> Law enforcement doesn't need to be based on secrecy. I never said you have to broadcast that you're investigating someone, just that the information about who

> Law enforcement doesn't need to be based on secrecy. I never said you have to broadcast that you're investigating someone, just that the information about who, how, and why you're investigating someone be reasonably public (going through real courts to get warrants and such). There's a difference between judicial oversight and public oversight. The court may issue a wiretap authorization, yet that will probably remain secret for as long as it's in effect. Otherwise, the wiretap will be largely useless. You can't go to your local courthouse and demand a list of currently active wiretaps. It's not public record. > The basic idea would be to have redundancy in channel, location, mode, since we're talking about a case in which the chain of command's top has been ripped off leaving many higher-ranking officers at the top of the new chains. An attacker wouldn't be able to take out all (all routes for all modes all over the US) of the communication network simultaneously, especially if we're not talking about superbly massive bombings in which case there would/should be detection. What you're proposing is maybe practicable today. I doubt it would have been at the time in question. Technology was very primitive then, in comparison to what we have now. > Also, to be credible, you're assuming the US is telling other's about their system (so that the USSR knows/will think that it can't simply take out the president and there won't be retaliation). Otherwise it's all just based on speculation and in terms of deterrent doesn't matter what the actual system is. The assumption is that the enemy has some insight into your system. In which case it really does matter what your system is. > Why must it be external, though. Both you and I are concerned about how the government should operate in a manner that protects the populace; I'm just saying that from the populace's POV, the government is/can be an external threat. Look at Kiev right now. Again, you're arguing about a different issue than the one I am. I agree that a government can become an enemy of its public. But while that's a plausible scenario, it's not the one I was analyzing. Thus my comment that you're shifting the meaning of the vocabulary to refer to a different concept.