EXECUTIVE ORDERS: BONFIRE FOR THE CONSTITUTION
(Part II: The Velvet Hammer)

In the event of a national emergency declared by the President of the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), would be invested with the power to suspend the U.S. Constitution and is positioned to take control of the United States government and its citizens. As discussed in Part I of this report, the authority of eleven preceding Presidential Executive Orders (1939 through 1991) has been consolidated into Order #12919. This concentration of executive authority invests FEMA with absolute power over:

• all United States communications facilities (EO 10995);

• electrical power, petroleum, gas, fuels, and minerals, public and private (10997);

• food supplies, agricultural lands, and facilities (10998);

• transportation of any kind, including private, and control of seaports, waterways, and highways (10999);

• civilian labor forces without regard to financial remuneration as authorized under the Defense Production Act Of 1950 (11000);

• health, education, and welfare institutions (11001);

• all airport and air transportation, public, private and commercial (11003);

• railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities (11005).

Additionally, FEMA, under Executive Order #11002, can order the Postmaster General to begin a national registration of all residents of the United States for purposes of control of population movement and relocation.

All of the aforementioned powers can be invoked with the stroke of a presidential pen and are free of congressional restrictions or intervention for a period of six months. The practical expression of these powers can be the equivalent of a sentence without trial or jury with no recourse to appeal for at least a half a year. Many legal and paralegal analysts have seen, in the powers delegated to FEMA during any declared national emergency, the authority to forcibly relocate entire families into federal work camps, even as to the dividing of families and of children from parents.

FEMA was created by President Carter under Executive Order #12148. Its legal authorization is Title 2, United States Code 5121 called the Stafford Act. Within the text of that piece of “legislation” in Subchapter IV, section (B) is contained the wording:

“Measures to be undertaken during a hazard, including the enforcement of passive defense regulations prescribed by duly established military or civil authorities, the evacuation of personnel to shelter areas, the control of traffic and panic, and the control and use of lighting and civil communications.”
In a telephone interview with FEMA attorneys, The Winds asked the legal definition of “passive defense regulations” as “prescribed by duly established military or civil authorities”.

Even FEMA’s Counsel General, Michael Hirsh, was unable to give us any definition of those terms. The ambiguity of that wording veiled its meaning from even the highest ranking lawyer in the agency.

KEEPING THE LAWS UNCLEAR

In the principal document by which the New World Order is implemented, the ambiguity of legal terms is set forth as a necessary quality by which any interpretation desired may be secured. In the nebulous breadth of those ambiguities lies the latitude of interpretation to make laws and regulations say whatever those in authority want them to say.

Concerning those laws, they claim that they: “...have twisted their interpretations so as to make them contradict each other. We have succeeded in erecting great and magnificent results by perverting the laws. The first result was that the interpretations of the laws actually masked their true intent. Afterwards, those laws were entirely hid from eyes of the governments because it became impossible to make anything out of the tangled web of legislation.”

The Winds also asked FEMA’s public relations office the primary reasons for the forced evacuation of residents during the recent flooding in North Dakota and the orders (not requests) for some residents to remain in their homes following the recent hurricanes in the southeast.

FEMA’s response, strangely, did not indicate concern for the safety and well-being of the citizens involved, as one might expect of an agency tasked with the oversight of America’s domestic security in time of disaster. Rather, their reasons for violating the constitutional rights of those citizens was a hedge against being sued by them or their survivors if they were injured or killed as a result of not being evacuated. Money, not lives, was their expressed justification for removing owners from their homes, in one instance, and commanding them not to leave them, in another.

Executive Order #11051 assigns responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning (later to become FEMA) and authorizes all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis or national emergency.
Again, the vagueness of the wording leaves wide the door of interpretation. As to what constitutes an “emergency” the Stafford Act defines it as thus:

“Emergency—means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, federal assistance is needed to supplement state and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States.”

KEEPING DISSIDENT GROUPS QUIET

Former Chief of FEMA’s Civil Security Division, General Frank Salzedo, once stated that his interpretation of FEMA’s role is, among other things: “prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis.”

The Constitution, on the other hand, states:
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
The question arises as to how General Salzedo’s statement could survive being filtered through the First Amendment. What he said amounts to “government-speak” for the potential of creating an American Tiananmen Square.

