American Detective: Starting as a Rookie Cop in an American TV Show

Chapter 1495 Chaos in the Special Zone (Part 1)

According to federal law, if the president dies unexpectedly during his term of office, the designated order of succession is from the vice president, the speakers of both houses of Congress, to cabinet ministers.

Since the vice president usually also serves as the president of the Senate, the four successors are ranked in order of priority: first, the vice president who is also the president of the Senate; second, the speaker of the House of Representatives; third, the president pro tempore of the Senate; and fourth, the secretary of state (or foreign minister).

The ministers are then listed in order of importance, starting with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Defense. Maureen, who currently serves as the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, is ranked 13th. Following her are the ministers of Transport, Energy, Education, and Veterans Affairs.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was a newly established department after 9/11, and it was placed at the very end of the list due to certain concerns.

As is well known, being president of the United States is a high-risk job. To date, 4 out of 46 presidents have been assassinated, a mortality rate of 8.6%. In addition, there have been 6 unsuccessful assassination attempts, with a success rate of 33.3%.

There have been instances of a vice-presidential position being vacant in federal history, but there has never been a situation where both the presidency and vice-presidential positions were vacant at the same time, let alone an extreme case where the president and all his successors were removed from office.

But just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it's not possible. In fact, during the Cold War, the possibility was quite high.

Every year, the president comes to Capitol Hill to deliver the annual State of the Union address to both the House and Senate. At that time, not only the vice president and other cabinet members, but also members of both houses and even the Supreme Court justices gather there.

Similar situations will occur at the inauguration of a new president and other other important joint meetings.

Especially when the country faces a major diplomatic crisis or war, the president will go to Congress to deliver a speech to boost morale, such as during the first Gulf War and the 9/11 attacks.

In the event of a terrorist attack, or the sudden fall of a large intercontinental ballistic missile carrying 10 independently targetable nuclear warheads, or a single warhead weighing up to 1.6 tons, with a range starting at 1.2 kilometers, a skip-course trajectory making mid-course interception impossible, and equipped with re-ignition capability for terminal acceleration, this would be a real possibility.
That would inevitably lead to a chaotic situation with no leader.

Thus, the "designated survivor" system, specifically designed to deal with such extreme situations, came into being.

Specifically, one person would be randomly selected from the list of eligible candidates to succeed the president and moved to a safe house outside Washington, D.C., where they would be provided with a security team of the same level as the president and the crucial "nuclear button".

Of course, this random selection is actually a pseudo-random selection, because the selected candidate must first meet the constitutional requirements for the presidency.

That is, being 35 years of age or older, born in the United States, and having lived in the United States for more than 14 years.

In addition, ministers of important departments usually do not miss important occasions such as the State of the Nation Address, so the selection of "designated survivors" will in most cases tend to be those who are not well known to the public.

"Maureen is still very upset about this, remember to coax her later." Although Zoe said this, the corners of her mouth were hard to suppress.

While it's nice to be with three people, eating alone is obviously more cost-effective.

The State of the Union address is essentially the president's annual report, which is basically a summary of what he did in the past year and what he plans to do next.

After World War II, with the popularization of radio and television, the form of the State of the Union address gradually changed. Although the president still personally delivered the speech to the Senate and the House of Representatives, the real audience had changed from members of Congress to all voters and even overseas listeners.

For this president, the State of the Union address in his first year in office is particularly important.

On the surface, this guy named Vance actually did a lot during his first year in office and does seem to be trying to continue some of the Elephant Party’s political agenda since the previous government.

For example, while further reducing its overseas military presence, it resolutely defended the interests of its "allies," pulling the president of the Korean Peninsula back from the brink of a failed coup.

For example, while expelling illegal refugees, some countries have urged the return of manufacturing industries and forced certain large enterprises to open more factories in the country to promote employment.

But in reality, even someone like Jack, who doesn't care much about politics, could sense that this man was ambitious but incompetent, as well as the undercurrents beneath the calm surface.

Although the media continues to proclaim daily victories in various areas, it cannot conceal the fact that the industry is in complete disarray. Domestic factories have opened and closed repeatedly, and decades of "happy education" have failed to provide the manufacturing sector with qualified workers.

It's important to understand that even entry-level jobs like "tightening screws" require basic discipline, and the requirements for maintenance engineers in automated factories are even higher.

Putting aside whether those low-level federal workers who are treated like pigs would be willing to go into the factory to tighten screws, it's really asking too much of a bunch of guys who need calculators even for two-digit addition and subtraction to maintain automated machines.

This wouldn't normally be a problem, since the world's lighthouse attracts plenty of cattle and horses every year who voluntarily bring their own food to join them. While the quality of these cattle and horses varies, they are cheap and plentiful.

However, with the tightening of immigration policies and the crackdown on illegal immigration across the federal government, many new factory projects have experienced delays in expansion plans and reductions in investment.

The return of manufacturing can never be achieved simply by raising tariffs and issuing administrative orders.

Unfortunately, although Vance claims to come from a Rust Belt working-class family, he is not very good at this. According to Zoe's euphemism, his biggest contribution in the past year in office has been to do nothing in some areas and to continue the policies of the previous administration.

The following afternoon, Jack drove Zoe to the White House.

Since the Lyndon Johnson era, the State of the Union address has been moved from noon to evening in an effort to attract a wider television audience.

However, because His Excellency the President had invited the Congresswoman to the White House to accompany his Indian-American wife in welcoming a certain Peninsula president and his silicone doll wife, Zoe had to go to the Oval Office before heading to the Capitol.

Every year, the White House invites guests from different backgrounds to the State of the Union address to address relevant policy topics that will be discussed in the speech.

Clearly, the President considers the pacification of this coup on the Korean Peninsula as one of his "achievements," successfully allowing the people of Gyeonggi Province to personally experience the loyalty of the six strikes per second in the No-Limit Fighting Tournament back then.

As Jack drove away, a grand welcoming ceremony was being prepared on the south lawn of the White House, and through the iron fence, one could see many Asian band members busily working there.

Although he had a premonition, Jack was still somewhat annoyed when his "Mammoth" was stuck in traffic for almost an hour due to road closures.

His destination was Rockville, a small town less than 30 kilometers from the city center. Although Washington, D.C. also has a Chinatown, the environment there is quite dirty and chaotic. He preferred to travel a little further to that small town, which was jokingly called "Shijiazhuang" by the locals.

There you can find authentic Northeastern-style barbecue skewers, Chongqing hot pot, and even snail rice noodles.

Although Washington, D.C. is not considered a very prominent capital city in the eyes of Americans, Jack actually quite likes it because there are many museums and memorials there.

The National Museum of Natural History is so big that you could spend a whole day exploring it, and the same goes for the National Air and Space Museum. Since neither of the two ladies had time today, Jack invited Jessie to dinner and they planned to visit the museums together tomorrow.

“Ms. Jessie Tasker says she has arrived,” Kate reminded her.

Jack leaned out of the car window and looked at the slowly moving traffic ahead. He sighed helplessly. "Apologize for me and tell her I won't be able to get there for at least another half hour."

"Text message sent."

Just then, a low buzzing sound came from the road. Before Jack could react to where the sound was coming from, Kate's voice suddenly became sharp, "Jack, get off the main road, now!"

"What?" Jack asked, but before he could finish, he had already instinctively stepped on the gas and swerved the steering wheel sharply to the right.

The massive "Mammoth" vehicle sped onto the sidewalk amidst gasps from passersby, knocking over a trash can and startling a food delivery driver on a bicycle, causing him to crash headfirst into a lamppost.

(End of this chapter)