From: nowprea@twics.com (Doug Bartley)

Here is a copy of a recent post of mine, which in all likelihood did
not get distributed into the outside world. Note the excerpt from the
FEMA home page. Did not check the laws cited as authority for the
president to declare emergencies on his own. Think that's exactly
what he did the other day on the Cuban situation.

Also forwarded, an article by Harry Martin, who I'm told
has a lot of info at his web site. As an old anarcho-Jeffersonian
tree-hugger wacko I naturally find most of you other wackos
a bit odd, but I have to agree that FEMA likely is and has been
*the* lead agency for implementing direct rule by the executive
branch of the Federal government (total dictatorship). Counting
it's predecessor agencies this goes back at least into the Nixon era.

Cheers,

Doug Bartley

Hamatsu, Japan

In article <4hcjkv$1fdm@usenetz1.news.prodigy.com>,
EEGG87A@prodigy.com (A Huber) wrote:

>Date: Thursday, 29-Feb-96 07:55 AM
>From: Hpbiii@aol.com
>Subject: FEMA to Cabnet level Status
>
>The following is taken from the FEMA homepage on the World WIde Web.
>
>PRESIDENT CLINTON RAISES FEMA DIRECTOR TO CABINET STATUS
>
>        WASHINGTON February 26, 1996-- James Lee Witt, director of the
>Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said he was deeply honored by
>President Clinton's action elevating him to the level of cabinet
>membership.
>        "I'm deeply grateful for this honor given to me and all the hard
>working public servants at FEMA,"  Witt said. "This is a clear message to
> the American people of the importance President Clinton places on emergency
>management.  The President understands the urgency of our  response and
>recovery efforts and fully supports our work to begin  effective mitigation
>prior to future disasters."
>
>        The announcement of Witt's new cabinet level status was made by
>President Clinton today as he spoke by telephone to delegates attending
>the National Emergency Managers Association Conference at the Washington
>National Airport Hilton Hotel.

Indeed,

I recommend a bit of exploring on this page. Check out the
National Emergency Plan & etc., like the part where it sez:

The declaration process under the Plan will be carried out under P.L.
93-288, as ammended. Under Title V, and as prescribed in 44 C.F.R., Part
205. Based on the severity and magnitude of the situation, the Governor
will request the President to declare a major disaster or an emergency for
the State, and the President will issue a declaration, as warranted. The
President will also appoint an FCO to coordinate the overall activities
under the declaration.

 For certain situations, the President may declare an emergency with or
without a Governor's request, as specified in Title V of P.L. 93-288, as
ammended. Under Title V, the President may direct the provision of
emergency assistance either at the request of a Governor (Section 501.(a)),
or upon determination by the President that an "emergency exists for which
the primary responsibility rests with the United States..."
(Section501.(b)).

Wonder if this was what Clinton was acting under the other day when
he declared a "National Emergency" in that Cuba situation??

btw- any bibliographies of FEMA/secret government floating around out
there? Would like to get ahold of one.

======================================================================
FEMA - The Secret Government

By Harry V. Martin with research assistance from David Caul

Copyright FreeAmerica and Harry V. Martin, 1995

Some people have referred to it as the "secret government" of the United
States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public
disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of
dollars. This government organization has more power than the President of
the United States or the Congress, it has the power to suspend laws, move
entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold
them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation
systems, and can suspend the Constitution.

Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States, but it was not
even created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It was a product of a
Presidential Executive Order. No, it is not the U.S. military nor the
Central Intelligence Agency, they are subject to Congress. The organization
is called FEMA, which stands for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Originally conceived in the Richard Nixon Administration, it was refined by
President Jimmy Carter and given teeth in the Ronald Reagan and George Bush
Administrations.

FEMA had one original concept when it was created, to assure the
survivability of the United States government in the event of a nuclear
attack on this nation. It was also provided with the task of being a federal
coordinating body during times of domestic disasters, such as earthquakes,
floods and hurricanes. Its awesome powers grow under the tutelage of people
like Lt. Col. Oliver North and General Richard Secord, the architects on the
Iran-Contra scandal and the looting of America's savings and loan
institutions. FEMA has even been given control of the State Defense Forces,
a rag-tag, often considered neo-Nazi, civilian army that will substitute for
the National Guard, if the Guard is called to duty overseas.

THE MOST POWERFUL ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Though it may be the most powerful organization in the United States, few
people know it even exists. But it has crept into our private lives. Even
mortgage papers contain FEMA's name in small print if the property in
question is near a flood plain. FEMA was deeply involved in the Los Angeles
riots and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Some of the black helicopter traffic reported throughout the United States,
but mainly in the West, California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
and Colorado, are flown by FEMA personnel. FEMA has been given
responsibility for many new disasters including urban forest fires, home
heating emergencies, refugee situations, urban riots, and emergency planning
for nuclear and toxic incidents. In the West, it works in conjunction with
the Sixth Army.

