The reportedly approved sweeping contingency plans involve everything from the evacuation of civilian authorities and their families to a secure location, all the way to schemes to circumvent the guidelines for the transfer of power set forth in the US Constitution.
The Trump administration has drawn up secret standby orders to put the military in power in the event the civilian authorities are disabled by the coronavirus pandemic, a Newsweek report has it, outlining the details of the emergency plan in what's called “extraordinary circumstances”.
More specifically, it is Terrence O'Shaughnessy, a four-star 56-year-old general and former fighter pilot who is reportedly the designated “combatant commander”. So, what do we know about him so far?
- He is the head of US Northern Command (Northcom) – a military authority in charge of homeland defence under the Continuity of Government Commission's contingency plans.
- Terrence O'Shaughnessy also doubles as the chief of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, which has of late been frequently deployed by Trump to deal with illegal crossings at the Mexican-American border – a central issue to his domestic policies. One of the latest examples – the large-scale Operation Faithful Patriot, from October-November 2018.
- The Maj. Gen. was previously Deputy Commander at the United Nations Command Korea and led the US Pacific Air Forces Command, being in charge of joint operations in a region…
