Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is the designated survivor for Donald Trump's address into a joint conference session on Tuesday evening.
The best government official is sestred at a safe location for the duration of the event as a way to maintain a presidential follow -up line in the case of a catastrophic event.
Collins, as a former house legislator, was already in the Chamber for earlier joint session comments made by Trump, including his three State of the Union addresses of the first term.
The VA Secretary was not until the cabinet officials who arrived in the Capitol on Tuesday evening for Trump's first joint session -appearance since 2020.
For each state of the Union of Joint Session-address-where all US government leaders are chosen in one room, a person is chosen to sit out the event. This also happens during inauguration when everyone is collected for the transfer or continuation of a presidency.
In addition to being a cabinet, the designated survivor must also be at least 35 years old and an American citizen born in nature.
The aim of the practice is to retain a person to lead the country in the unlikely event that an attack would be swept away the entire government in one dive.
Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is the designated survivor for President Donald Trump's address as a joint congress session on Tuesday evening
During the Cold War in the 1950s, the US started the designated surviving practice in the midst of the increasing threat that a nuclear attack could kill all the top officials of the country at the same time and collapse the entire US government.
After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, trade secretary Donald Evans was deployed for four days as a designated survivor. And in a joint speech to the congress after the attacks on September 20, 2001, vice -president Dick Cheney and the secretary of the health and human services were the designated survivors.
Intrigue around practice has been central to the discussion for years.
It even led to the establishment of the three-season political thriller ABC-Show called Designated Survivor, where the fictional housing and urban development (HUD) secretary played by Kiefer Sutherland was left to lead the US after an attack on the capitol caught almost all the leadership of the government above and under him.
Democrats chose Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) To be the designated survivor for the House Democrats, although various members of the party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), skip the big speech.
Thompson, who has served in the congress since 1999, will like the other designated survivors, look at the speech of an unknown, safe location outside the Capitol campus.
Often the designated survivor who has been chosen to miss the speech is a cabinet officer from mid to longer on the presidential follow -up line.
After the president and vice president, the speaker of the house and the Senate President are the next in line for presidential follow -up.
After that, State Secretary, Minister of Finance, Minister of Defense and then the Attorney General.
The last time a State Secretary like the fourth in line before the presidency was selected as a designated survivor was in 2010 when Hillary Clinton was given the honor. Since the following in 1984, the Minister of Finance was never elected once in 2009 and Minister of Defense.
Other members of the Donald Trump cabinet arrived on Tuesday evening in Capitol's US for the comments. Displayed: Defense secretary Pete Hegseeth and wife Jennifer Rauchet in the Capitool on Tuesday 4 March 2025
State Secretary Marco Rubio (left) and secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Legal) arrived in the Capitol for the joint session on Tuesday 4 March 2025
But most of the time in the middle of the peloton they are placed in line for follow -up at a safe location during the event.
This will probably be done, so there is still faith in the capacity of leadership, while at the top of the pack-Wiens agencies and departments they are probably part of the speech-to-the-controversial events.
Trump chose his veteran cases, secretary David Shulkin to sit for his first comments for a joint session of the congress in 2017.
The following year for his first official State of the Union speech, Trump Koos Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue as the designated survivor, then energy secretary Rick Perry in 2019 and the Ministry of the Interior David Bernhardt for the 2020 address.
The secretary of the Ministry of the Interior has been tapped seven times and is usually selected to serve as a designated survivor, according to the American Presidency Project.
And the agricultural secretary has been chosen six times.
There is no fixed protocol for the president who chooses who will be designated survivor, but it is thought that it is based on whether the secretary's department has little to zero reference in the speech.
'Sometimes the designated survivor is chosen on the basis of', will their programs or policy be a peak of the state of the Union? '