FEMA was created in a series of Executive Orders. A Presidential Executive
Order, whether Constitutional or not, becomes law simply by its publication
in the Federal Registry. Congress is by-passed. Executive Order Number 12148
created the Federal Emergency Management Agency 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 Number 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 grant 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.

Here are just a few Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on
record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a
Presidential pen:

   *  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.

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."

FEMA's powers were consolidated by President Carter to incorporate:

   *  the National Security Act of 1947, which allows for the strategic
     relocation of industries, services, government and other essential
     economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower,
     resources and production facilities;

   *  the 1950 Defense Production Act, which gives the President sweeping
     powers over all aspects of the economy;

   *  the Act of August 29, 1916, which authorizes the Secretary of the
     Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system
     for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the
     emergency; and

   *  the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables the
     President to seize the property of a foreign country or national.

These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.

HURRICANE ANDREW FOCUSED ATTENTION ON FEMA

FEMA's deceptive role really did not come to light with much of the public
until Hurricane Andrew smashed into the U.S. mainland. As Russell R. Dynes,
director of the Disaster Research Center of the University of Delaware,
wrote in The World and I, "...The eye of the political storm hovered over
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA became a convenient target for
criticism." Because FEMA was accused of dropping the ball in Florida, the
media and Congress commenced to study this agency. What came out of the
critical look was that FEMA was spending 12 times more for "black
operations" than for disaster relief. It spent $1.3 billion building secret
bunkers throughout the United States in anticipation of government
disruption by foreign or domestic upheaval. Yet fewer than 20 members of
Congress , only members with top security clearance, know of the $1.3
billion expenditure by FEMA for non-natural disaster situations. These few
Congressional leaders state that FEMA has a "black curtain" around its
operations. FEMA has worked on National Security programs since 1979, and
its predecessor, the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency, has secretly
spent millions of dollars before being merged into FEMA by President Carter
in 1979.

FEMA has developed 300 sophisticated mobile units that are capable of
sustaining themselves for a month. The vehicles are located in five areas of
the United States. They have tremendous communication systems and each
contains a generator that would provide power to 120 homes each, but have
never been used for disaster relief.

FEMA's enormous powers can be triggered easily. In any form of domestic or
foreign problem, perceived and not always actual, emergency powers can be
enacted. The President of the United States now has broader powers to
declare martial law, which activates FEMA's extraordinary powers. Martial
law can be declared during time of increased tension overseas, economic
problems within the United States, such as a depression, civil unrest, such
as demonstrations or scenes like the Los Angeles riots, and in a drug
crisis. These Presidential powers have increased with successive Crime
Bills, particularly the 1991 and 1993 Crime Bills, which increase the power
to suspend the rights guaranteed under the Constitution and to seize
property of those suspected of being drug dealers, to individuals who
participate in a public protest or demonstration. Under emergency plans
already in existence, the power exists to suspend the Constitution and turn
over the reigns of government to FEMA and appointing military commanders to
run state and local governments. FEMA then would have the right to order the
detention of anyone whom there is reasonable ground to believe...will engage
in, or probably conspire with others to engage in acts of espionage or
sabotage. The plan also authorized the establishment of concentration camps
for detaining the accused, but no trial.

Three times since 1984, FEMA stood on the threshold of taking control of the
nation. Once under President Reagan in 1984, and twice under President Bush
in 1990 and 1992. But under those three scenarios, there was not a
sufficient crisis to warrant risking martial law. Most experts on the
subject of FEMA and Martial Law insisted that a crisis has to appear
dangerous enough for the people of the United States before they would
tolerate or accept complete government takeover. The typical crisis needed
would be threat of imminent nuclear war, rioting in several U.S. cites
simultaneously, a series of national disasters that affect widespread danger
to the populous, massive terrorist attacks, a depression in which tens of
millions are unemployed and without financial resources, or a major
environmental disaster.

THREE TIMES FEMA STOOD BY READY FOR EMERGENCY

In April 1984, President Reagan signed Presidential Director Number 54 that
allowed FEMA to engage in a secret national "readiness exercise" under the
code name of REX 84. The exercise was to test FEMA's readiness to assume
military authority in the event of a "State of Domestic National Emergency"
concurrent with the launching of a direct United States military operation
in Central America. The plan called for the deputation of U.S. military and
National Guard units so that they could legally be used for domestic law
enforcement. These units would be assigned to conduct sweeps and take into
custody an estimated 400,000 undocumented Central American immigrants in the
United States. The immigrants would be interned at 10 detention centers to
be set up at military bases throughout the country.

