Presidential Directive 51: Blueprint for Dictatorship

(Cross-posted at Newsfare.)

Released Wednesday, May 9, 2007 by the White House, this executive order, the National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51, uses the principle of the Unitary Executive, as propounded by Dick Cheney, to seize absolute power in the U.S. any time the president feels like putting the plan into effect.

In what follows, italicized text represents my paranoid ideas. I hope all such stupid, alarmist fantasies turn out to be entirely unjustified.

Get ready for a catastrophic terrorist attack in October of 2008, with the unfortunately necessary indefinite postponement of elections after a Presidential declaration of the state of emergency due to the current devastating circumstances.

More after the jump...

Take note of the following:

(e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," 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 and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency...

Mr. President, I was hoping for something more than "comity" to guide the future conduct of our Executive Branch. And then there is this:

(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies.

And then this is reassuring, too.

(9) Recognizing that each branch of the Federal Government is responsible for its own continuity programs, an official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President shall ensure that the executive branch's COOP and COG policies in support of ECG efforts are appropriately coordinated with those of the legislative and judicial branches in order to ensure interoperability and allocate national assets efficiently to maintain a functioning Federal Government.

As far as I know the Legislative and Judicial branches control no enforcement apparatus... unless you count the Capitol Police. Also, one unelected, unconfirmed official is supposed to make sure everything is "appropriately coordinated." But have the Neocons ever done anything in an appropriate manner? If your answer is yes, please name one such instance and discuss the results.

(c) Vital resources, facilities, and records must be safeguarded, and official access to them must be provided;

They take over everything...

(e) Provision must be made for the availability and redundancy of critical communications capabilities at alternate sites in order to support connectivity between and among key government leadership, internal elements, other executive departments and agencies, critical partners, and the public...

... including all communications.

(12) In order to provide a coordinated response to escalating threat levels or actual emergencies, the Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (COGCON) system establishes executive branch continuity program readiness levels, focusing on possible threats to the National Capital Region.

The attack will take place in or near Washington, DC, say... on the CIA and FBI headquarters... agencies which, although nominally under the control of the president, as a practical matter threaten the absolute power of the Unitary Executive. Look for Blackwater mercenaries to take over key national police functions, effectively becoming Bush's "Republican Guard."

The President will determine and issue the COGCON Level. Executive departments and agencies shall comply with the requirements and assigned responsibilities under the COGCON program. During COOP activation, executive departments and agencies shall report their readiness status to the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Secretary's designee.

There is no ambiguity about this plan for dictatorial control of every aspect of government by the Executive Branch. Simply put, this is a blueprint for a soon-to-be-instituted dictatorship... unless Congress, in short order, impeaches Richard Cheney and George W. Bush. There is still time, but only barely.

Please tell everyone you know about this document. If we all stay informed, and prepare to act nonviolently and in concert if necessary, it may not be too late to prevent the planned coup.

And please also read my News from Next Week, posted March 13, 2006.

That is all.

•  sigh

  by AnnArborBlue on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:01:35 PM PDT

  •  How’s military control in Baghdad working

    No doubt Bush is delusional enough to try some kind of a half baked martial law effort, but the tsunami that would rise up against him, would sweep him away.  

    by deepsouthdoug on Sat May 12, 2007 at 07:39:51 AM PDT

•  Think anybody in DC is listening?

  I don't.

  They've got their fingers in their ears while they chant, 'La, La, La, La, Can't heeeaaar ya!'

  by bablhous on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:25:34 PM PDT

•  Dratman, based on the diary's title,

  I thought it would be a regurgitation of all the latest bullsh*t and I almost didn't open it.  Perhaps a little embellishment on the title:

  New Presidential Directive: A Blueprint for Dictatorship

  I'd hate for this to get ignored.  

  by goodasgold on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:30:13 PM PDT

  •  it's conspiratorial nonsense n/t

    by AnnArborBlue on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:34:10 PM PDT

    •  so was the idea

      a small group of people could take this country into an illegal war for oil and imperial bases.

      by duha on Fri May 11, 2007 at 11:45:02 PM PDT

    •  This isn't new.

