2. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANNING. The federal government should stop pretending that state and local officials will be able to control the situation on the Day After. The pretense persists in Washington planning for the Day After that its role is to "support" governors and mayors, who will retain authority and responsibility in the affected area. While this is a reasonable application of our federal system to small and medium-sized emergencies, it is not appropriate for large disasters like a nuclear detonation. As the fiasco after Hurricane Katrina suggests, most cities and states will quickly be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the humanitarian, law and order, and logistical challenges of responding to a nuclear detonation.
Conveniently, Bush did not wait for even the veneer of legitimacy to be provided by passing legislation through the cowed US Congress. On May 9, 2007, he simply issued the "National Continuity Policy" (NSPD 51) granting himself unprecedented power in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Perhaps Bush took his cue from the Day After workshop, held a few weeks earlier, which made this urgent appeal:
Instead, the federal government should plan on the basis that in the event of a nuclear detonation, it will shoulder principal responsibility for all aspects of response. On the first day after the event, of course, federal assets will not yet have made it to the scene. But shortly thereafter they should plan to outnumber and supercede the state and local responders. Rather than await such a determination by the President on the Day After, law and regulation should stipulate that a nuclear detonation automatically triggers a full federal response. Local responders and authorities will continue to play key roles, however, so that training and exercises should focus on cooperative responses led by the Federal government but suited to the often very different local circumstances. [Ed. - bolding added.]
The powers set forth in NSPD 51 generally set the stage for Bush to declare martial law and even to cancel elections. (Think about that before you make another Edwards or Obama donation.) We all know that President Bush is going through a rough patch. He's facing the lowest approval ratings in US history. But he now looks to be just one (more) false flag attack away from turning that around. As he has said, "it would be so much easier if this were a dictatorship."
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