Securing Chain of Command Continuity Act

What it does

This bill requires certain notifications whenever a head of an executive branch agency who is a member of the National Security Council (for example, the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense) becomes medically incapacitated.

In the event that such an agency head becomes medically incapacitated, the person serving in an acting capacity as the agency head (or, if no person is acting, the first assistant to the office of the agency head) must notify within 24 hours the Executive Office of the President, the Comptroller General, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

In the event that such notifications are not made, the bill requires a report containing certain information related to the medical incapacitation, the individual who served in an acting capacity, and an explanation of why the required notifications were not made.

Summary by the Congressional Research Service, Jan 11, 2024 (Introduced in House). CRS summarizes bills impartially; it does not take positions.