One of the Executive Orders gathered into Clinton’s EO #12919 was an Order signed by President Nixon known as the Omnibus Emergency Preparedness Decree. Howard J. Ruff, economist and publisher of The Ruff Times, says: “Since the enactment of [that] Order, the only thing standing between us and dictatorship is the good character of the President, and the lack of a crisis severe enough that the public would stand still for it.” The former slave and Civil War activist, Fredrick Douglas, once said that the limits of a tyrant’s power are set by the willingness of the people to tolerate him.
During activation of these Executive Orders, FEMA answers only to the National Security Council, which answers only to the President, and, as mentioned previously, once these powers are invoked, even Congress cannot intervene or countermand them for six months.

GUN MOUNTED OVER THE MANTLE

The command and control structure for the oversight and administration of these extra-constitutional powers (the teeth to execute and enforce the above orders) is already in place. FEMA is the administrating agency for several top-secret facilities. The most notable is burrowed deep into the bedrock beneath Mount Weather near Berryville, Virginia. Also known as the Western Virginia office of Controlled Conflict Operations, this underground command post was originally constructed for the purpose of housing top officials of the U.S. government during a national emergency such as imminent nuclear war. It is still contained within the “black” budget that does not appear in FEMA’s published budgetary documents. Mt. Weather, along with other such secret installations as the one beneath a luxury resort in West Virginia called Greenbrier, officially does not exist.

Wallace Stickney, former FEMA director under George Bush, recalled that even the members of Congress approaching his agency to question some budget expenditures were not allowed access to the knowledge of where the money was directed—and they were the ones responsible for budgetary oversight. Even more astonishing is the fact that Stickney himself was denied such access. He said: “I was aware funding was being passed through but didn’t know where it was going—nor did Congress, which demanded to know. Normally, as I understood it, nobody questioned the arithmetic.”

If a nuclear attack occurred during Stickney’s tenure in office, he was not to be included among those privileged to partake in the safety of the underground complex. He would have been required to remain at his post and, in the parlance of the nuclear disaster planners, be cindered. That insecurity for FEMA’s current director, James Lee Witt, ended when President Clinton conferred cabinet status on him in February of 1996.
There is within government a quasi-legal concept called the “Rule of Necessity”. Simply put, this doctrine says that whatever is necessary to preserve the nation against its foes, whether external or internal, will be done—apparently without regard to any violence done to the Constitution. It is to address the Rule of Necessity that Executive Orders are created. EOs did not have their beginnings in the desires of American presidents to transform the executive office into a de facto dictatorship.

The first Presidential Executive Order was issued by George Washington in 1789, but no numbering system or uniformity was applied until 1907 when the Department of State retroactively designated an EO issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 as Executive Order 1.

What has become of this executive privilege since the Civil War has been rather like an insidiously introduced, systemic infection aimed at the total debilitation of the U.S. Constitution. As to whether these extreme powers of the Executive Branch will actually be implemented—there is an old saying in the theatre that if there is a gun mounted over the fireplace mantle in the first act, it will be used before the end of the final act. It ain’t hangin’ up there for nothin’.
That is the end of quoting of Part II of the provocative document Executive Orders: Bonfire Of The Constitution. It was noted as being written 7/4/97 and makes a strong case for the “secret government” as implimented through FEMA. We next examine these covert powers over we-the-people more closely.

HIDDEN THREATS

In part II, called “Hidden Threats”, of an article titled Government Internment Camps—Recent Info U.S. Concentration Camps, appearing on WorldNet Daily on Monday, May 11, 1998, and written by Geoff Metcalf, we read, in part: [quoting]
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan issued National Security Directive 58 which empowered Robert McFarlane and Oliver North to use the National Security Council to secretly retrofit the Federal Emergency Management Agency to manage the country during a national crisis.

In 1984 “REX exercises” simulated civil unrest culminating in a national emergency with a contingency plan for the imprisonment of 400,000 people. REX ’84 was so secretive that special metal security doors were installed on the FEMA building’s fifth floor, and even long-term officials of the Civil Defense Office were prohibited entry. The alleged purpose of this exercise was to handle an influx of refugees created by a war in Central America, but a more realistic scenario was the detention of American citizens.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

Under REX, the president could declare a state of emergency, empowering the head of FEMA to take control of the internal infrastructure of the United States and suspend the Constitution. The president could invoke Executive Orders 11000 through 11004 which would:

1) Draft all citizens into work forces under government supervision;

2) Empower the Postmaster to register all men, women, and children;

3) Seize all airports and aircraft;

4) Seize all housing and establish forced relocation of citizens.

FEMA, with a black budget allegedly provided by the Department of Defense, has worked closely with the Pentagon in an effort to avoid the legal restrictions of Posse Comitatus. While FEMA may not have been directly responsible for these precedent-setting cases, the principle of federal control was seen during the Los Angeles riots in 1992 with the federalization of the National Guard and during the siege at Waco, where Army tanks were involved in the final conflagration.

