Continuity of Government is a government/military strategy for maintaining governmental authority over the nation following a devastating incident. Continuity of Government was first established in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Since then and throughout the Cold War, several nations including the United States and later the Union of Everett established strategies for the survival of government.
Code Black[]
Code BLACK is a Federal Alert Status designation which designates the country at its most extreme alert, above DEFCON 1 and above FAS Code RED Alert 3. Code BLACK marks the entire nation's government, law enforcement and military forces as under emergency authority following an incident of catastrophic proportions. Code BLACK is officially declared under a variety of situations. Code BLACK Alert 1 designates the President with emergency military powers. Alert 2 authorizes Martial Law. Alert 3 confirms loss of government and authorization of military authority over the government. The President is commander in chief of the military and therefore is not always counted as loss of government. Survival of the President or his/her successor means the President retains full authority over the military as the top commanding officer.
Activates Code BLACK Alert 1[]
- Code PURPLE Alert 3 (National)
- Code GREEN Alert 3 (National or Capital city)
- Code BLUE Alert 3 (National or Capital city)
- Code RED Alert 3 (National)
- DEFCON 1 (All military)
Activates Code BLACK Alert 2[]
- Destruction of the Capital, Everett City.
- High Mortality Pandemic (Deaths topping 100,000)
Activates Code BLACK Alert 3[]
- Loss of communications with the President.
- Death confirmed by EDS.
- Loss of communications with executive line of succession.
- Deaths confirmed by EDS.
- Nuclear War Catastrophe (Loss of multiple cities)
- Global Level Catastrophe (Space Object Impact, Pandemic Mortality 10,000,000+, Nuclear Ice Age, Super Volcano Eruption, etc)
Presidential Line of Succession COG Contingency Plan[]
In the event the President of the Union of Everett should become sick and unable to perform his or her duties or should he or she die in office, Vice President, also known as the Secretary of Defense is the next in line of succession to Presidency. Should he or she also be killed, the following list of succession states the official line of Presidential succession:
- President of the Union of Everett
- Secretary of Defense/Vice President
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of Disaster Management
- Secretary of Homeland Security
- Secretary of Justice
- Secretary of the Paranormal
- Secretary of the Interior
- Secretary of Labor
- Secretary of Health
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Commerce
- Secretary of Development
- Secretary of Environment
- Secretary of the Treasury
- Secretary of Transportation
- Secretary of Energy
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Supreme Court of the Union of Everett (becomes ruling council)
In event of elimination of Federal Government:
- Governor of the State of New York
- Governor of the State of Massachusetts
- Governor of the State of Illinois
- Governor of the State of Florida
- Governors of States 5-40 (in alphabetical order)
- Mayor of the City of Everett
- Mayor of the City of New York
- Mayor of the City of Albany
- Mayor of the City of Washington (DC)
- Mayor of the City of Chicago
- Mayor of the City of Philadelphia
- Mayor of the City of Toronto
- Mayor of the City of Ottawa
In event of elimination of all significant elected government officials (Catastrophic Loss):
- Commanding General of the Union of Everett Air Force
- Commanding General of the Union of Everett Navy
- Commanding General of the Union of Everett Ground Forces
Rules of Enacting COG[]
Few rules exist during a Code BLACK regarding government stand-in operations. A general rule states that the Constitution of the Union of Everett remains as the highest form of law, more specifically, the Bill of Rights Amendments I through XIX with the exception of Amendment III. The rights of the citizens cannot be destroyed or dismantled. A second rule states that functioning elected leadership should be instated as soon as feasible.
Failure of COG[]
In the event the EDS automated systems detect a loss of life of all successors to power and no surviving authorities can override the system with the official COG pass codes, the classified Automated Emergency Deployment System will be activated. AEDS, nicknamed AIDS, would activate all ICBM launch sites and deploy the fusion arsenal against all pre-selected strategic targets with the intent to retaliate against the initial attacker who theoretically managed to kill off all authority in the nation. ICBMs would deploy against targets selected by the President and top military officers as potential enemies who have the ability to commit such an attack against Everett.
The following list of targets would be struck by fusion weapons ICBMs:
- United States of America
- United Kingdom
- Saudi Arabia
- Yemen
- Pakistan
- Egypt
- Afghanistan
- Algeria
- China
- North Korea
- Iran
- Jordan
- United Arab Emirates
Former Targets:
- Somalia
- Congo
- Syria
- Lebanon
Potential Targets:
- Russia
- Sudan
- Libya