off the streets.” We are on our own.

Let’s assume for the moment that there is a nuclear exchange; what would it look like after? Would there be anyone left to govern? Assuming some people survived, probably a valid assumption, they would face absolute and total chaos. The Constitution would be torn up and thrown overboard, martial law would be instituted. That is the plan, I’m not making it up. The government would take your home, your land, any working vehicles, and food you might have stored, for its own purposes, or for redistribution, as the government, and only the government, sees fit. Property rights…gone. Individual liberty…gone. Free speech…gone (censorship is part of the plan). Foreign “aliens” would be rounded up, together with citizen-dissidents (it is planned); what happens to them is anyone’s guess, but no doubt the government would not have access to the resources necessary to incarcerate millions of people that they suspect might present a threat to the government.

FEMA is a product of CoG planning, and for its part couldn’t even handle a regional extreme weather event, like hurricane Katrina. FEMA didn’t even bother with North Carolina; probably thinking of the citizenry as “dissidents” unworthy of support. FEMA has eight distribution centers; there is no way that the supplies stored would even come close to supporting the needs after a nuclear exchange. And beyond that there is no way they could successfully move the materials from the warehouses to the needy. It’s just not happening.

I could go on and on, those are only the “takeaways” that come immediately to mind. The book is an interesting read, and even discusses CoG efforts related to 9/11; let’s just say it didn’t go as planned.

Which brings to mind another part of the plan; the bunkers are for the select few only, not including their families. Think about how that will go in the event of catastrophe.

So. Again. We are on our own. Start by praying that it never happens, because even should some of us survive, the aftermath will be a literal hell on earth. And the government will be of no help whatsoever.

The first duty of power is to perpetuate itself. The first duty of free men is to resist it.

Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future, by Mike Resnick

See also, Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobson