Designated survivor

This article is about the U.S. contingency plan to safeguard its line of presidential succession. For the 2016 TV series inspired by the plan, see Designated Survivor (TV series).

In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a named individual in the presidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such as State of the Union addresses and presidential inaugurations. The practice of designating a successor is intended to prevent a hypothetical decapitation of the government and to safeguard continuity in the office of the president in the event the president along with the vice president and multiple other officials in the presidential line of succession die in a mass-casualty incident. The procedure originated in the 1950s during the Cold War with its risk of nuclear attack.

If such an event occurred, the surviving official highest in the line of succession as delineated in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, possibly the designated survivor, would become Acting President of the United States. The individual named as a designated survivor must be eligible to serve as president to ensure that the individual is able to provide continuity in government. In practice, the designated survivor is usually a member of the president's Cabinet, and is chosen by the president.

Being assigned as the designated survivor does not guarantee that this official will be the person to assume the presidency in such a situation. For the 2010 State of the Union Address, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan was the designated survivor. However, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also absent from the address due to a conference in London; had a calamity occurred, Clinton, not Donovan, would have become Acting President as her office is higher in the line of succession.^[1]

Congress also designates members of the Senate and House, one from each party to become their own "designated survivor" to maintain the existence of Congress in the event of a mass-casualty event.^[2]

Selection

In a 2016 interview, Jon Favreau, a speechwriter under President Barack Obama, said that the procedure for picking a designated survivor for a State of the Union address was "entirely random", but later clarified that the content of the speech played a role in who was permitted to be absent. As an example, Favreau said that for a State of the Union speech in which Obama's education policy was a major focus, then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was not chosen as the designated survivor, as it was felt that he should attend and represent his department.^[3]

List of designated survivors

Date	Occasion	Designee	Position	Notes
February 18, 1981	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	Terrel Bell	Secretary of Education	^[4]
January 25, 1984	State of the Union	Samuel Pierce	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	^[1]^[5]^[6]^[7]
January 21, 1985	Presidential Inauguration	Margaret Heckler	Secretary of Health and Human Services	^[8]
February 6, 1985	State of the Union	Malcolm Baldrige	Secretary of Commerce	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[9]
February 4, 1986	State of the Union	John Block	Secretary of Agriculture	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[10]
January 27, 1987	State of the Union	Richard Lyng	Secretary of Agriculture	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[11]
January 25, 1988	State of the Union	Donald Hodel	Secretary of the Interior	^[1]^[4]^[5]^[7]
February 9, 1989	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	Lauro Cavazos	Secretary of Education	^[12]
January 31, 1990	State of the Union	Edward J. Derwinski	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[13]
January 29, 1991	State of the Union	Manuel Lujan	Secretary of the Interior	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[14]
January 28, 1992	State of the Union	Ed Madigan	Secretary of Agriculture	^[1]^[5]^[7]
February 17, 1993	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	Bruce Babbitt	Secretary of the Interior	^[1]^[5]^[7]
January 25, 1994	State of the Union	Mike Espy	Secretary of Agriculture	^[1]^[5]^[7]
January 24, 1995	State of the Union	Federico Peña	Secretary of Transportation	^[1]^[5]^[7]
