john feerick, to my right, has several important lines in his biography and he has something i think that all of which is wish we had. he has worked on these issues but he has also been a driving force behind an actual amendment in the constitution that addresses these matters. john worked very closely with senator birch by and others in getting the 25th amendment passed, and that is a great verification of the way in which a president, the succession may take over successors may take over for the president in times of incapacity. and also that a vice president may be replaced at a new vice president may be confirmed. and that of course we have seen in practice, and twice and very important ways in the 1970s. he is also the author of several books on this issue. one more generally on presidential succession which is falling hand, and not on the biography also an important book about the 25th amendment itself. he has been the dean of fordham law school and is professor of law there now and teaches forces in the constitution there. and he is working on and coming out with a follow-up b

we sort of -- both john feerick had some criticisms of this proposal. that we took out -- that we recommended taking out the lower level cabinet members, those below the big four and jim more generally worried about bringing in these new people into the line. you know, we weighed those things together. i mean, akil mentioned this is an extreme situation where the president and the vice president died at the same time and it's more extraordinary that the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of treasury, the secretary of defense and the attorney general are all gone and now we are looking for number seven. we've cut out congress. we're looking for somebody way down the line. something extraordinary happened. we weighed both the question of wanting to make sure people were outside of washington that somebody was around and jim may be right that there certainly are ways to operationally have people in different places and that may be part of the solution. but then we also asked the question about these lower level cabinet mem

we sort of -- both john feerick had some criticisms of this proposal. we took out -- that we recommended taking out the lower level cabinet members, those below the big four and jim more generally worried about bringing in these new people into the line. you know, we weighed those things together. i mean, akil mentioned this is an extreme situation where the president and the vice president died at the same time and it's more extraordinary that the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of treasury, the secretary of defense and the attorney general are all gone and now we are looking for number seven. we've cut out congress. we're looking for somebody way down the line. something extraordinary happened. we weighed both the question of wanting to make sure people were outside of washington that somebody was around and jim may be right that there certainly are ways to operationally have people in different places and that may be part of the solution. but then we also asked the question about these lower level cabinet members

we sort of -- both john feerick had some criticisms of this proposal. that we took out -- that we recommended taking out the lower level cabinet members, those below the big four and jim more generally worried about bringing in these new people into the line. you know, we weighed those things together. i mean, akil mentioned this is an extreme situation where the president and the vice president died at the same time and it's more extraordinary that the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of treasury, the secretary of defense and the attorney general are all gone and now we are looking for number seven. we've cut out congress. we're looking for somebody way down the line. something extraordinary happened. we weighed both the question of wanting to make sure people were outside of washington that somebody was around and jim@@@@b >> and more to the -- more to politics, vice presidents as we all know through much of american history have tried to figure out what their job is, their main job is to be in the line of successio

since 1947, even though we've had dangers before and we did finally get some action thanks to john feerickand birch by and a few others to actually clarify some elements of presidential discussion in the hardest way possible through a constitutional amendment, but the easier fashion of reform of the presidential succession act passively not been on the table, even though we know these issues exist. .com is a responsible way to do with this is to look at worst-case scenarios. the odds may be small. they may be very small, but we know they are not zero. we know they are not in intestinal. we know that in fact the odds of worst-case scenarios increased as we get easier access to a variety of mass destruction that can be used by large numbers of people, not just by nationstates are in getting insurance against those worst cases is a simple thing to do. it's not a costly thing to do. the reason we have some of these recommendations in the report, including having people from outside of washington in the line of succession, is because the worst-case scenario really is that you wipe out everybody

we sort of -- both john feerick had some criticisms of this proposal. that we took out -- that we recommended taking out the lower level cabinet members, those below the big four and jim more generally worried about bringing in these new people into the line. you know, we weighed those things together. things together. i mean, akil mentioned this is an extreme situation where the president and the vice president died at the same time and it's more extraordinary that the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of treasury, the secretary of defense and the attorney general are all gone and now we are looking for number seven. we've cut out congress. we're looking for somebody way down the line. something extraordinary happened. we weighed both the question of wanting to make sure people were outside of washington that somebody was around and jim may be right that there certainly are ways to operationally have people in different places and that may be part of the solution. but then we also asked the question about these lower

since 1947, even though we've had dangers before and we did finally get some action thanks to john feerickand birch by and a few others to actually clarify some elements of presidential discussion in the hardest way possible through a constitutional amendment, but the easier fashion of reform of the presidential succession act passively not been on the table, even though we know these issues exist. .com is a responsible way to do with this is to look at worst-case scenarios. the odds may be small. they may be very small, but we know they are not zero. we know they are not in intestinal. we know that in fact the odds of worst-case scenarios increased as we get easier access to a variety of mass destruction that can be used by large numbers of people, not just by nationstates are in getting insurance against those worst cases is a simple thing to do. it's not a costly thing to do. the reason we have some of these recommendations in the report, including having people from outside of washington in the line of succession, is because the worst-case scenario really is that you wipe out everybody

so i'm going to turn to john feerick. >> excuse me. thank you for the invitation to comment on your report on presidential succession. let me say that the continuity of government commission plays an exceedingly important role in studying and calling attention to and making recommendations on subjects bearing on continuity and government. the report issued today highlights problems that predate september 11, 2001, but have come in to sharper focus because of that tragic event in american history. another tragedy the assassination of president kennedy revealed flaws in the system also then not new but that event led to its -- to a major step forward with the adoption of the 25th amendment. looking broadly at our system of presidential successtion, i believe our constitutional and statutetorial precedence has done a good job in protecting the american people in crises but we need to study them that they are as good as they can had been the federalists said that a primary end of civil society is the safety and security of the people. with