The CIA has recently declassified files. Some of them refer to a contingency plan developed by the United States in the event of an apocalypse caused by nuclear war. It is instructive.
Disaster films work so well not only because of their special effects. They remind us that nothing lasts forever and that our own society is not a given. In fact, it seems to be much more fragile than we think. At least according to an old MIT study.
While there are many cataclysms that could lead to the demise of our society, there is one in particular that has long terrified heads of state: nuclear holocaust.
The United States was not prepared for the end of the world
Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States who held the office between 1977 and 1981, feared that friction between the nuclear-armed powers would lead to the collapse of the world.
He and his team therefore worked on a plan to help his country recover in the event of the end of the world. A plan that became public knowledge following the declassification of certain CIA files.
This plan is known as Presidential Directive 58, a directive taken in the last months of his term.
A major project launched by Jimmy Carter
At the time, the Soviet Union had a clear lead over the United States in terms of its nuclear arsenal. However, the Americans could count on Ray Derby, an expert working for the Department of Defence who specialised in all aspects of emergency situations and disaster response.
He was an expert in emergency and disaster response, and President Carter turned to him to take charge of the dossier.
The context was complicated, however. While contingency plans existed, they had never been tested. Worse still, the agencies responsible for implementing the contingency plan in the event of a nuclear attack had not even made provisions for the safekeeping of important documents, such as legislation or vital records. In fact, most of the employees affected by the evacuation plan did not know that they were part of it.
A study that led to the creation of FEMA
For Ray Derby, the problem was mainly the posture adopted by the United States. Previous governments had preferred to focus on their arsenal rather than on the defence and protection of American and civilian institutions.
There were, however, several sites set up for the occasion. One was at Mount Weather, another near Hagerstown, another at Martinsburg, and so on. The only problem was that the army did not have enough helicopters to transport the officials chosen to take possession of these shelters. In fact, with the resources available at the time, the army could only transport a third of the planned employees. Worse still, these sites had difficulty communicating with each other.
So on June 19, 1979, Carter created FEMA, also known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An agency that still exists and is linked to national security and strategic nuclear policy.
Three main axes
Derby, of course, approved of the creation of FEMA, especially since FEMA appointed him to lead Mount Weather.
But the Carter administration did not stop there. It worked to decentralise power as much as possible, so that the US could survive an attack. Surviving government officials needed safe access to the nation’s arsenal and the tools to continue running the country.
The White House convened a task force to work on three key areas: survivability, connectivity and support.
In the event of an attack, the president and his closest aides had to be able to survive, but they also had to be able to keep in touch with the operational centres spread across the country in order to help the population.
TREETOP : the intermediaries
This plan then led to the appointment of five groups of 50 people who could be deployed to support the president or his successors, the TREETOP cadres. These were inter-agency executives who could be deployed rapidly to sites pre-selected by the White House.
They had several notable missions. In the event of an attack, they were responsible for identifying the new head of the armed forces, but also and above all for enabling him to exercise his three main presidential functions: commander-in-chief, head of state and head of the executive branch.
They therefore had a sort of buffer role and were therefore supposed to act as intermediaries between the head of state and the various American infrastructures.
However, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and many presidencies have followed one another. It is therefore highly likely that the plan imagined at the time by Jimmy Carter has been substantially modified. Nevertheless, these declassified documents offer us a completely different view of this complicated period in history.
