Most Americans pooh-pooh the concept of a non-elected government agency controlling our lives as so much right wing paranoid fantasy. Such a shadow alliance belongs to the venue of movies like "The X-Files", "Conspiracy Theory", or adult comic books. Most Americans are wrong. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is, and has been a non-elected government entity designed, structured, and positioned to become the government if, or when the sufficient "national emergency" flicks the switch. "FEMA allows the White House to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency. It allows creation of a non-elected government. Think about that, Agent Mulder, "someone says in the movie "X-Files". In response to the movie fiction, FEMA officials replied "FEMA does not have, never has had, nor will ever seek, the authority to suspend the Constitution." Big fibber! Some people just hate to be confused with facts which contradict their preconceived opinion ... or facts which dramatically contradict their disingenuous, duplicitous lies. Before, I list a chronology of facts, please note that the recent Presidential Decision Directive #63 (which addresses critical infrastructure protection) very clearly and specifically assigns FEMA the task of "continuity of government" services. Legislative, judicial branches, state and local governments are conspicuous by their absence in PDD #63. Trick or Treat! FEMA has been quoted in the Washington Post this year as saying "FEMA does not have, never has had, nor will ever seek, the authority to suspend the Constitution." Louis Giuffrida, before he became Director of FEMA in the early 80s wrote a paper for the Army War College in which he proposed "assembly centers or relocation camps" for at least 21 million black Americans. In 1968 and 1972, then Governor Ronald Reagan conducted a series of war games in California called "Cable Splicer". It was a field training exercise that was supposed to model civil disturbance scenario to deal with anti-war protesters or racial dissenters. In fact, it was a rehearsal for marital law. Frank Carlucci wrote in a 1981 NSC directive, "Normally a state of martial law will be proclaimed by the President. However, in the absence of such action by the President, a senior military commander may impose martial law in an area of his command where there had been a complete breakdown in the exercise of government functions by local civilian authorities." FEMA director Giuffrida received a memo which basically suggested Americans would rather be taken over by FEMA than by the military. "Over the long term, the peacetime action programs of FEMA and other departments and agencies have the effect of making the conceivable need for military takeover less and less as times goes by. A fully implemented civil defense program may not now be regarded as a substitute for martial law, nor could it be so marketed, but if successful in its execution it could have that effect." July 1983 The San Francisco Examiner's Knut Royce reported about a presidential directive that had been drafted by folks in the Carter administration to allow the military to take control of the government for 90 days in the event of an emergency. The page one caveat noted "Keeping the government functioning after a nuclear war is a secret, costly project that detractors claim jeopardizes US traditions and saves a privileged few." Even then, there was reportedly heated debate within the Carter administration as to exactly what did or didn't constitute an "emergency". August 1984 Attorney General William French sent a reality check letter to NSC Chairman Robert McFarlane in which he wrote: "I believe that the role assigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the revised Executive Order exceeds its proper function as a coordinating agency for emergency preparedness ... This department and others have repeatedly raised serious policy and legal objections to the creation of an 'emergency' czar' role for FEMA." July 1987 The Miami Herald ran a story by Alfonzo Chardy which revealed Oliver North's involvement in plans for FEMA to take over federal, state and local functions during an ill-defined national emergency. The plan reportedly called for suspending the Constitution, turning control of government over to FEMA, emergency appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and a declaration of martial law. Last time I checked, the Constitution enumerates powers to the federal government, and anything not clearly delineated, (see the 10th Amendment) reverts to the states and "we the people". In fact, if or when Washington D.C. vanished into the ether, the 50 state governors would function in concert as a confederation unless or until some federal mechanism were to be established. Eight years ago in a November 18, 1991 story the New York Times peeled more leaves off the onion. "Acting outside the Constitution in the early 1980's, a secret federal agency established a line of succession tot the presidency to assure continued government in the event of a devastating nuclear attack." The program was called "Continuity of Government" and its authors apparently never got around to reading the Constitution. The Fund for Constitutional Government wrote in a report "succession or succession-by-designation would be implemented by unknown and perhaps unelected persons who would pick three potential successor presidents in advance of an emergency. These potential successors to the Oval Office may not be elected, and they are not confirmed by Congress." Gosh, I thought the Constitution in Article Two, section 6 covered succession, and that United States Code Annotated, Title 3, Section 19 filled in any gaps. The nebulous "national emergency" was not limited to nuclear attack: "Any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological or other emergency, that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States." Included in the arbitrary, and potentially capricious justifications for martial law were "national opposition to a US military invasion abroad" and widespread internal dissent (think about Y2K). Clif Droke wrote an article July 16th of this year in which he noted "On 16 June 1998, the Navy and Marine Corps were conducting their annual strategy meeting entitled "Current Strategy Forum". This year's meeting was held at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. A source who was in attendance at the meeting reported that he was shocked by a sentence uttered by the Under Secretary of the Navy, if only for its remarkable candor. "After I read the following quote I called personal friends of mine in Rhode Island, and people I know at the War College in Newport. Four sources confirmed the following. "U.S. Under Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Jerry MacArthur, then began to answer questions. Mr. MacArthur made this statement, apparently off the cuff: 'Senior Military Pentagon officials have been working closely with senior officials at Wall Street to perfect several scenarios that could quickly be put into action once Wall Street crashes.'" Think about that, Agent Mulder.