Miguel Cardona is the designated survivor during the State of the Union.

President Biden has singled out his Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, as the so-called designated survivor during Thursday night’s State of the Union address, a grim moniker intended to ensure at least one decision-maker survives if a disaster threatens the leadership of would wipe out the nation. gathered at the Capitol for the speech.

Secretary Cardona will monitor the evening’s events from an undisclosed location, becoming the newest member of a tradition that dates back to the Cold War tensions of the 1950s. The first survivor to be made public was Terrel Bell, who served as Secretary of Education for Ronald Reagan in 1981.

There are few moments in American life when so many of the country’s top leaders come together in one place. Those in the House chamber on Thursday include many members of the Supreme Court, most of Mr. Biden’s Cabinet, a host of lawmakers and top military officials.

Those in attendance are lining up to become president if something were to happen to Mr. Biden, as established in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947: the vice president, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General. (In addition, the succession runs through the rest of the cabinet.)

But that line of succession could be disrupted if an attack or disaster were to occur at the Capitol. That is why one cabinet member was chosen to skip the event.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was chosen as Biden’s designated survivor during his 2022 State of the Union address. Marty Walsh, who served as Secretary of Labor in 2023, was last year’s survivor.

Mr. Biden did not select a designated survivor for his joint address to Congress in 2021. The speech was much more sparsely attended due to Covid, with most Cabinet members and other top officials watching from remote locations anyway.

William J. Burns, the CIA director who was appointed to the Cabinet last July, also will not attend the State of the Union. According to a US official, Mr Burns was in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday to meet with Qatari officials as part of an effort to advance talks on a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.

Because Mr. Burns will not be in a secure location outside of Washington, he will not be the officially designated survivor. But since he will be away from the Capitol, he could be considered, unofficially, a second backup survivor in the event of a catastrophe.