NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d'Etat by National Emergency

NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d'Etat by National Emergency
William H. White

Can you think of anyone better than George W. Bush with whom to entrust the dictatorial powers hinted at in NSPD-51? Or perhaps you are unwilling to trust anyone with such powers, even Bush. That is not an option in NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE 51 (NSPD-51), signed by Bush and released without comment by the White House on May 9, 2007. To quote from NSPD-51: “This policy establishes ‘National Essential Functions,’ prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.” What one would expect, but for some of its few details.

Under NSPD-51, only limited ‘National Essential Functions’ of government will continue, which may or may not include Congress and the courts. NSPD-51 assures us: “Enduring Constitutional Government means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches...” This “matter of comity,” which usually refers to the informal and voluntary recognition of jurisdiction among courts, is troublesomely ambiguous in this context. Is Bush claiming that he, rather than the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court, determines which functions the three branches of the federal government shall continue to perform? Does the president decide for himself, as he "coordinates," which laws and court orders to faithfully execute?

NSPD-51 claims that it "provides guidance” to state and local governments, when in fact it does the opposite because it revoked the then existing Presidential Decision Directive 67 of October 21, 1998 ("Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations"), including “all Annexes thereto.” And replaced them with NSPD-51, along with: “Annex A and the classified Continuity Annexes, attached hereto.” But then the rabbit disappears as NSPD-51 soldiers on: “This directive and the information contained herein shall be protected from unauthorized disclosure, provided that, except for Annex A, the Annexes attached to this directive are classified and shall be accorded appropriate handling, consistent with applicable Executive Orders.” In other words, all the details are secret and even the non secret “Annex A” remains undisclosed by the White House.

Having revoked on May 9, 2007 the nation’s then existing emergency plan for continued national governance without explanation, Bush’s NSPD-51 calls for: “The Plan shall be submitted to the President for approval not later than 90 days after the date of this directive.” One assumes, during this lapse in emergency plans, no emergency was expected, or at least presented less risk than leaving that old Clinton plan in place. Since the national media, except one story each in the Washington Post and Boston Globe, have ignored NSPD-51, Bush has not bothered to explain any of this.

Especially if such explanations might raise questions about the decision to revoke the existing plan before finishing work on the new plan, which some might conclude serves only to rush the review of one of the most complex and sensitive plans in government in an attempt to slip something by the rest of us. Whatever the motive, abruptly revoking the existing plan, while mandating a new plan within 90 days, exhibits the same reckless, delusional optimism that characterizes much of Bush's planning record. Clearly Bush is confident he can do far better than Clinton, whose administration labored for years on that old plan. Much of the old plan may even be in the new plan, who knows?

Among those who do not know are members of the House Committee on Homeland Security. The Bush administration has repeatedly denied the committee access to NSPD-51, about which Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) complained in a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. What we do know is those 90 days passed without a new plan approval being announced. Perhaps no plan gives the president exactly the maximum power and minimum accountability desired; or, perhaps the plan's approval is secret as well. Apparently, the "matter of comity"among the three branches of government, referred to in NSPD-51, does not include allowing NSPD-51 to be read by members of Congress, which the Congress, in a continuing pattern of acquiesce, has not challenged.

more...

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/11/05/p20822#more20822

If the Republickers do not magically win back both houses of Congress and the White House next year, you can bet your grandmother's pension that there will be some kind of national emergency in November or December, just in time to stage a coup.

Should we have one?

sounds awful, and I wish there was something to convince me otherwise, but by their actions they make me wonder.

to what you suggest.

as though appearance was all that mattered, and people (probably here) would not be concerned so long as he didn't dress like a military dictator.

and it may be serving as a way for them to test public reaction here. Musharrif is invoking the need to fight terrorism as justification for holding onto and extending his power.

I believe they will rise as one, and several weeks later issue a cautiously worded, mild criticism of some of the more extreme measures taken by the coup, for which they will also rise as one to apologize the next day.

I believe your prediction about the congressional Democrats' reaction to a coup is, unfortunately, dead on. You might be interested in reading a discussion of NSPD-51, which outlines the potential for a coup here and its likely course, which discusses this.

