Shadow Government, Martial Law

and Locking Americans

Out of the Liberty Loop

DOJgov.net Newswire July 4, 2002

The concept of maintaining continuity of government during and after an emergency is not a new idea.

During the Cold War, Congress established elaborate and rather luxurious survival facilities in the mountains of West Virginia.  Presumably, while the American "common folk" would be incinerated, the privileged could survive and guarantee the continuity of government and civilization based on their own criteria for human survival.

It was on this premise that in 1964, the great film Director Stanley Kubrick created the classic "Dr. Strangelove."

According to the Washington Post (March 2002), the operation was re-activated after the 11 September attacks.  It is reported to involve officials drawn from all departments, depending on the perceived level of threat (or in the case of Dr. Strangelove... position in government, superior genetics and potential virility for human regeneration).

Those taking part, live and work underground for long spells at secret fortified locations on the East Coast. The core group of federal managers would be drawn from the same bureaucratic minions whose self pre-occupation, negligence and apathy caused the deaths of thousands in the World Trade Center.

The plan for a shadow government has been implemented now because of heightened fears that Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network might obtain portable nuclear weapons.

An unnamed senior official told the Associated Press news agency that while US intelligence had no specific knowledge of such weapons, the risk was great enough to warrant activation of the plan.  Dick Cheney's survival may provide legitimacy for constitutional succession, but he can't run the country by himself.

He went on to say that President George W. Bush did not foresee ever needing to turn over government functions to the secret operation, but believed it was prudent to put the plan into action in the light of the war against terrorism and persistent threats of future attacks.

Other officials, who spoke to the Washington Post newspaper, said the back-up government consisted of anything from 70 to 150 people at two principal locations on the East Coast.  They are suspected to be living and working in heavily fortified mountain bunkers, carved out under Pennsylvania's Raven Rock Mountain and Weather Mountain in Virginia during the Cold War in the 1950s.

These underground cities are home to government officials who rotate through on three-month stints.  Their identities and even their titles are kept secret. As with all budding bureaucracies, it is not unreasonable to assume that this number will increase, as will the funding and lavishness of accommodations.

Once activated for what some call "bunker duty", they live and work underground 24 hours a day, away from their families.  No formal mention was made relative to having families join them as accommodations grow larger.

Those deployed for the operation are not allowed to tell anyone where they are going or why. "They're on a 'business trip', that's all," one official was quoted as saying.

Although it does not identify the exact location of these sites, the Washington Post says they make use of geological features to render them highly secure. They are well stocked with food, water, medicine and other supplies and are capable of generating their own power.  There are video links, computers and other connections to the unprotected and totally vulnerable civilian populace.

The newspaper said that only the executive branch is represented in the full-time shadow administration. Other branches - such as Congress and the judiciary - have separate continuity plans.

The Bush administration is following a script that was maintained during every administration, up through the Clinton years.  But at the Pentagon, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and at the new Office of Homeland Security (Now being elevated to a 170,000 strong super Agency), officials have been busy updating those plans, particularly the way they relate to using the military as a kind of domestic national police for "continuity of government."  For those unaware of fed-speak, this means the protecting of elected officials and bureaucrats from the rest of us, who are viewed as the potential enemy.

Many people feel that the Posse Comitatus act of 1878, might protect them from a police state combining the military and civil law enforcement, with heavy managerial input by the US Department of Justice.  But laws are already on the books authorizing martial law, including Section 32CFR 501.4** of the Code of Federal Regulations.  These are the rules written by unelected bureaucrats that govern our lives.

In broad based terms, the CFR simply states: "Martial law depends for its justification upon public necessity."  **(If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed you can view 32 CFR 501.4 in PDF format by double clicking this hyperlink with your left mouse button.  You can download by right clicking and then left clicking.)

And let us not forget that vast emergency federal powers by decree dates at least to John Kennedy, who issued a raft of such orders during the Cold War.  You can read recent Executive Orders and look up the topics of all modern Executive Orders by going to http://www.archives.gov/search/index.html National Archives and Records. They are difficult to pull up and include Executive Orders 12919, 12656, 13228 and the ominous Executive Order 11490.  In force today (or replaced by something worse), they reveal how easily our individual liberties and constitutional government can be set aside.  For downloads of documents,  Right Click on the above Executive Order hyperlinks and Left Click to view or download.

Federal Workers Get Terrorist Evacuation Plan - The Rest of America Can Go to Hell

DOJgov.net Newswire

August 17, 2002

In a bipartisan attempt aimed at shielding the federal bureaucracy from danger, the Bush administration has reportedly approved a safety evacuation plan for saving the nation's more than 2 million federal workers within 15 minutes.

According to today's edition of the Washington Post, upon confirmation of a threat, the Office of Personnel Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and General Services Administration may release up to 350,000 federal workers in the Washington area and 1.8 million nationwide.
Directors of the three agencies could alert the White House, local officials and regional emergency managers within minutes, the Post said.

Presumably, the American taxpayers who fund these agencies' federal employees will be afforded an "after the fact" warning and be left to fend for themselves.

The plan, prompted by confusion during the Sept. 11 attacks, is intended to allow for an orderly evacuation, the newspaper said.

The procedures have been months in development and were presented to local government officials this summer.

40 Years of Executive Orders Trashes Our Constitutional Guarantee of Liberty

A Presidential Executive Order, whether Constitutional or not, becomes law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry.  Congress is bypassed.

Here are just a few Executive Orders that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders  could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen.

It should be noted that over time, some of the following Executive Orders have been rescinded or replaced by others.  But the true terror to our liberty rests with the ease in which they can be issued and how earlier orders are frequently replaced by those of a more draconian nature:

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that is to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An "emergency czar" was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies, the bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 12656 appointed the National Security Council as the principal body that should consider emergency powers. This allows the government to increase domestic intelligence and surveillance of U.S. citizens and would restrict the freedom of movement within the United States and granted the government the right to isolate large groups of civilians. The National Guard could be federalized to seal all borders and take control of U.S. air space and all ports of entry. Many of the figures in the Iran-Contra scandal were part of this emergency contingent, including Marine Colonel Oliver North.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA's Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA's role as a "new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis."

The Violent Crime Control Act of 1991 provides additional powers to the President of the United States, allowing the suspension of the Constitution and Constitutional rights of Americans during a "drug crisis". It provides for the construction of detention camps, seizure of property, and military control of populated areas.

When the Constitution of the United States was framed it placed the exclusive legislative authority in the hands of Congress and with the President. Article I, Section 1 of the United States Constitution is concise in its language, "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." That is no longer true. The Bill of Rights protected Americans against loss of freedoms. That is no longer true. The Constitution provided for a balanced separation of powers. That is no longer applicable.