Character mistake: In the 11/14/2005 US Army Rangers report about Peter MacLeish, the word captain right under MacLeish's signature is misspelled "captian."
Character mistake: President Kirkman calls a soldier a Corporal when she's wearing the rank of Specialist. Next, he calls a soldier Private when he is also wearing the rank of Specialist. (00:04:46)
Character mistake: The president refers to his Special Advisor as "Ann" when her character's name is Emily.
Character mistake: The chessboard on the desk part way into the episode is set up wrong. Any chess player knows the "white on right" mantra for the white square being in the right corner of the board. In the show the entire board is off and black is in the lower right corner. (00:11:20)
Character mistake: The ‘Brit', Damien from Scotland Yard, and Emily are outside the archive facility - Damien pronounces ‘route' the American way (rowt, rather than root).
Answer: While both parties picked a designated survivor, only Kirkman was a cabinet member and in line for succession. Hookstraten was the Majority Whip leader for the House of Representatives and not in line for succession. She would only have become president if something happened to Kirkman.
Bishop73