Report: Agencies implemented “armageddon” plan after 9/11 attacks

  • Global Security Newswire
  • April 7, 2004
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The Bush administration reportedly implemented during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks a Cold War-era plan to ensure continuity of government in the event of a nuclear war, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

In an interview with ABC's "Nightline," scheduled to be broadcast Wednesday night, former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke said that once the attacks occurred, every federal agency was ordered to activate an alternate headquarters outside of Washington and to staff it "as soon as possible."

President Bush's decision to fly to Nebraska on the day of the attack instead of returning to Washington, a move criticized by some at the time, was part of the "Armageddon" plan, Clarke said.

The Post reported today that "Nightline" confirmed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to move to an undisclosed location outside of Washington. In addition, Vice President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and several Cabinet secretaries were also removed from Washington, the Post reported.

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