GOVERNMENT VIOLENCE IS “LEGITIMATE”?

The deputy attorney general of California commented at a conference that anyone who attacks the state, even verbally, becomes a revolutionary and an enemy by definition. Louis Guiffreda, who was head of FEMA, stated that “legitimate violence is integral to our form of government, for it is from this source that we can continue to purge our weaknesses.”
It is significant to note that the dictionary definition of terrorism—“the calculated use of violence”—corresponds precisely to the government’s stated policy of “the use of legitimate violence”.

Hold on, a reasonable person who can read might ask: Who are the real terrorists? Guiffreda’s remark provides a revealing insight into the thinking of those who have been charged with oversight of the welfare of the citizens in this country. Apparently, if one’s convictions or philosophy do not correspond with the government’s agenda, that individual may find himself on a government enemy list, thereby making him/her a “target” to be “purged” by the use of “legitimate violence”.
[End quoting]

So now we see more clearly the agenda behind the government’s double-speak language and its flexibility to trap we-the-people should we become too uppity about their taking away of our basic constitutional rights. But things only get more bizarre as we probe deeper into the FEMA machinery.

The following article was obtained from the www.parascope.com Internet website and is written by Jon Elliston, Dossier Editor:
[quoting]

FEMA’S X-FILE:

Emergency Public Affairs Are “Not For The Outside World”

“Are you familiar with FEMA? What the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s real power is?” So asked scientist Dr. Al Kurtzweil, a character in the blockbuster film The X-Files: Fight The Future, who issued an impassioned plea to FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder to wake up and smell the conspiracy coffee.
The 1998 movie projected the paranoia and intrigue of the smash TV show onto the big screen and stirred tremors of concern in Washington, D.C. FEMA, which plays a role in various conspiracy theories about secret plans for martial law in the United States, went so far as to disseminate a public affairs guidance on how to respond to allegations voiced in the movie.

The fact that FEMA was compelled to craft a response raises some curious questions for both fans and political researchers. The X-Files is famous for venturing into shadowy realms, but when all is said and done, this is just a fun flick, right? So why did FEMA take the unusual public relations measure? As Dossier tracked down the details, we learned that while FEMA probably won’t be initiating a federal crackdown any time soon, the agency can be mighty touchy—and staunchly secretive—about its plans for what to do when a “man-made” disaster occurs.

Most of FEMA’s attention is devoted to the tedious task of providing relief and renewal to communities struck by storms, floods, and other natural calamities. When hurricanes ravage or wildfires consume, FEMA arrives to help pick up the pieces, distribute aid, and construct emergency dwelling. Sounds safe so far—but then there’s the hidden chapter in the FEMA story.
It was in the early 1980s, during the first years of the Reagan administration, when FEMA delved into controversial pursuits that tainted the agency with suspicions that linger to this day. President Reagan had selected an old crony, Louis Giuffrida, to serve as FEMA director.

Reagan and Giuffrida had originally hooked up during the protest movements of the Vietnam War era. While serving as governor of California, Reagan searched for methods to contain the rising tide of dissent. He turned to Giuffrida, a former National Guard officer with a penchant for population control. Under their leadership, the state government concocted and sometimes implemented draconian anti-subversive plans.

With this team in power in Washington, it wasn’t long before federal policy began to feel the tug of totalitarianism. Giuffrida established strict order at FEMA and then set about establishing a predominant role for the agency in worst-cast disaster planning.

In October 1984, just as Reagan was about to run for re-election, journalist Jack Anderson dropped a bombshell in one of his columns. He had discovered that FEMA officials drafted “standby legislation” to present to Congress if the United States was faced with domestic chaos or a state of total war (presumably against the Soviet Union). The proposal, according to Anderson, would have stripped away the essentials of U.S. democracy; it would “suspend the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights, effectively eliminate private property, abolish free enterprise, and generally clamp Americans in a totalitarian vise.”

Suddenly FEMA wasn’t Mr. Nice Guy any more. Additional press reports heightened the concerns of the growing number of FEMA-watchers. It became public knowledge that FEMA administered “continuity of government” facilities such as the one beneath Virginia’s Mount Weather, a massive underground complex that would shelter leaders in the event life above ground should become too hazardous.

Fears about FEMA’s functions flared up again in 1987, when the Miami Herald reported that Lt. Col. Oliver North, the Reagan White House aide who stood at center stage of the Iran-Contra scandal, had worked with FEMA on top-secret projects such as military exercises designed to test the government’s capacity to round up refugees and rabble-rousers.

