Doug Collins, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is reportedly serving as the designated survivor during President Donald Trump's joint congressional address on Tuesday night.
The designated survivor is a person in the presidential line of succession—often a low-level Cabinet member—chosen to be kept separate from other executive branch officials when the government is all gathered in one place in the event of a catastrophic event.
Collins was revealed to be the designated survivor, according to multiple media reports.
The practice ensures that the government can still run even if all those present at a large governmental event are wiped out—which is why some members of Congress also are kept separate to ensure that the legislative branch can continue to function.
The practice began during the Cold War, when the idea of nuclear warfare was heavy on the minds of the U.S. government. In the event of a nuclear event wiping out the presidential line of succession in one go, the designated survivor is chosen so that they are eligible to be president, and could take up the mantle to lead the United States if need be.
Watch: Trump's Speech to Joint Session of Congress
There are very few times in which all of America’s governmental leaders are in the same place, and thus it is rare that the designated survivor must be tapped—only a handful of times during each presidency, usually. The American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara keeps a running list of designated survivors dating back to 1984 when Ronald Reagan was president.
In Politico Magazine in 2017, Dan Glickman, former United States Secretary of Agriculture under Bill Clinton, wrote about his experience as designated survivor, and spending the State of the Union address at his daughter’s apartment in New York City.
“I don’t recall getting any specific instructions on what to do if the doomsday scenario happened. All I knew is that if necessary, I could turn to that military officer accompanying me, holding that 45-pound bag, and trigger a military response, including a nuclear strike,” Glickman wrote of his experience. “It felt like an awesome responsibility to put on one man’s shoulders, even if it was exceedingly unlikely the president—or in this case, the secretary of agriculture—would ever have to use it.”
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