REX 84 was so highly guarded that special metal security doors were placed
on the fifth floor of the FEMA building in Washington, D.C. Even
long-standing employees of the Civil Defense of the Federal Executive
Department possessing the highest possible security clearances were not
being allowed through the newly installed metal security doors. Only
personnel wearing a special red Christian cross or crucifix lapel pin were
allowed into the premises. Lt. Col. North was responsible for drawing up the
emergency plan, which U.S. Attorney General William French Smith opposed
vehemently. The plan called for the suspension of the Constitution, turning
control of the government over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders
to run state and local governments and the declaration of Martial Law. The
Presidential Executive Orders to support such a plan were already in place.
The plan also advocated the rounding up and transfer to "assembly centers or
relocation camps" of a least 21 million American Negroes in the event of
massive rioting or disorder, not unlike the rounding up of the Jews in Nazi
Germany in the 1930s.

The second known time that FEMA stood by was in 1990 when Desert Storm was
enacted. Prior to President Bush's invasion of Iraq, FEMA began to draft new
legislation to increase its already formidable powers. One of the elements
incorporated into the plan was to set up operations within any state or
locality without the prior permission of local or state authorities. Such
prior permission has always been required in the past. Much of the mechanism
being set into place was in anticipation of the economic collapse of the
Western World. The war with Iraq may have been conceived as a ploy to boost
the bankrupt economy, but it only pushed the West into deeper recession.

The third scenario for FEMA came with the Los Angeles riots after the Rodney
King brutality verdict. Had the rioting spread to other cities, FEMA would
have been empowered to step in. As it was, major rioting only occurred in
the Los Angeles area, thus preventing a pretext for a FEMA response.

On July 5, 1987, the Miami Herald published reports on FEMA's new goals. The
goal was to suspend the Constitution in the event of a national crisis, such
as nuclear war, violent and widespread internal dissent, or national
opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad. Lt. Col. North was the
architect. National Security Directive Number 52 issued in August 1982,
pertains to the "Use of National Guard Troops to Quell Disturbances."

The crux of the problem is that FEMA has the power to turn the United States
into a police state in time of a real crisis or a manufactured crisis. Lt.
Col. North virtually established the apparatus for dictatorship. Only the
criticism of the Attorney General prevented the plans from being adopted.
But intelligence reports indicate that FEMA has a folder with 22 Executive
Orders for the President to sign in case of an emergency. It is believed
those Executive Orders contain the framework of North's concepts, delayed by
criticism but never truly abandoned.

The crisis, as the government now see it, is civil unrest. For generations,
the government was concerned with nuclear war, but the violent and
disruptive demonstrations that surrounded the Vietnam War era prompted
President Nixon to change the direction of emergency powers from war time to
times of domestic unrest. Diana Raynolds, program director of the Edward R.
Murrow Center, summed up the dangers of FEMA today and the public reaction
to Martial Law in a drug crisis: "It was James Madison's worst nightmare
that a righteous faction would someday be strong enough to sweep away the
Constitutional restraints designed by the framers to prevent the tyranny of
centralized power, excessive privilege, an arbitrary governmental authority
over the individual. These restraints, the balancing and checking of powers
among branches and layers of government, and the civil guarantees, would be
the first casualties in a drug-induced national security state with Reagan's
Civil Emergency Preparedness unleashed. Nevertheless, there would be those
who would welcome NSC (National Security Council) into the drug fray,
believing that increasing state police powers to emergency levels is the
only way left to fight American's enemy within. In the short run, a national
security state would probably be a relief to those whose personal security
and quality of life has been diminished by drugs or drug related crime. And,
as the general public watches the progression of institutional chaos and
social decay, they too may be willing to pay the ultimate price, one drug
free America for 200 years of democracy."

The first targets in any FEMA emergency would be Hispanics and Blacks, the
FEMA orders call for them to be rounded up and detained. Tax protesters,
demonstrators against government military intervention outside U.S. borders,
and people who maintain weapons in their homes are also targets. Operation
Trojan Horse is a program designed to learn the identity of potential
opponents to martial law. The program lures potential protesters into public
forums, conducted by a "hero" of the people who advocates survival training.
The list of names gathered at such meetings and rallies are computerized and
then targeted in case of an emergency.

The most shining example of America to the world has been its peaceful
transition of government from one administration to another. Despite crises
of great magnitude, the United States has maintained its freedom and
liberty. This nation now stands on the threshold of rule by non-elected
people asserting non-Constitutional powers. Even Congress cannot review a
Martial Law action until six months after it has been declared. For the
first time in American history, the reigns of government would not be
transferred from one elected element to another, but the Constitution,
itself, can be suspended.

The scenarios established to trigger FEMA into action are generally found in
the society today, economic collapse, civil unrest, drug problems, terrorist
attacks, and protests against American intervention in a foreign country.
All these premises exist, it could only be a matter of time in which one of
these triggers the entire emergency necessary to bring FEMA into action, and
then it may be too late, because under the FEMA plan, there is no
contingency by which Constitutional power is restored.

Harry Martin's web site:
http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/

FEMA's:
http://www.fema.gov/
--
feustel@netcom.com
Dave Feustel N9MYI      For PGP Public Key, finger feustel@netcom.com
Fort Wayne, IN          Or else access http://www.mixi.net/~feustel/
219-483-1857