In 2003 the Commission published its first report, which dealt with the death or incapacitation of several members of Congress in the event of a terrorist attack.
The commission warned that it takes an average of four months to stage the special election needed to fill a vacancy in the United States House of Representatives, which meant that an attack on members of the House could kill or incapacitate so many members of the body that it would not be able to operate at all and might appear illegitimate if it did so.
A major attack could mean that Congress would have to confirm a Vice President or fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States without the needed quorum to perform its obligations.
[7] In 2011 its third full report dealt with measures to keep the Supreme Court in operation in the event that its membership falls below a quorum (that is, fewer than six justices).
In addition to former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford serving as the Commission's honorary co-chairmen, other members have included former elected officials, academics, cabinet officials and senior policy advisers such as Philip Bobbitt, Lloyd Cutler, Kenneth Duberstein, Charles Fried, Newt Gingrich, Jamie Gorelick, Nicholas Katzenbach, Lynn Martin, Kweisi Mfume, Robert H. Michel, Leon Panetta, Donna Shalala and Alan K.