By Bob Worn
November 1983
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 hundreds of billions of dollars. This government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress, more power than "the people," 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.
Editor's note: FEMA is one part of the Shadow government. See the third edition of this publication where there is a demand to rid the American people of this unconstitutional agency.
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. It is not the U.S. military nor the Central Intelligence Agency. These organizations are subject to the control of 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 Jimmy Carter and given teeth in the Ronald Reagan and George Bush(s) Administrations.
FEMA had one original concept when it was created, to ensure 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 of 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. FEMA 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 Register. Congress is by-passed. (What does the Constitution say about this?)
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 had spent only about 6 per cent of its budget on national emergencies while the bulk of their funding had been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to ensure 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 30 years or more and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 ( 27 F.R. 1527 ) allows Secretary of Transportation to take over ALL modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports. It also gives the Secretary of Commerce full control of the production and distribution of ALL construction materials, gas, oil, and power as well as ALL civilian, private aviation facilities, highways and seaports.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 ( 27 F.R. 1519 ) allows the government to seize and control the communication media. It establishes the Telecommunications Management Agency that provides for the "takeover" of ALL communications media in the United States. This includes broadcast and cable television, ALL radio stations, ALL satellite earth stations and satellites and ALL telephone companies and telephone systems in the United States.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 ( 27 F.R. 1522 ) allows the government to take over ALL electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals. In other words, ALL sources of energy.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 ( 27 F.R. 1524 ) allows the Secretary of Agriculture to take over ALL food resources and farms and farm equipment. This means that all privately owned farmland and food resources will be commandeered by the Federal Government, together with all farm implements and equipment used to work this land. ALL will become the property of the Federal Government.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 ( 27 F.R. 1532 ) allows the Secretary of Labor to "mobilize" civilians into work brigades under government supervision. That's right, every working American will be under the direct supervision of the Federal Government. Where you work now or want to work in the future is not a consideration. You will be required to work where you are told to work. Have you ever considered the term "slave labor?"
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 ( 27 F.R. 1534 ) allows the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare to control ALL health services, doctors, hospitals, etc., ALL welfare services and All educational programs and facilities, public and private.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 ( 27 F.R. 1539 ) designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of ALL persons in the United States. This will account for every American, his or her location and "status."
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 ( 27 F.R. 1540 ) empowers the Federal Aviation Administration to take over ALL airports and commandeer ALL aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 ( 27 F.R. 1542 ) establishes the authority for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to take control of ALL housing, lodging and community facilities in the United States. This means the relocation, to a place of the government's choosing, of any part of the population they choose to move. In other words, it doesn't matter where you live now or what property you own, it will become the property of the government and THE GOVERNMENT WILL TELL YOU WHERE TO LIVE. It will relocate entire communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 ( 27 F.R. 1544 ) empowers the Interstate Commerce Commission to take over ALL railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 ( 27 F.R. 1688 ) specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international or domestic tensions and economic or financial crisis.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 ( 32 F.R. 12877 ) directs the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in All Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate ALL penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11490 ( 34 F.R. 17567 ) authored by Richard Nixon consolidates all previous Executive Orders into one act of law. It also gave the Department of Justice the power to control "alien enemies" and all "other aliens" and to provide for their location, relocation, restraint and/or custody. It also provides the power to seize ALL property of the alien enemies and "other aliens." No definition of terms was given to know who "alien enemies" or "other aliens" are. It is left to the discretion of the Department of Justice, i.e. Janet Reno! It allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution of ALL energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institutions in any undefined national emergency. It makes mandatory the confiscation and control of ALL monetary items and the entire financial structure and assets of the United States of America, public, private and institutional by the Secretary of the Treasury. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.
And last but not least, on 20 July 1979 "You Can Trust Me" President Jimmy Carter authored Executive Order 12148 ( 44 F.R. 43239 ) which completes the plan for the COMPLETE DICTATORSHIP RULE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. In this E.O. President Carter places the powers previously given to separate agencies or departments/administrations under the SOLE CONTROL of FEMA - the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He also "handed off" to FEMA many powers previously held ONLY BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA such as FULL CONTROL OF THE MILITARY FORCES. Yes, FEMA can now assume the powers and duties of the President, in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America. All that is needed to implement these controls is the declaration of a national emergency by any President. Neither Congress, previous Presidents nor the courts have ever rendered a definition of a "National Emergency"!
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.
SOUTH FLORIDA / SOUTH LOUISIANA "FUBAR" 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 $4.3 billion building secret bunkers throughout the United States in anticipation of government disruption by foreign or domestic upheaval. Fewer than 20 members of Congress, only members with top security clearance, know of the $4.3 billion expenditure by FEMA for non-natural disaster situations. These few Congressional leaders state that FEMA has a "black curtain" around its operations. FEMA had worked on National Security programs since 1979, and its predecessor, the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency, had secretly spent billions 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 extra-ordinary powers. Martial law can be declared during time of increased tension overseas, economic problems within the United States, such as a depression, civil unrest, 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 from those suspected of being drug dealers and 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. 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. cities simultaneously a la South Central Los Angeles and any other city, 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 Directive 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 and other detention centers 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 team 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 at 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.
Editor's note: The only difference being that the Jews had a swimming pool at at least one of the camps where they were detained (Auschwitz) as well as a theatre in which they put on plays. I very much doubt that the FEMA camps would have these luxuries.
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. Please remember that a deep recession or all-out depression would be a cause for declaring martial law.
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 act. 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 wide-spread 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. 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 sees 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 Reynolds, 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 a free and dynamic republic. God forbid!
The first targets in any FEMA emergency would be the Hispanics and the blacks. FEMA's orders call for them to be rounded up and detained. Tax protesters, demonstrators against government military intervention outside U.S. borders, those who are ever vocal to point out the shortcomings of the government or the present administration and the grossly apparent usurpation of the citizens' rights by that government 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 operation set up by the FBI at Burke, South Dakota (The Tri-State Militia ) is an outstanding example of Trojan Horse. The program lures potential protesters into public forums, conducted by a leader of the people who advocates readiness and survival training. The list of names gathered at such meetings and rallies are computerized and then targeted in case of an emergency. Just this week, the news broke of a highly sophisticated Top Secret computer system in the White House called WHO DB. It is reported that this data base contains over 200,000 persons. It tracks such things as whether the subject supports or opposes issues such as same sex marriages, gays in the military and whether the subject speaks out against the administration. Yes, patriots will be targeted!
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. The Constitution of the United States will be "suspended." The same Constitution which many of us swore to "support and defend against all enemies, foreign or DOMESTIC." Dear God, where are my comrades?!
The seeds of scenarios established to trigger FEMA into action are generally found in the society of today; economic collapse, civil unrest, drug problems, terrorist attacks, distrust of the government by a majority of the people, protests against American intervention in a foreign country.
With all of these premises existing, it could only be a matter of time until 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.