<a>http://www.nota.org/NSPD-51/NSPD-51NationalEmergency.htm</a>

Also, given Bush's announcement of our continuing aid to Pakistan immediately after the coup, his urging Musharraf to play the "its only temporary" card, Rice's preparing the way here with weak 'warnings' about a pending coup for many weeks, indicates the Bush White House's real, fully supportive role. Only corporate media is taking the Bush White House's "disappointment" seriously.

You can bet Bush & Co. are paying very close attention to the reaction here, since Musharraf is clearly their stalking horse.

Lets try that link again:

http://www.nota.org/NSPD-51/NSPD-51NationalEmergency.htm

<a href="http://www.nota.org/NSPD-51/NSPD-51NationalEmergency.htm">
http://www.nota.org/NSPD-51/NSPD-51NationalEmergency.htm</a>

<a>http://www.nota.org/NSPD-51/NSPD-51NationalEmergency.htm</a>

The AF many have been packed with a bunch of Dominionist/Apocalyptic Xtians, but I'm betting that there are enough officers and enlisted who grew up with actual American values to offset them. The troops, in general, are tired of being used as toy soldiers as well.

We're not done for just yet.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

coup has already taken place....very quietly, secretively and I believe with nafarious intentions.



How can * do this unless a coup has taken place?

on edit: Thanks babylonsister for keeping this NSPD in public sight. It's something that worries me particularly in light of the situation in Pakistan.

the shift from Republic to Empire in Rome was not a sudden change, and many in the new Empire were either unaware of the change at first, or enabled it yet still referred to itself as a Republic.

As Merlin in Excalibur pointed out: "For it is the doom of men that they forget."

statements and presidential directives along with the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Acts and the recent H.R. 1955, the thought crime monitoring bill are proof that the Constitution has had a choke hold on it by the administration and enablers in Congress. The president speaks of freedom to the global communities while eroding ours. It is truly a dangerous time.....but impeachment is off the table. Depressing.

Won't admit what is happening until it is too late.

Remember, it took the Nazi's six years, from 1933 to 1939, to completely take over Germany. They did it "legally", a little at a time.


From Wikipedia (edited):

(snip)....
Hitler had been sworn in as Chancellor and head of the coalition government on January 30, 1933. As Chancellor, Hitler asked German President (Reichspräsident) Paul von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call for a new parliamentary election. The date set for the elections was March 5, 1933. Hitler's aim was first to acquire a National Socialist majority in order to secure his position and eliminate the communist opposition. If prompted or desired, the President could remove the Chancellor. Hitler hoped to abolish democracy in a more or less legal fashion by passing the Enabling Act. The Enabling Act was a special law which gave the Chancellor the power to pass laws by decree without the involvement of the Reichstag. These special powers would remain in effect for four years, after which time they were eligible to be renewed. Under the existing Weimar constitution, under Article 48, the President could rule by decree in times of emergency. The unprecedented element of the Enabling Act was that the Chancellor himself possessed these powers. An Enabling Act was only supposed to be passed in times of extreme emergency, and in fact had only been used once before, in 1923-24 when the government used an Enabling Act to rescue Germany from hyperinflation. To pass an Enabling Act, a party required a vote by a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag. In January 1933, the Nazis had only 32% of the seats and thus were in no position to pass an Enabling Act.
....

Before the election took place, the Reichstag fire occurred, which the Nazis claimed was the beginning of a Communist Putsch (coup). This "threat" helped the Nazi's gain a majority during the election, and gain enough additional support from smaller parties to push through the Enabling Act.

well, then, maybe they'll just have to make one.

Alas, t'is not to be.

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/pdd-67.htm
"The text of PDD-67 has not been released, and there is no White House Factsheet summarizing its provisions."

What the Clinton continuity-of-government plan looked like we simply don't know. It may well be that the plan * was 'governed' by before the latest, partially unclassified one was worse. Or not.

DeFazio should lobby to have the previous directives and plans released. For comparison.

:kick:

If our children are allowed to read history books, this will be remembered as the era where people gave their souls away for the promise of protection from the "evil ones."

Disgusting how small we've become.

citizenry as they did in Venezuela. Oh, I forgot the military and national guard are all in Iraq.

From NSPD-51: "This policy establishes "National Essential Functions," prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency."

It may very well be that "private sector organizations" is a euphemism for such corporate partners as "Blackwater" and other private armies.

.

A major mall in America blows up during the holiday, blame Al-CIA-DUH and declare National Emergency.

Complete with a Anthrax attack on the opposition Party