Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is the designated survivor for Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.
The top government official will be sequestered in a secure location for the duration of the event as a way to preserve a presidential line of succession in case of a catastrophic event.
Collins, as a former House lawmaker, already sat in the chamber for previous joint session remarks made by Trump, including his three State of the Union addresses from the first term.
The VA Secretary was not among the Cabinet officials who arrived at the Capitol on Tuesday evening for Trump’s first joint session appearance since 2020.
For every State of the Union or joint session address – where all of the U.S. government leaders are in one room – a person is chosen to sit-out the event. This also happens during inaugurations when everyone is gathered for either the transfer or continuation of a presidency.
Beyond being a Cabinet official, the designated survivor must also be at least 35-years-old and a natural-born U.S. citizen.
The purpose of the practice is to preserve a person to lead the country forward in the unlikely event that an attack were to wipe out the entire government in one fell swoop.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is the designated survivor for President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening
During the Cold War in the 1950s the U.S. began the designated survivor practice amid the rising threat that a nuclear attack could kill all the country’s top officials at once and collapse the entire U.S. government.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans was sequestered as a designated survivor for four days. And in a joint address to Congress following the attacks on September 20, 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson were the designated survivors.
Intrigue around the practice has been at the center of discussion for years.
It even led to creation of the three-season political thriller ABC show named Designated Survivor where the fictitious Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary played by Kiefer Sutherland was left to run the U.S. after an attack on the Capitol took out nearly all government leadership above and below him.
Democrats chose Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) to be the designated survivor for the House Democrats – even though several members of the party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), already are skipping the big speech.
Thompson, who has served in Congress since 1999, will like the other designated survivors, watch the speech from an undisclosed, secure location outside the Capitol campus.
Many times the designated survivor selected to miss the speech is a mid-to-lower level Cabinet official in the presidential line of succession.
After the president and vice president, the House Speaker and Senate President are the next in line for presidential succession.
After that is Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Defense and then the Attorney General.
The last time a Secretary of State as the fourth in line for the presidency was selected as designated survivor was in 2010 when Hillary Clinton was given the honor. Since tracking in 1984, the Treasury Secretary was never chosen and Defense Secretary only once in 2009.
Other members of Donald Trump’s Cabinet arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening for the remarks. Pictured: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and wife Jennifer Rauchet at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) arrived at the Capitol for the joint session on Tuesday, March 4, 2025
But most often, those in the middle of the pack in line for succession are placed in a secure location during the event.
This is likely done so there is still confidence in the ability of the leadership while allowing those at the top of the pack – whose agencies and departments are probably part of the speech – to attend the high-profile events.
Trump chose his Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin to sit out for his first remarks to a joint session of Congress in 2017.
The next year for his first official State of the Union address, Trump chose Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue as the designated survivor, then Energy Secretary Rick Perry in 2019 and Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt for the 2020 address.
The Secretary for the Department of the Interior has been tapped seven times and has most often been selected to serve as designated survivor, according to the American Presidency Project.
And the Agriculture Secretary has been chosen six times.
There is no set protocol for the president choosing who will be designated survivor, but it’s thought that it’s based on if the secretary’s department has little to zero reference in the speech.
‘Sometimes the designated survivor is chosen based on, ‘are their programs or policies going to be a highlight of the State of the Union?” detailed Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama when explaining how that president selected the person to sit-out.
