In order to preserve Constitutional
rule, agencies were ordered to have
not just a line of succession but also
one of “devolution,” a duplicate chain
of individuals secreted outside Wash-
ington available in a catastrophic
emergency. Federal Continuity Direc-
tive 1, issued just days before Donald
Trump became president, says that
devolution has to establish “proce-
dures to transfer statutory authority
and responsibilities” to this second-
ary designated staff to sustain essen-
tial functions.
“Devolution may be temporary, or
may endure for an extended period,”
the directive states. And it further
directs that the devolution staff be
located at “a geographically dispersed
location unaffected by the incident.”
Except that in the case of coronavi-
rus, there may be no such location.
This places the plans for the extraor-
dinary into completely uncharted
territory, planners not just consid-
ering how devolution or martial law
might work in a nationwide disaster
but also how those earmarked to
implement these very plans have to
be sequestered and made ready, even
while they are equally vulnerable.
NORTHCOM stresses in almost
everything it produces for public
consumption that it operates only
in “support” of civil authorities, in
response to state requests for assis-
tance or with the consent of local
authorities. Legally, the command
says, the use of federal military
forces in law enforcement can only
take place if those forces are used
to suppress “insurrection, domestic
violence, unlawful combination, or
conspiracy.” A second test also has
to be met, that such disturbances
“hinders the execution of the laws of
that State, and of the United States
within the State,” that is, that the
public is deprived of its legal andHOME FRONT Clockwise from top:
2019’s “Capital Shield” exercise; Army
National Guard soldiers after Hurrricane
Katrina; and General Terrence O’Shaughnessy,
of the U.S. Northern Command.
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