Veterans Affairs Sec. Doug Collins will serve as the designated survivor during Tuesday night’s State of the Union, making him the first Cabinet official selected for two consecutive presidential addresses to Congress after previously holding the role during a March 2025 joint address.
Collins served as Georgia’s 9th District representative in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2021 before becoming Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
While the president, vice president, members of Congress, and the rest of the Cabinet gather inside the Capitol for President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union since returning to office, Collins will be stationed at a confidential, off-site location away from the Capitol and its surrounding grounds.
VA Secretary David Shulkin, like Collins, was selected as designated survivor for Trump’s first joint address to Congress in 2017. For the president’s subsequent State of the Union addresses, the responsibility fell to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in 2018, Energy Secretary Rick Perry in 2019, and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in 2020.
The tradition traces its roots to the Cold War era, when fears of a surprise nuclear attack on Washington forced officials to rethink how the nation would preserve its leadership in a worst-case scenario. The policy was later cemented under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as part of broader continuity-of-government planning. By keeping one qualified successor physically removed from the rest of the country’s top officials, the government safeguards its chain of command — even in the face of a catastrophic event.
Follow the live wire of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union since returning to office here.
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