Office of the Historian

160. Letter From the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Macy) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, October 22, 1979

Dear Dr. Brzezinski:

In your memorandum of January 26, 1979, to the Director, Federal Preparedness Agency, you requested that he undertake, at the direction of the President, a major review of the Continuity of Government Program.2 This review has been conducted under the guidance of the ad hoc group established in your memorandum and in accordance with the Terms of Reference specified in Colonel Odom’s memorandum of April 24, 1979, to the Ad Hoc Group.3 (C)

The initial draft of the review was completed on September 29, 1979,4 and copies were distributed to the Departments of State and Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the members of the ad hoc group for comment. The draft review recommended that the [Page 717] President approve fundamental changes and improvements to the current program which would:

•
Be tailored to the strategic environment of the 1980’s and contribute to the deterrent and defense posture of the United States. (C)
•
Assure, with a high degree of confidence, the survivability of the Presidency and the preservation of a capability to perform the President’s roles as Chief of State, Commander in Chief, and Chief Executive during any national emergency. (S)
•
Focus on the need for civil/military development of plans, telecommunications, and other support capabilities to respond to and deal with such emergencies and to recover from their effects. (C)
•
Abandon the current concept of departmental and agency functions to be conducted from fixed, known locations in the National Arc during the transattack and immediate postattack phase, in favor of: (a) more extensive direct support to the Presidency during that phase and (b) greater delegations of responsibility to Federal regional and State organizations for carrying out essential survival and recovery phase functions. (C)
•
Charge Federal departments and agencies to expand executive branch regional level capabilities to provide for dispersed executive branch survival and recovery, and to assist and coordinate State and local development of “all hazard” civil emergency preparedness plans. (S)

Comments received from the Departments of State and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency were, in general, very supportive of these recommendations and other findings of the review but urged further study and analysis of alternative measures to correct deficiencies. (C)

Assuming your concurrence with the basic redirection of the program outlined above, I propose to proceed, within my own authority and in consultation with Colonel Odom of your staff, with its implementation to include, as recommended by the Secretaries of State and Defense, studies of alternative means of carrying out certain aspects of the program. In this latter context, I welcomed your memorandum of August 10, 1979,5 to the Secretary of Defense and have joined with him in addressing the concerns expressed in that memorandum. (C)

Sincerely yours,

John W. Macy, Jr.
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, General Odom File, Box 16, COG: 7/79–3/80. Secret. Copies were sent to the Ad Hoc Group members, Vance, Harold Brown, Turner, McIntyre, Press, Beaman, Dinneen, and David Jones.↩
  2. See Document 112.↩
  3. Not found.↩
  4. Not found.↩
  5. See Document 149.↩