Disaster continuity planning for the US government

I never thought about it this way but it seems that our government has the same problem that many companies have: outdated, practically non-existent disaster recovery continuity plans that indicate how to continue when disaster strikes the people who head up the various branches and departments of government.

We all know that the VP steps in for the Prez and that the Speaker of the House steps in if the VP isn't available. But the planning doesn't go much beyond that. Knowing what we now know about how large a disaster, whether natural or man-made, might be, those plans for keeping the government of the United States of America running are clearly insufficient. And in business terms, they altogether fail the standards of good continuity planning. The Wall Street Journal has an article that starts the discussion but knowing what I do know about what we did for disaster and continuity planning back when I was in the corporate world, I have to say that it only starts the discussion.