- Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is this year’s designated survivor
- Cardona is fifteenth in line for the presidency
- Each year, the designated survivor is taken to a secret location in case the U.S. Capitol is attacked during the State of the Union address
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is this year’s designated survivor of the State of the Union address.
The 48-year-old teacher and favorite traveling companion of Dr. Jill Biden went missing from the US Capitol, where President Joe Biden will address a joint session of Congress in front of throngs of dignitaries.
A White House official confirmed to the Associated Press that he was serving in the role of designated survivor.
Cardona is fifteenth in line for the presidency.
Each year, the designated survivor is taken to a secret location in case the U.S. Capitol were attacked during the State of the Union, which would wipe out most of the federal government.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is this year’s designated survivor of the State of the Union address
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland took a selfie with other members of the Cabinet, with Cardona noticeably absent
A television show starring Kiefer Sutherland was based entirely on this concept.
Alberto Gonzales, attorney general under President George W. Bush, was the “designated survivor” in 2007.
Gonzales said it was “pretty cool” but also a “sobering moment.”
A week in advance he was approached by Bush’s chief of staff.
He was then given two options as to where he would be that evening.
One of them was on a plane and he chose that because “it would be cool to fly around, like the president said in the State of the Union.”
When he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base to board the plane, he was greeted by officials from every major government department.
They had “large binders of protocols and procedures to advise me in the event I became president.”
He then ‘settled’ on the plane and watched the speech.
