Continuity of Government and the Crash of Flight 5342

There might be something more sinister than "wokeness" going on

On January 29th, 2025 a US Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed into American Airlines flight 5342 killing 67 people. Everything about the story is an ominous portent for these next four years.

We don’t yet know what caused the collision but persistent under-staffing at the FAA almost certainly played a role. These problems predate Donald Trump but they will be exacerbated if he is successful in making large cuts to the federal government and its workforce.

Our President has blamed the crash on a “diversity push” and many on Twitter followed his lead. We can be sure the next fatal airline accident, or another disaster caused by say shredding the parts of the government that make sure water is drinkable or weather forecasts are accurate, will be attributed to “DEI” and “wokeness.” In order to shift culpability away from privatization and austerity any non-white male who can be associated with tragedies they cause must become the scapegoat.

There were three crew members on board the Blackhawk helicopter. Since two of them were white males the fault of course resides with the one who was not, Captain Rebecca M. Lobach. Several armchair NTSB investigators have determined that she caused the crash through her actions as a “DEI” “lesbian.” Never mind that Blackhawks have two pilots and she was not the senior in charge.

This illustrates the dilemma faced by the Republicans. If new Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Darren Beattie is able to fill the government with nothing but “competent white men” who will they blame when firing half the USDA inspectors causes an E. Coli outbreak? The future is a Birkenstock stamping blame for government budget cuts on a DEI lesbian forever.

This may seem like a dark enough prophecy but there is somehow an even bleaker one contained within this event. It involves the reason why that Blackhawk helicopter was flying in that crowded DC airspace.

Officially they were on an annual recertification mission. This makes sense, any organization with pilots should occasionally check to make sure they’re still capable of flying. Regarding the timing however Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked a pertinent question:

"Why would they fly a mission at nine o'clock at night through really busy air space... as opposed to flying that mission at one o'clock in the morning, when there's very little traffic?”

One possible explanation comes from the press conference given by Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth. He describes the helicopter as being engaged in:

“routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission”

What is “continuity of government”? Well it is one of the US government’s most highly classified programs. Did Hagseth mention it just to fuck with me or did he medicate his pre-press conference jitters and give me a bit of in vino veritas?

Peter Dale Scott, who has written extensively about continuity of government (COG), said it should more accurately be called “change of government.” The idea, dating back to preparations for a nuclear attack during the Eisenhower administration, is that during certain national emergencies the constitution can be ripped up and whatever remains of the military and executive branch can take over with impunity.

Expanding the COG program and changing it to exclude Congress was a major focus under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. A 1987 Miami Herald article revealed that as part of this authorization Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was given charge of a drill called “Rex 84” which would involve suspension of the constitution, a declaration of martial law, and the mass round up and detention of potential political opponents within the United States.

During the Iran-Contra hearings Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas asked North about this. The transcript of that exchange is as follows:

REP. JACK BROOKS: Colonel North, in your work at the N.S.C., were you not assigned, at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in the event of a major disaster?

BRENDAN V. SULLIVAN, counsel for Colonel North: Mr. Chairman?

SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE, Democrat of Hawaii: I believe that question touches upon a highly sensitive and classified area so may I request that you not touch upon that.

BROOKS: I was particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, because I read in Miami papers, and several others, that there had been a plan developed, by that same agency, a contingency plan in the event of emergency, that would suspend the American Constitution. And I was deeply concerned about it and wondered if that was the area in which he had worked. I believe that it was and I wanted to get his confirmation.

INOUYE: May I most respectfully request that that matter not be touched upon, at this stage. If we wish to get into this, I’m certain arrangements can be made for an executive session.

These plans still exist. A 2008 Radar magazine article by Christopher Ketcham refers to COG’s “Main Core” database, a list of what his source at the time counted to be 8 million Americans viewed as potentially hostile. If you’re on that list you could be surveilled or even arrested without charge in any scenario our government defines as an emergency. This might be as simple as Bernie Sanders winning a primary.

Unfortunately the US government using COG is not some hypothetical future dystopian scenario. COG was implemented on September 11th, 2001¹ and has been law of the land since. The United States government remains in a federal state of emergency from 9/11 and every year the President renews this state of emergency as well as some classified executive orders related to COG (specifically those attached to National Security Presidential Directive-51). These COG executive orders have overridden laws passed by Congress.

The post-Watergate National Emergencies Act states plainly:

“not later than six months after a national emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether that emergency shall be terminated.” (50 U.S.C. 1622, 2002)

That is Congress must meet to vote on the continuation of a federal national emergency, not that it may meet. Despite this being law our Congress has never met to discuss the ongoing 9/11 state of emergency. In 2007 Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon, along with the entire House Homeland Security Committee, was denied access to see these classified executive orders related to COG. All we know about them is that they somehow mean the National Emergencies Act is no longer operative.²

This is the surreal thing about living in America today and hearing all the talk about freedom and democracy. After 9/11 the executive branch claimed the right to suspend at least part of our constitution and the courts and the Congress let them. US Citizens can now be detained indefinitely or even killed without trial. The Snowden leaks revealed the existence of numerous unconstitutional mass spying programs that continue today. We’ve lost the Article 1 guarantee to habeas corpus, we’ve lost the 6th and 7th amendment rights to jury trial, and we’ve lost the 4th amendment.

But the good news is things can always get worse.

The Rex 84 drill envisioned a roundup and mass detention of potential anti war protestors as being necessary to blunt the impact of public opposition to a US invasion of Nicaragua. Today we’re no longer planning to invade Nicaragua. We know that because it hasn’t done anything to piss off Israel. Unfortunately that might not the case for another country.

If the United States goes to war with Iran in the next four years I do not believe the remnants of our civil liberties could survive. The protests against the Gaza genocide, though they did not stop it, showed that a significant segment of the US public will take to the streets even when there aren’t US boots on the ground. A war against Iran would produce a vastly greater backlash within this country. The mechanisms for neutralizing this dissent by ending free speech and free assembly are already in place. It’s only a matter of giving the order.

So to circle all the way back to the question of why fly your COG mission at 9 PM instead of 1 AM? Well if you’re practicing for a military coup and martial law you might need to do it at 9 PM instead of 1 AM.

With a program so classified I suspect we’ll never get full answers as to what that helicopter was doing and why the crash happened. But hey, at least that leaves more space for theories from those pundits who think our biggest problems are “DEI” and “wokeness.”

1. 9/11 Commission Report, p.326

2. Peter Dale Scott, American War Machine, p.213