      Every Rethug President issues a what if the govt. were nuked and we had to run a dictatorship scenario provision exec. order. At least since Nixon. This one doesn't get my scare meter going, other things might.

      And Blackwater needs at least a few more years before they are organized enough to do more than harass citizens in a city after a natural disaster. They can barely carry their frickin' bags.

      by doinaheckuvanutjob on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:37:25 AM PDT

  •  Renamed as you suggested

    Thanks for pointing that out.

    by dratman on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:42:24 PM PDT

    •  Whilst I fear this is

      a rehash of several CTs floating around in the intertoobs, I've fixed your tags. Commas, man, commas!

      by Lisa Lockwood on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:58:48 AM PDT

      •  Thanks for your help

        Okay, I think I get it. Phrases consisting of one or more words, separated by commas.

        Thank you.

        by dratman on Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:56:27 PM PDT

•  Losing it

  These people are so wrapped up in the goobledygook they are passed making sense to the people, those same people they serve.

  The President will determine and issue the COGCON Level. Executive departments and agencies shall comply with the requirements and assigned responsibilities under the COGCON program. During COOP activation, executive departments and agencies shall report their readiness status to the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Secretary's designee.

  It sounds like something from the personnel department.

  by ohcanada on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:30:27 PM PDT

  •  It seems like a lot of responsibility to heap

    upon the DHS when they've proven themselves completely incompetent.

    by goodasgold on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:32:32 PM PDT

  •  *past

    by ohcanada on Fri May 11, 2007 at 10:52:26 PM PDT

•  Is that like Area 51? (n/t)

  by Plutonium Page on Fri May 11, 2007 at 11:03:17 PM PDT

  •  some people call it Area 51

    other people call it Groom Lake Air Force Base in Nevada.

    Either way, perfectly real armed rent-a-cops with perfectly normal automatic weapons will run you out of there if you show up uninvited.

    by alizard on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:48:27 AM PDT

•  It supercedes a similar Directive by Clinton

  I wondered why, so I looked it up.

  There is a summary available, but the actual text has not been released. Now, THAT'S curious!

  It would be somewhat more troubling if it were not for a few facts:

  Clinton's directive superceded a similar one by his predecessor, GHW Bush, who not only revised Reagan's similar directive, but revised his own as well, two years after issuing the first one.

  I don't think this is anything scary. There are quite a few OTHER things that Bush has done which are FAR more scary, and which make a better case that he is planning a dictatorship, than this directive.

  It seems to me that Bush simply revised the directive to include the new national security structure that has emerged with the establishment of the Dept of Homeland Security and the creation of the Office of the DNI.

  by taraka das on Fri May 11, 2007 at 11:08:32 PM PDT

  •  Yes, for example nationalizing the police forces

    is a far more scary dictatorial measure, as is those proposed Patriot Acts II,III, and IV.

    I hear Patriot Act IX is really draconian (a bit of humor to blunt the gloom).

    by doinaheckuvanutjob on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:39:25 AM PDT

•  I wouldn't be too concerned.

  21. This directive:

  (a) Shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and the authorities of agencies, or heads of agencies, vested by law, and subject to the availability of appropriations;

  At least they're admitting this.

  by dov12348 on Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:40:12 AM PDT

•  Cheney. All channels, all the time.

  Bush DID NOT think this one up.

  by Spruce on Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:46:48 AM PDT

•  "A Comity of Terrors"! n/t

  by Bob Love on Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:56:54 AM PDT

•  the most interesting part would be

  (23) Annex A and the classified Continuity Annexes, attached hereto, are hereby incorporated into and made a part of this directive.

  (24) Security. 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.

  Interesting fine print.

  by alizard on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:39:29 AM PDT

•  After 2004 I felt hopeful for 08.

  I have no idea why except that having bush around for 4 more years would force people to wake up. My son said to me,  forget about bush leaving in 08. I asked him what he meant and he said that bush will start another war or we will have another terror attack and he would stay on. I poo poo his idea. The closer we get to 08 the more I believe that he is right. I pray not but......

  by Owllwoman on Sat May 12, 2007 at 05:54:56 AM PDT

•  Welcome to Jericho.

  Maybe they plan to nuke us too....

