Michael Chertoff
Lee Hamilton
Thomas Kean
Dennis Blair
Jamie Gorelick
Fran Townsend
John Negroponte
Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the National Security Agency, said the White House should shut down cellphone networks even if no law specifically allowed it.
"We will be criticized if we don't do everything we can," said Baker, who played national cyber coordinator. "We can straighten out the authorities over time."
Right. As soon as the national emergency ends. (BTW, the nation continues to be under a national emergency since 9/11.)
Chertoff later asked if the military could help. "I don't want to seem like a legal Nervous Nellie," he said.
Chertoff knows that Posse Comitatus was
overruled by Section 1076 of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act. And he knows that in October 2008 the
3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team went on standby for a year to defend against any homeland emergency. And he knows that
After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.
“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”
...They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
...The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.
“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.
...The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).
“I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”
...Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.
...“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”
Add to this National Security Presidential Directive 51, which puts the President in charge of all three branches of government during a national emergency, and the OLC memos that provide legal cover for suspending the First and Fourth Amendments, and there's a doomsday scenario right there.