Transition of Power: The Presidency Page #9

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in the crowd

during the ceremony.

The possibility

of a terror strike

at the exact moment

of presidential transition

poses a unique problem:

who's in charge

of managing the threat?

CHERTOFF:
Normally,

as the outgoing secretary,

I would be resigning,

effective noon,

when the oath is taken.

NARRATOR:
In a departure

from politics and protocol,

Chertoff and Napolitano

changed the rules

for Homeland Security.

CHERTOFF:
I said, you know,

if you're interested,

I'm prepared to spend

the rest of the day in office,

instead of leaving noon,

so that if something occurred,

you're not pulled away

all of a sudden

and dropped into a, you know,

kind of boiling water.

This way we can have

some continuity,

then, at the end of the day,

midnight,

I will tender my resignation.

NAPOLITANO:

Michael and I just decided

that the logical thing to do

would be for him to be

in the command center,

and he would keep me posted.

(crowd cheering)

NARRATOR:
As he takes his place

on the Capitol steps,

President-elect Obama has been

briefed about the threat.

He has two prepared speeches:

his inaugural address,

and a statement to be delivered

in case the Secret Service

needs to order

a mass evacuation

of the Mall.

I, Barack Hussein Obama...

-I, Barack...

-...do solemnly swear...

I, Barack Hussein Obama,

do solemnly swear...

Of course, I,

in the back of my head,

know Chertoff is working

a threat.

Very few people know

that there was actually

all this work being done

in the background.

-So help you God?

-So help me God.

-Congratulations, Mr. President.

-Thank you, sir.

(cheers and applause)

All the best wishes.

(fanfare playing)

CHERTOFF:

As I was at the command center,

I was informed that

they'd thoroughly investigated,

they'd tracked down

whatever the information was

that led people to worry

about a threat,

and it had washed out.

And, in fact,

the inauguration went off

without any particular problem.

NARRATOR:
It goes without

saying that security

is paramount

at every inauguration.

But when the entire line

of succession is present,

there's a special

contingency plan.

CHERTOFF:
When you have

everybody from the government

collected in one venue,

ingoing and outgoing...

...you need to have

one Cabinet secretary

in the line of succession

that is not on premises,

so if, God forbid,

something happens

and everybody gets killed,

there is a continuity

of government.

NARRATOR:
That Cabinet member

is chosen by the president

as the designated survivor.

...of these United States...

During the inauguration,

and whenever the president

addresses

a joint session of Congress,

there is not just one,

but three designated survivors.

HUGHES:
There is a member

of the Cabinet who sits out.

There's also someone

from Congress,

so we have a Congressional

designated survivor.

And there's even

a designated aide survivor.

So on Inauguration Day,

the three designated survivors

are flown out of town

to an undisclosed

government location.

They lock the door and they

guard 'em just in case

there's some type

of catastrophe,

the country can still

go forward.

My fellow citizens...

NARRATOR:
As a new president

addresses the country

for the first time,

another profound

transfer of power takes place

just a few feet behind him.

LICHTMAN:
The inauguration

is entirely for show.

The real transition

is the handing over

of the nuclear football.

It is the mechanism by which

a president can launch

a nuclear attack.

All the power of the presidency

can be narrowed down

to that moment

and that object.

WARREN E. BURGE:
Governor,

are you prepared to take

-...the constitutional oath?

-I am.

NARRATOR:
In the presidential

transition of power,

the mantle is officially passed

at exactly 12:
00 noon.

I, William Jefferson Clinton,

do solemnly swear...

NARRATOR:
But discreetly,

just a few feet away,

there's a different kind

of transfer happening.

One that's not meant

to be seen by the public.

I, Barack Hussein Obama,

do solemnly swear...

LICHTMAN:

The real transition

is the handing over

of the power

to control America's

incredible nuclear arsenal.

NARRATOR:

That power is contained

in a 45-pound

aluminum briefcase

covered in black leather--

the president's

emergency satchel,

better known as

the "nuclear football."

Everything about it

is top secret.

The nuclear football

dates back to

the time

of President Eisenhower.

It is the mechanism by which

a president can launch

a nuclear attack.

NARRATOR:
Retired Marine Colonel

Pete Metzger

is one of the few who knows

exactly what's in

the Zero Halliburton

briefcase.

He was the military aide

assigned to carry the football

for President Reagan.

METZGER:

So the nuclear football,

or the presidential

emergency satchel,

contains the information

and equipment

the president,

as commander in chief, needs

to give clear, direct orders

to the nation's

military forces--

in this case,

the nuclear forces.

NARRATOR:
There is

no actual launch button

inside the briefcase,

but there is a secure

communication package,

so the president can reach

anyone he needs

from anywhere in the world.

Reportedly, there is also

a 75-page presidential

decision handbook

that details viable targets

and the casualty estimates

which could total

into the millions.

LICHTMAN:

The nuclear football alone

is not enough to launch

a nuclear strike.

You need something else,

and that's called the biscuit,

a little card

that has the president's

unique authentic code.

(cheering and applause)

NARRATOR:

The president is expected

to carry the biscuit

at all times,

no matter where he travels.

And the football

is always by his side.

METZGER:
I mean, you think

about it and think, my gosh,

the idea that there would be

a nuclear strike,

it's so horrible it's-it's hard

to kind of imagine.

NARRATOR:

Five aides,

one from each branch of the

military, take shifts

carrying the satchel

24 hours a day.

Although the briefcase is not

handcuffed to the aide's wrist,

there is a leather leash

that allows the aide

to be physically attached

when transporting it.

But even the most fail-safe

system can be vulnerable.

(gunshots and screaming)

When President Reagan

is shot in 1981,

in all the chaos,

the biscuit goes missing.

LICHTMAN:

For a brief period of time,

the president was separated

from the essential

nuclear identification code.

It was actually tossed

in his, uh, discarded clothes

when he went to the hospital,

and later found in his shoe.

NARRATOR:
And there isn't

just one nuclear football.

ANNOUNCER:
Ladies and gentlemen,

the Vice President...

NARRATOR:

There is a second briefcase

assigned to the vice president

in the event the president

is incapacitated.

But neither man has the power

to act alone.

The president, and this

is not well known,

cannot launch a nuclear attack

on his own.

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