It would seem natural that all governments would want to protect their people in times of disaster, both natural and man-made (though not all do). Contingencies may be set up for such events. The United States is no exception. But as with all good intentions the pathway to oblivion is only a short change of course.

Very few citizens had ever heard of FEMA before hurricanes Andrew & Katrina, most have no idea of its origin, abilities, and true purpose. I will set a lot of it out for you in these articles, but you must follow the links and read the official government documents for yourself.

This is not to add to your fear but to your preparedness. As with most things governmental, citizen vigilance is absolutely necessary.

For clarification: An executive order is a proclamation by the President of the United States without the input or action of the congress or senate. It is the law.

It all started simply enough in 1962 with Executive Order EO 10990 ostensibly to re-establish the National Safety Council: true purpose, to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaport in case of an emergency.

That was followed by these:

EO 10995: allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EO 10997: allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EO 10998: allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EO 11000: allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EO 11001: allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EO 11002: designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EO 11003: allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EO 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.

EO 11005: allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EO 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.

EO 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.

That is quite a list compiled by too many sources to credit here, so I have set up links directly to US government data bases for you to read them first hand.

EO 11049: assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies. All together EO 11049 organized and codified 21 Executive Orders, including those above, and 2 Defense Mobilization Orders: VI-2, 1-12. These EOs & DMOs began to accumulate in 1951. This order made them one law.

EO 11049 stated that this was for use in a national emergency, but never defined what that was. At that time everyone thought that it was about nuclear war, but we have seen that FEMA gets involved in much more than that.

EO 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.

EO 11921: simply tightened the grips on the nation, if ever used fully.

To date, U.S. courts have overturned only two executive orders: the Truman order (integrating the armed services) and a 1996 order issued by President Clinton that attempted to prevent the US government from contracting with organizations that had strike-breakers on the payroll. Congress may overturn an executive order by passing legislation in conflict with it or by refusing to approve funding to enforce it. In the former, the president retains the power to veto such a decision; however, the Congress may override a veto with a two-thirds majority to end an executive order. It has been argued that a Congressional override of an executive order is a nearly impossible event due to the super-majority required and the fact that such a vote leaves individual lawmakers very vulnerable to political criticism. (From Wikipedia)

In theory, the President could issue executive orders such as placing decenting legislators under house arrest, or simply nullifying their votes through political pressure.

As you can see there is much more to FEMA than meets the eyes.  I have made no conjectures or statements that you can not verify by reading the original documents.

Next time: What does all of this mean to you and me today?

Be vigilant,

Chuck


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