Giuffrida, the apparent mastermind of the plan, stepped down from the position of “emergency czar” in 1985. However, concerns about the potential use of FEMA as a vehicle for martial law are today more widespread than ever, due in part to the portrayal of the agency in The X-Files.

The TV show and the movie have often alluded to the skeleton in FEMA’s closet. In Fight The Future, Dr. Kurtzweil spells it out: “FEMA allows the White House to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency. It allows creation of a non-elected national government. Think about that, Agent Mulder!”

FEMA, for one, is thinking about that. On June 24, 1998, Al Kamen of the Washington Post reported that FEMA officials issued a “public affairs guidance” to help the agency deal with “the potential for an increase in queries from the general public and the news media regarding FEMA’s national security programs, due to recent Hollywood film releases.” The guidance did not identify the movies by name, but Fight The Future was apparently the primary concern.

“While entertaining and somewhat humorous to the employees of FEMA, some moviegoers may not understand that they are watching a fictional portrayal of the agency” the document said. Some Americans have come to “believe we have a somewhat sinister role” it noted, suggesting that “it is not realistic to think that we can convince them otherwise and it is advisable not to enter into debate on the subject.”

The guidance advised against a war of words with suspicious citizens, but urged FEMA officers to make one thing clear: “You may emphatically state that FEMA does not have, never had had, nor will ever seek, the authority to suspend the Constitution.”
[Also contained with the March 24, 1998 internal FEMA memorandum from Thomas L. Forman, Director, Office of Emergency Security Coordination, and Valice Bunting, Director, Office of Emergency Information and Media Affairs, are the following statements:

* First, there is no intent to stifle expression; simply to ensure that when discussing national security, you are aware of what has been approved for release. For additional information, refer the inquirer to the Office of Emergency Information and Media Affairs. National Security requires our most careful, considered articulation.

* FEMA will continue to maintain a passive public affairs approach regarding national security emergency preparedness activities.

* FEMA’s mission is to respond to the consequences of a disaster regardless of the cause. With regard to continuity of government, FEMA’s responsibilities are succinctly stated in Executive Order 12656.

Precisely how FEMA meets those responsibilities must be afforded a level of protection to ensure that certain contingencies will be available if needed.]

Kamen’s brief report in the Washington Post quoted key parts of the document, but the full text was unavailable to the public. Morrie Goodman, FEMA’s Director of Communications and a co-author of the guidance, denied our initial request for the document, saying it was an internal communication and “not for the outside world”. However, we then obtained it and a prior FEMA guidance on national security matters with Freedom of Information Act requests.

The papers open a window into the exclusive realm of government emergency public affairs planning and demonstrates the dilemmas of officials in a democracy who insist, on the one hand, that they have nothing to hide, and on the other, that they cannot discuss certain sensitive matters.

Is FEMA’s concern much ado about nothing? The X-Files is a work of fiction, and certainly most Americans understand this. Besides, most citizens know it would take much more than a subversive piece of legislation to overturn constitutional government in the United States. It is difficult to imagine the type of crisis that would cause Americans to forfeit their system of government to FEMA-rule.

Yet, as these internal documents confirm, the full story of FEMA’s involvement with contingency plans for martial law is still not available to the public. And until it is, speculation fed by popular TV shows and movies (and a few good investigative news reports) will fill the void. By keeping tight-lipped about “continuity of government”, FEMA is saddling itself with a continual public relations problem that even the agency’s best spin doctors can’t resolve.
[End quoting]

This is about enough concerning the Executive Orders which pertain to FEMA. The only one that I want to specifically call to your attention briefly, but in detail, is Executive Order No. 12333 which became effective on December 4, 1981:
[quoting a small portion:]

2.7 CONTRACTING

Agencies within the Intelligence Community are authorized to enter into contracts or arrangements for the provision of goods or services with private companies or institutions in the United States and need not reveal the sponsorship of such contracts or arrangements for authorized intelligence purposes. Contracts or arrangements with academic institutions may be undertaken only with the consent of appropriate officials of the institution.
[End quoting]

Through this open-ended and purposely clandestine mechanism, agencies such as the CIA can subcontract in some very large and “creative” ways. They thereby maintain an illusion of being a lot cleaner and “smaller” than they actually are.

You’ll see astonishing references to this particular Executive Order in the next section of my investigation, and thus there is usefulness in singling out this particular EO at this time.
Let’s continue our strange journey through the world of shadowy intrigue that seems to be known as FEMA. Now comes the smoking gun.

(cont.)