  ;-)

  Slightly snarky, but then again, there is no evil which I believe they are incapable of committing.

  by John Poet on Sat May 12, 2007 at 06:05:37 AM PDT

•  diarist,my reaction was similar to yours

  so I discussed it with my husband who far more down to earth than I am. And he sounded like a lot of people here. "Now Now there is nothing to worry about....its not like a few guys from Blackwater could seal off the borders!"

  Then I asked him if he had been reading up on the Northern Alliance - and all of the top secret documents Chertoff has already shared with our new Mexican and Canadian partners under the premise that we will all be "Morth Americans" sharing a common border. "Hmmm he said, that can't be true."

  Well being married almpst 10 years now, he remembers when he uttered similar words about other proclamations of mine. And then he said, "well if true, he had no authority to share such secret information and it also would not make much sense unless he felt he had no more use for Homeland Security".

  "Hmmm" I said

  by notimportant on Sat May 12, 2007 at 07:25:28 AM PDT

•  It can't happen ...

  unless we LET it happen.

  IF everyone ignored this and thought it was so outlandish that it would never be tried AND was still willing to believe the President when he declared a State of Emergency, this could happen in 2008.  Ultimately, though, the seizure of power by a coup or tyrant depends on people being either a) caught completely off-guard so they blink and fluster uselessly for 24 hours and then 24 days afterwards, by which time the new government is firmly in the saddle, or b) a vast majority being basically in FAVOR of the coup, when pulled by a popular charismatic leader over unpopular, usually corrupt, legislature, or c)total dominance by competent and overwhelming force quickly establishing sheer terror.

  The vast majority of the U.S. populace would no longer be willing to trust the Bush Administration or support such a move, as indicated by poll numbers on "approval" hovering between 28-32%.  Neither the military nor the police forces could be counted on for monolithic support, and most of the officer corps especially would refuse illegal orders given the Administration's recent past history. Blackwater simply isn't big enough to take over the country, and could have command and control problems (a few honest mercs) as well.  So the only way this could be pulled off, is if the Bush Syndicate were to completely and totally surprise everyone into shocked inaction.  

  The best way to prevent that is to return the possibility to the public mind at least once every two months between now and 2008.  Public awareness is the best way to make sure that it continues to be only nightmare of the wild and lunatic fringe.  Similar public harping (by Robert Parry in particular) is probably the one and only reason why we are not already at war with Iran as well as Iraq.  By making the inconceivable both conceived and prepared for, we make it impossible to execute.

  by cynndara on Sat May 12, 2007 at 11:55:48 AM PDT

  •  Better to be safe than...

    ... sorry. I say let's keep everybody informed so their move will not be a total surprise. It will simply be a total lie.

    by dratman on Sat May 12, 2007 at 03:02:16 PM PDT

•  don't worry, be happy

  well, gee, i love a good horror story as much as the next guy, but i must say that while the premise is certainly terrifying, a little thought about the conflicting power bases involved might put your fears to rest.

  first of all, this is a HUGE country. there is no way in hell that the people of idaho state are going to cave to some pipsqueek in a town three thousand miles away.

  scenario: bush declares a "national emergency" (by the way, we're presently in iraq on the basis of a declared continuing national emergency, EO 13303, and the state assembly of idaho passes a resolution telling dc to blow it out their tubas. federal response? the alabama national guard gets shipped to the northwest (how, precisely?) and comes face-to-face with, oops, the idaho state national guard. hmm.

  multiply that by fifty.

  further, the military coup scenario has been game-played for the united states many times, and it always ends up with the states ignoring - i'll say that again, because it's important - IGNORING washington.

  america is just too big and the military, while programmed to be subservient to civilian command and control, takes seriously their oath to defend the constitution. given their mistreatment by this administration, it would probably take a lot of convincing for them to take this country down the military dictatorship road. also, local commanders will make on-the-spot decisions about who's really doing the better job of defending the nation in cases of "insurrection," and most brigade-level commanders are from the south, so they would likely give national emergency orders a jaundiced eye in any case.

  i wouldn't lose much sleep over this. hillary worries me more than anything, tilateral nafta puta that she is.

  by fazzaz31 on Sun May 13, 2007 at 10:20:31 PM PDT