Keep in mind that this information, while inspired by actual government plans and programs of the 1960s to 1980s,

has changes and assumptions for use in our role-playing game.

     The Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan was a U.S. Department of Defense proposal from 1961. The plan initially was for emergency transport of "certain personnel necessary to maintain strategic direction and control of United States Armed Forces and resources during a national emergency" (for example, if the armed forces went to CONUS DEFCON 1). By the late 1970s, the program included various priority levels for transportation.

     "Other emergency assignees ... not earmarked for helicopter relocation, will proceed as soon as possible to their respective sites. Means of transportation will be an individual responsibility."  For most cabinet officials and members of Congress, they were to report to the nearest FBI field office for directions to their evacuation point; within the National Capitol Region they could expect to be picked up by official vehicles. This provision resulted in a large number of persons -- legislators, non-military government officials, current and retired FBI and Secret Service agents, etc. -- with detailed knowledge of supposedly-secret shelter locations, especially the Alternate Military Command Center (Raven Rock) and "High Point Special Facility" (the Mount Weather complex in Virginia). The printed "instruction cards" were especially a security issue.

      Continuity of government plans called for hundreds, or even a few thousand, sites that could be used by "presidential successor support teams"; most of these sites were resort hotels and other remote, rural, self-sufficient facilities. These were not bunkers, but had emergency generators, food supplies, radios, and other items.

     The lack of security about shelter locations led the government to construct ten small bunkers in the early 1980s, as part of the JEEP system itself. Another eight existing bunkers were given JEEP functions as the program expanded. Keep in mind that all of this is part of a larger web of related government programs. The majority of the ten new bunkers were within two hours drive of Washington, D.C.

A typical JEEP bunker after the addition of a CHIPP vault, cryogenic capsule and a radio-isotopic generator.

     The JEEP system had three levels of evacuees:

• CRYSTAL-1:  critical national leaders, usually around 40 or 50 persons. These would be evacuated by helicopters and the Secret Service, to Mount Weather or to the Greenbrier bunker, various airborne command centers, or other major survival shelters.
  

• CRYSTAL-2:  a few hundred less important officials would be contacted with directions to a bunker or an FBI field office. In the Washington DC area there was some effort to convoy (e.g, rideshare) these persons.

• TREETOP:  former officials, corporate leaders and other persons considered "capable of exercising national government after a nuclear war." These, too, would have to transport themselves, or catch a ride with a convoy.

     All persons to be transported by the JEEP program were issued Federal Emergency Identification Cards. These had the FEMA logo and Latin motto, the holder's name, photograph, blood type, thumb print, and text on the back requiring, "... all authorities shall provide full assistance and unrestricted movement" to the holder. In theory, they allowed access to most military posts, etc. -- in practice, few security guards even knew these cards existed. Also, duplicating  the card was against the law (per Title 18, US Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701).

     Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was an important part of the White House planning staff for continuity of government issues, from 1981 until he was dismissed from the National Security Council in 1986. The JEEP plan would bring people to the following locations:

• JEEP 1:  Camp David, MD -- a well-known Presidential rural resort, very likely to be a strategic target. A mid-size bunker was present, however. Destroyed during the Atomic War.
  

• JEEP 2:  Greenbrier, WV -- the large bunker for the U.S. Congress and some support staff. Destroyed during the Atomic War.
  

• JEEP 3:  Rushmore, SD -- a mid-size bunker at the Mount Rushmore monument. A CHIPP vault was present. The Vice-Presidents daughter and a few support staff were present. Cryogenic berths and an RTG were present.

• JEEP 4:  Olney, MD -- a small "late period" bunker with one cryogenic berth and an RTG. Jocelyn Tayler was frozen here. CHIPP vault contents:  the official portraits of Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  

• JEEP 5:  Harpers Ferry, VA --  a small "late period" bunker in a cave; one empty cryogenic berth and an RTG. A CHIPP vault was present, with Treasury Dept. historical coins, removed by R36.

• JEEP 6:  Piscataway, MD: a small "late period" bunker. It was damaged during the Atomic War, and flooded repeatedly afterwards. Never inhabited.
  

