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 publi...il 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 t