January 23, 1996	State of the Union	Donna Shalala	Secretary of Health and Human Services	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[15]
February 4, 1997	State of the Union	Dan Glickman	Secretary of Agriculture	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[16]
January 27, 1998	State of the Union	William Daley	Secretary of Commerce	^[1]^[5]^[7]
January 19, 1999	State of the Union	Andrew Cuomo	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[17]
January 27, 2000	State of the Union	Bill Richardson	Secretary of Energy	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[18]
February 27, 2001	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	Anthony Principi	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	^[1]^[5]^[7]
September 11–14, 2001	Following the September 11 attacks	Donald Evans	Secretary of Commerce	^[1]^[5]^[7]
September 20, 2001	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (following the September 11 attacks)	Dick Cheney	Vice President	^[1]^[19]
		Tommy Thompson	Secretary of Health and Human Services
January 29, 2002	State of the Union	Gale Norton	Secretary of the Interior	^[5]^[7]^[20]
January 28, 2003	State of the Union	John Ashcroft	Attorney General	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[21]
		Norman Mineta	Secretary of Transportation
January 20, 2004	State of the Union	Donald Evans	Secretary of Commerce	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[22]
January 20, 2005	Presidential Inauguration	Gale Norton	Secretary of the Interior	^[23]^[24]
February 2, 2005	State of the Union	Ted Stevens	President pro tempore of the Senate^[b]	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[25]
		Donald Evans	Secretary of Commerce
January 31, 2006	State of the Union	Ted Stevens	President pro tempore of the Senate^[b]	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[26]
		Jim Nicholson	Secretary of Veterans Affairs
January 23, 2007	State of the Union	Alberto Gonzales	Attorney General^[b]	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[27]
January 28, 2008	State of the Union	Dirk Kempthorne	Secretary of the Interior	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[28]
January 20, 2009	Presidential Inauguration	Robert Gates	Secretary of Defense	^[29]^[30]
February 24, 2009	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	Eric Holder	Attorney General	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[31]
September 9, 2009	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (Health Care Speech to Congress)	Steven Chu	Secretary of Energy	^[32]
January 27, 2010	State of the Union	Hillary Clinton^[c]	Secretary of State	^[1]^[5]^[7]^[33]
		Shaun Donovan	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
January 25, 2011	State of the Union	Ken Salazar	Secretary of the Interior	^[5]^[7]^[34]
January 24, 2012	State of the Union	Tom Vilsack	Secretary of Agriculture	^[5]^[7]^[35]
January 21, 2013	Presidential Inauguration	Eric Shinseki	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	^[36]
February 12, 2013	State of the Union	Steven Chu	Secretary of Energy	^[7]
January 28, 2014	State of the Union	Ernest Moniz	Secretary of Energy	^[37]^[38]
January 20, 2015	State of the Union	Anthony Foxx	Secretary of Transportation	^[39]^[40]
January 12, 2016	State of the Union	Orrin Hatch	President pro tempore of the Senate	^[41]
		Jeh Johnson	Secretary of Homeland Security	^[42]
January 20, 2017	Presidential Inauguration	Orrin Hatch	President pro tempore of the Senate	^[43]
		Jeh Johnson	Secretary of Homeland Security	^[44]
February 28, 2017	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	David Shulkin	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	^[45]^[46]
January 30, 2018	State of the Union	Sonny Perdue	Secretary of Agriculture	^[47]
February 5, 2019	State of the Union	Rick Perry	Secretary of Energy	^[48]
February 4, 2020	State of the Union	David Bernhardt	Secretary of the Interior	^[49]^[50]
January 20, 2021	Presidential Inauguration	Undisclosed^[d]		^[51]
April 28, 2021	Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress^[a]	None^[e]		^[52]
March 1, 2022	State of the Union	Gina Raimondo	Secretary of Commerce	^[53]
February 7, 2023	State of the Union	Marty Walsh	Secretary of Labor	^[54]