• JEEP 7:  Hartford, CT:  a small "late period" bunker, built as an extension of a commercial radio station's emergency transmitter. Some persons entered and used the bunker after the Atomic War, and removed everything of use afterwards.
  

• JEEP 8:  Point of Rocks, MD -- a small "late period" bunker, destroyed during the Atomic War.

• JEEP 9:  Poplar Bluff, MO:   an 800 square meter AT&T "Long Lines" site, at a remote farm (really, it's near Paris MO). There's a reactor, no longer producing electricity, but very radioactive in its room. Three cryoberth "pads" were installed, but no actual cryoberths or survival stores. Has a septic tank, 80 meter deep well. Walls are 60 cm thick, about 3 meters below ground level.
  

• JEEP 10:  Aden, VA:  a mid-sized bunker, destroyed during the Atomic War.

• JEEP 11:  Ector, TX:  a small "late period" bunker, with one cryogenic berth and an RTG. CHIPP vault contents: many reel-to-reel tapes of VOA broadcasts from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s; contributed by the Department of State.
  

• JEEP 12:  Augusta, GA:  a small "late period" bunker, with one cryogenic berth and an RTG.

• JEEP 13:  Glasgow, MT:  a small "late period" bunker, with one empty, unused cryogenic berth and an RTG. The CHIPP vault contained letters by the Founding Fathers of the United States.
  

• JEEP 14:  Peanut Island, FL:  a small, old bunker, uninhabited at the time of the Atomic War, and inundated by sea level rise since then.
  

• JEEP 15:  Olney, MD:  a mid-sized bunker, associated with a larger FEMA bunker. Destroyed during the Atomic War.

• JEEP 16:  Staytonville, DE:  a small "late period" bunker, with one cryogenic berth and an RTG. Gerald Norben was frozen here. A CHIPP vault held Commerce Department historic documents (drawings from before 1912).
  

• JEEP 17:  Greenmount, PA:   part of the Raven Rock antenna facilities. Destroyed during the Atomic War.
  

• JEEP 18:  Atsion, NJ:  a small "late period" bunker. After the Atomic War its seals failed, and it filled with water.

• JEEP 19:  Tanglewood, a neighborhood on the western outskirts of Houston, TX. It was established as a JEEP bunker in 1985, reactor and cryoberth added in 1989.

• JEEP 20:  Paradise Valley, AZ (a suburb of Phoenix). Established as JEEP bunker 1984; reactor and cryoberth installed in 1989.
  

• JEEP 21:  Waxahachie, TX. Outside of Dallas.  Established as JEEP bunker 1987, but never got a reactor or cryoberth.

• JEEP 22:  Russell, KS. Established in 1987 as a JEEP bunker; reactor and cryoberth added in 1989.

• JEEP 23:  The Reagan Ranch, northwest of Santa Barbara, CA. JEEP bunker constructed in 1981, reactor and cryoberths installed in 1989.

Designated Survivor Program

     Since 1980, the concept of a "designated survivor" led to programs to protect at least one senior administration official at all times.

     The Survivor would have a card (the "Sealed Authenticator System" or SAS) with identification code words, sealed in an envelope. Communication systems would be made available to the Survivor in some circumstances, including a simple videoconferencing network.

     While not a first choice, placing a Survivor in a JEEP bunker was an option during a sudden attack.

CHIPP Vaults

     In the early 1980s, when there was a renewed interest in continuity of government, bunkers-for-the-brass, and preparing for nuclear war, the General Services Administration sent out a circular memorandum to all the Cabinet-level departments of the Federal government, asking them for a list of culturally or historically important items that should be preserved in case of nuclear war.

     Some of the JEEP bunkers, along with other government sites not listed, were part of the Cultural Heritage Imperative Preservation Program. They will have a room labelled:

GSA CHIPP Vault

No Survival Supplies Within

Authorized Access Only

Cryogenic Sleep Berths

      In the summer of 1989 the American government gained access to 150 cryogenic sleep berths; twenty of these were assigned to continuity of government functions. Each bunker with one or more cryogenic sleep berths also has a radio-isotopic thermo-electric generator -- a small nuclear power plant. These were placed in the compartment which had contained the well-pump.