The Trump administration has issued secret orders to facilitate a military takeover of the US in the event that civilian leadership is incapacitated during the coronavirus crisis, a report says.
The orders would kick in if disease or violence arising from the pandemic rendered Washington impotent and prevented devolution of power to civilian leaders in the regions as envisaged in decades of contingency planning.
The United States would then be placed under the authority of Terrence O’Shaughnessy, a four-star general and former fighter pilot who is the designated “combatant commander”, according to Newsweek.
General O’ Shaughnessy, 56, leads the US Northern Command (Northcom), a military authority responsible for homeland defence, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On February 1 Mark Esper, the defence
