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Can't_Happen_Here.txt
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1996-07-08
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133 lines
From the Radio Free Michigan archives
ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot
If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to
bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu.
------------------------------------------------
Could It Happen Here?
Mother Jones
April 1988
Since coming to office in 1991, President Reagan
has relentlessly portrayed the Nicaraguan government as
totalitarian, and the Sandinistas as betrayers of their
own revolution. As evidence, members of the Reagan
administration point to Nicaragua's state of emergency,
similar in the United States to martial law. But
according to documents recently released under the
Freedom of information Act, the Reagan administration
is in no position to point fingers. The United States
has contingency plans for establishing martial law in
this country, not only in times of war, but also if
there is what the Defense Department calls "a complete
breakdown in the exercise of government functions by
local civilian authorities." What's more, there's a
little-known 1971 memorandum prepared by the deputy
secretary of defense which also provides justification
for military control similar to martial law.
Martial law was defined in an internal Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) memo written in
1982. (FEMA is the agency responsible for developing
plans to deal with national emergencies and for
providing "continuity of government" in the event of a
nuclear war.) The memo, written by FEMA official John
Brinkerhoff to agency director Louis Giuffrida, notes
that martial law "suspends all prior existing laws.
functions. systems, and programs of civil government,
replacing them (from a management standpoint, as a
minimum) with a military system. By 'all' systems, one
means all courts, mails, garbage collection, fire
fighting, agricultural extension services, schools,
aviation control, toll bridges-in a word, all." Martial
law is expected to be proclaimed by the. president,
although "senior military commanders" also enjoy the
power to invoke it in the absence of a presidential
order. according to a Department of Defense Directive
signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank
Carlucci-who has since become the secretary of defense.
Despite the existence of these martial law contingency
plans, Justice Department spokesperson John Russell
says martial law could never be invoked in the United
States, pointing to "the Posse Comitatus Act, [which]
bars the military from engaging in law enforcement."
The Posse Comitatus Act provides small comfort,
however, because another Pentagon document, authored by
Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard in 1971,
cites two "Constitutional exceptions" to the act's
restrictions. The Packard memo, entitled "Employment of
Military Resources in the Event of Civil Disturbances,"
lists the exceptions as: "to prevent loss of life or
wanton destruction of property and to restore
governmental functioning and public order when sudden
and unexpected civil disturbances, disasters or
calamities seriously endanger life and property and
disrupt normal governmental functions to such an extent
that duly constituted local authorities are unable to
control the situation"; and "to protect Federal
property and Federal government functions when the need
for protection exists..." These are loopholes, it would
appear, large enough to drive a tank through.
The Packard directive claims that Congress
intended for there to be an exception to Posse
Comitatus "when unlawful obstructions or rebellion
against the authority of the United States renders
ordinary enforcement means unworkable..." Like the
Carlucci document, Packard's directive says turning
over law enforcement to the army will "normally"
require a Presidential Executive Order, but that this
requirement can be waived in "cases of sudden and
unexpected emergencies ... which require that immediate
military action be taken."
During last year's congressional hearings into the
Iran-contra scandal, a brief reference was made to
planning efforts by FEMA and by Lt. Col. Oliver North
at the National Security Council to outline a martial
Law scenario premised upon? among other things, a
domestic crisis involving national opposition to a U.S.
military invasion abroad. North, during the period in
question, was FEMA liaison at the National Security
Council, and was the NSC planner of a series of
domestic war games mentioned by Brinkerhoff.
Members of Congress who sought to ask about
North's involvement in such planning were stifled by
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who as chair of the
joint Iran-contra committee ruled that such matters
were inappropriate for public discussion.
With directives on the books that dearly allow for
the imposition of martial law, public discussion about
the conditions for military control seems more
important than ever. There is serious reason to
question whether plans for martial law can ever be
justified on legitimate national security grounds;
after all, even in World War II, martial law was
imposed only in the Hawaiian islands, which at the time
were a U.S. territory and naval outpost, not a state.
Of course, whatever the likelihood of martial law
being instituted in the United States in wartime or
peacetime, the Nicaraguan government hasn't had a
chance tn show whether it would lift restrictions in
peacetime. Since the Sandinistas came power and the
CIA-backed contra began, Nicaragua hasn't had any
peace. Whether the Sandinistas follow through fully
with their plans, announced in January, to lift the
state of emergency in Nicaragua, Americans might well
ask, in light of the planning going on at FEMA and the
Pentagon, how the government would act if faced with a
similar level of "civil disturbance."
------------------------------------------------
(This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the
Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer.
All files are ZIP archives for fast download.
E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)