Notes

1. 1981, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2009, 2017 and 2021 speeches were given by incoming presidents and not formal "State of the Union" addresses.
2. For the 2005, 2006 and 2007 State of the Union addresses, the President pro tempore of the Senate would have been the highest-ranking survivor.
3. While Shaun Donovan was the designated survivor, Hillary Clinton was overseas and was the de facto designated survivor as the most senior person in the line of succession not present.
4. According to Military.com, outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the highest-ranking official in the line of succession who did not attend the inauguration, but it was never officially reported whether he, or anyone else, served as designated survivor.^[51]
5. Due to COVID-19 protocols requiring limited attendance, most of the cabinet was not present for the speech and thus no formal designated survivor was named. United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen was the de facto designated survivor as the most senior person in the line of succession not present.

References

1. "Cabinet Members Who Did Not Attend the State of the Union Address". www.presidency.ucsb.edu.
2. Siegel, Benjamin (January 13, 2016). "Meet Congress' State of the Union Designated Survivors". ABC News.
3. Millstein, Seth (February 6, 2019). "How Is The Designated Survivor Chosen? Rick Perry Won't Be At The 2019 SOTU". Bustle. CBS News reports that the president and their staff are responsible for selecting the designated survivor, and Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's former lead speechwriter, spoke to The Ringer about the designated survivor selection process in 2016. Favreau initially said that the process is "entirely random," but then backtracked a bit and said that sometimes, the designated survivor depends on what the president intends to say in their speech.
4. Hershey, Robert D. Jr. (January 27, 1988). "State of Union: Bewitched by Pageant". The New York Times. from the original on December 7, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
5. "Cabinet members who did not attend the State of the Union Address (since 1984)" (PDF). United States Senate Historical Office.
6. 1984: UPI, "Washington Dateline." January 25, 1984
7. Weiner, Rachel (February 12, 2013). "Steven Chu is the State of the Union 'designated survivor'". The Washington Post. from the original on August 21, 2017.
8. "Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
9. 1985: UPI, "Washington News." February 6, 1985
10. 1986: UPI, "Washington News." February 4, 1986
11. 1987: UPI, "Washington News." January 28, 1987
12. Cillizza, Chris. "The story of a real-life 'Designated Survivor'". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
13. 1990: Washington Post, Page C3. January 31, 1991
14. 1991: Washington Post, Page C3. January 31, 1991
15. 1996: USA Today, Page A12. February 5, 1997
16. 1997: Washington Post, "Agriculture's Glickman Draws Doomsday Duty for Address." Page A13. February 4, 1997
17. Goodnough, Abby; Waldman, Amy; Barron, James (January 21, 1999). "Not Being Invited Was the Honor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
18. 2000: The Washington Post, "The Reliable Source." Page C3. January 28, 2000
19. 2001: The New York Times, "Cabinet's 'Designated Absentee' Stays Away." Page A23. January 30, 2002
20. "THE STATE OF THE UNION; Cabinet's 'Designated Absentee' Stays Away". The New York Times. January 30, 2002. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
21. "STATE OF THE UNION; Ashcroft in Secret Spot During Bush Address". The New York Times. January 29, 2003. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
22. 2004: AP, "Four to Miss Speech Due to Security." January 20, 2004
23. "Designated survivor prepares for Inauguration Day". KMGH. January 19, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
24. Sacks, Mike (January 19, 2017). "Designated survivor prepares for Inauguration Day". WGBA. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
25. "Five Officials Skip State of the Union Address". The New York Times. February 2, 2005. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
26. 2006: The Philadelphia Inquirer, "A Message of Energy, Strength." February 1, 2006.
27. 2007: The Washington Post, "The Reliable Source." Page C3. January 25, 2007.
28. "Interior secretary skips speech as safeguard". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
29. "US Defence Secretary Gates to sit out Obama inauguration". The Sydney Morning Herald. January 20, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
30. Montopoli, Brian (January 19, 2009). "Gates To Be Designated Successor On Inauguration Day". CBS News.
31. O'Keefe, Ed (February 24, 2009). . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
32. "Energy secretary skips Obama health care address". San Diego Union-Tribune. September 10, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
33. 2006: CNN, "Secretary Clinton misses State of the Union speech." January 27, 2010.
34. O'Keefe, Ed (January 25, 2011). . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
35. "State of the Union: Tom Vilsack to serve as Cabinet's 'designated survivor". The Washington Post. Associated Press. January 24, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
36. "Shinseki absent from inaugural ceremonies". The San Diego Union-Tribune. January 21, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
37. "Energy Secretary to be Designated Survivor during State of the Union". Fox News. January 28, 2014.
38. Miller, Zeke J (January 28, 2014). . Time. Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
39. Jackson, David (January 20, 2015). . USA Today. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015.
40. Jackson, David (January 20, 2015). . NationalJournal. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
41. Shalby, Colleen (January 12, 2016). "If #SOTU disaster strikes, Jeh Johnson ... or a Republican would become president". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
42. Saenz, Arlette (January 12, 2016). "State of the Union: Jeh Johnson Named Designated Survivor". ABC News.
43. "Sen. Orrin Hatch acting as a designated survivor during inauguration". The Salt Lake Tribune. from the original on September 5, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
44. Weaver, Dustin (January 20, 2017). "Jeh Johnson is designated survivor for inauguration". The Hill. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
45. DeBonis, Mike; Johnson, Jenna (January 24, 2017). "Trump to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28". The Washington Post. from the original on January 24, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
46. Stracqualursi, Veronica (March 1, 2017). "VA Secretary David Shulkin chosen as designated survivor". ABC News.
47. Westwood, Sarah. . Washington Examiner. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
48. Klein, Betsy; Gray, Noah (February 5, 2019). "Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the designated survivor". CNN. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
49. Choi, Matthew (February 4, 2020). "The State of the Union's designated survivor: Interior Secretary David Bernhardt". Politico. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
50. Knoller, Mark (February 4, 2020). "What to know about the "designated survivor" and State of the Union". CBS News. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
51. Kime, Patricia (January 20, 2021). "Who Was the Designated Survivor for the Inauguration? Outgoing Administration Doesn't Say". Military.com. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
52. Leonard, Ben. "No designated survivor for Biden's first joint address to Congress". Politico. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
53. Lee, Min Jung (February 24, 2022). "White House chief of staff tells House Democrats he's hoping State of the Union address will boost Biden's poll numbers | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
54. Stiles, Matt; Vazquez, Maegan (February 7, 2023). "Labor Secretary Walsh is the 'designated survivor' at the State of the Union address". CNN.

External links

• U.S. Senate's list of cabinet members who did not attend the State of the Union Address (since 1984)
• Cabinet Members Who Did Not Attend the State of the Union Address Reagan (1984) – Trump The American Presidency Project [online]. Gerhard Peters (database). Santa Barbara, California: University of California (hosted).