You probably did not know that the President and others in the Executive branch of the government can and do write law. This is done in the form of Presidential Executive orders, National Security Council [NSC] memos, National Security Decision [NSD] directives, and National Security directives.
NSC memos were broad policy papers in the days after passage of the National Security Act. NSC memos became narrower and more specific over the years, and the name has varied. Under Kennedy they were called National Security Action Memorandums. President Bush changed the name to National Security Directives.
There is a tremendous difference between Presidential Executive orders, NSC memos, and National Security Decision directives. Presidential Executive orders are listed in the Federal Register or Presidential Findings, which are made known to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The most important difference between the Presidential Executive orders and all of the others, no matter what they are called, is that the others do not have to be reported, reviewed, made available to anyone, or even acknowledged.
There is no oversight whatsoever that could maintain a check on the legality of these National Security directives. The President and others within the Executive branch have used these supersecret directives to skirt the balance of power and write law without anyone's knowledge. Justification of the President's power to write law through Executive orders stems from the failure of the government to rescind the declaration of martial law during the Civil War. In effect, the United States has been under martial law ever since Lincoln's administration.
A few examples of past NSD directives that have come to light will help you understand the seriousness of the matter. They will be listed in the following paragraphs under the heading of the subject matter of the [NSD directives].
NSD 84: SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION [SECRECY], 3/11/83 (Declassified in full). SUBJECT: This directive drastically expands restrictions on government employee's freedom of speech. [As a result,] many reporters' contacts were shut down. Government employees' unions and members of Congress sued to protect the rights of whistleblowers, and the Supreme Court recently [ca. 1991] sent the case back to the district level for review.
NSD 17: DETERRING CUBAN MODELS/COVERT ACTION IN NICARAGUA, 11/23/81 (Classified). SUBJECT: The CIA was given authority to create the contras and "work with foreign governments as appropriate" to undermine the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
NSD 77: MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY RELATIVE TO NATIONAL SECURITY, 1/14/83 (Declassified in full). SUBJECT: This directive set up several planning groups to conduct "public diplomacy activities." [CfD -- Regarding so-called "public diplomacy," here is what Robert Parry has to say in his book *Fooling America* (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992): "Public diplomacy had emerged as the new code word for influencing the American citizenry, even though, by definition, "diplomacy" governs the relations among nations, not between a government and its own people... The CIA had long ago refined techniques for confusing and manipulating foreign populations through propaganda. Now it was time to employ those techniques at home."] CONSEQUENCES: Created propaganda ministries in the National Security Council, the State Department and the White House... Stories were planted in the press; journalists were pressured. The General Accounting Office later found that these activities violated the law banning "covert propaganda" inside the United States. How many other covert propaganda programs do you think are operating against the American Citizens? I can assure you that there are many more than you would ever believe.
NSD 138: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM, 4/3/84 (Classified). SUBJECT: This directive endorsed the principle of preemptive strikes and retaliatory raids against terrorists and called on 26 Federal agencies to recommend specific measures to combat terrorism. PURPOSE: While this NSD directive pretends to be concerned about international terrorism, it is really a thinly disguised authorization of preemptive strikes and retaliatory raids against patriots in this country. When FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Association] is activated, patriots will be rounded up in the dead of night, most likely on a national holiday such as Thanksgiving. [CfD -- The author thinks this would happen on a holiday because people would be less alert due to festivities, etc.]
NSD directives have become the de facto legislative vehicle of the national security state. Please understand that virtually all but a very few NSD directives still remain classified, and unless the public forces disclosure their effect will probably never be known.
Somewhere within the volumes of secret NSD directives there is a plan to suspend the Constitution of the United States of America. The existence of this plan surfaced during the Iran-Contra hearings. Congressman Jack Brooks (D), Texas, attempted to bring it into the open. When he asked Col. North directly if North had ever helped draft a plan to suspend the Constitution, Brooks was silenced by the committee chairman Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D), Hawaii. Senator Inouye stated that the subject dealt with national security, and any questions regarding the matter could be brought up during a closed-door session. We never learned the outcome.
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(This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the
Radio Free Michigan site by the archive maintainer.
