Yes, America is Still in an Official State of Emergency
A reader asked whether the U.S. is still in an official state of emergency, and if so, what that means.
The answer is yes, we are still in a state of emergency.
On September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:
“A
national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the
World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the
continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.NOW,
THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that
the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . .”That
declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from
9/11 [throughout the Bush administration] to the present.
On September 10 2009, President Obama continued the state of emergency:
The
terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of
a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that
it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2009, the
national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.
Does a State of Emergency Really Mean Anything?
Does a state of emergency really mean anything?
Yes, it does:
The Washington Times wrote on September 18, 2001:
“Simply
by proclaiming a national emergency on Friday, President Bush activated
some 500 dormant legal provisions, including those allowing him to
impose censorship and martial law.”Is
the Times correct? Well, it is clear that pre-9/11 declarations of
national emergency have authorized martial law. For example, as summarized
by a former fellow for the Hoover Institution and the National Science
Foundation, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gary
Schlarbaum Award for Lifetime Defense of Liberty, Thomas Szasz Award
for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties, Lysander
Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty and Templeton
Honor Rolls Award on Education in a Free Society:
In
1973, the Senate created a Special Committee on the Termination of the
National Emergency (subsequently redesignated the Special Committee on
National Emergencies and Delegated Emergency Powers) to investigate the
matter and to propose reforms. Ascertaining the continued existence of
four presidential declarations of national emergency, the Special
Committee (U.S. Senate 1973, p. iii) reported:“These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law. . . . taken together, [they] confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes.
Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize
property; organize and control the means of production; seize
commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law;
seize and control all transportation and communications; regulate the
operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of
particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.”(Most or all of the emergency powers referred to by the above-quoted 1973 Senate report were revoked in the late 1970’s by 50 U.S.C. Section 1601.
However, presidents have made numerous declarations of emergency since
then, and the declarations made by President Bush in September 2001 are
still in effect).It is also clear that the White House has kept
substantial information concerning its presidential proclamations and
directives hidden from Congress. For example, according to Steven
Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists Project on
Government Secrecy:
As former United States congressman Dan Hamburg wrote in October:
While
… Congress and the judiciary, as well as public opinion, “can
restrain the executive regarding emergency powers,” nothing of the sort
has occurred.
Under the 1976 National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C.
1601-1651), Congress is required to review presidentially declared
emergencies. Specifically, “not later than six months after a national
emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month
period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress
shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine
whether that emergency shall be terminated.” Over the past eight years,
Congress has failed to obey its own law, a fact that casts doubt on the
legality of the state of emergency.
As far as public opinion is
concerned, how many Americans are even aware that a state of emergency
even exists. For that matter, how many members of Congress know? …
The
Obama administration is essentially arguing that the United States is
currently in a state of resisting foreign invasion a full eight years
after the attacks of 9/11!
This is ludicrous. [Dr. Harold C.
Relyea, a specialist in national government with the Congressional
Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress] argues that Congress
and the judiciary, as “co-equal branches of constitutional government,”
serve as a check on the executive power. As we have seen, Congress has
either been shut out of this process, or, as in so many cases, it has
capitulated. Dr. Relyea then offers that public opinion can restrain
the executive. But the public doesn’t even know they’re living under a
state of emergency. The media doesn’t report it, and the government is
certainly not in the business of providing information that might raise
the hackles of real Americans.
It’s time for the American people
to rise to this challenge. Write your member of Congress, and your
senators. Tell them to obey their own laws. Tell them to end this phony
and treacherous state of emergency that imperils the freedom of us all.
Hamburg’s
must-read article also discusses the suspension of Possse Comitatus,
the operation of Northcom inside the U.S., and the refusal of the
Department of Homeland Security to provide information on the state of
emergency to Congress or even to Congress members on the Homeland
Security committee with the highest security clearances.
The Affect of a State of Emergency on the Economy and Business
The
continuous state of emergency in effect from September 2001 to the
present may have had a substantial affect on the economy and business.
For example, as Reuters noted last week:
U.S.
securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve’s
bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International
Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.
The national security claim may seem outlandish, but it is nothing new.
As Business Week wrote on May 23, 2006:
President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations.
In
other words, national security has been discussed for years as a basis
of keeping normal accounting and securities-related disclosures
secret. While “national security” and a state of “national emergency”
may not be exactly the same, they are variations of a single theme – an
existential threat to our nation – which has dominated American since
September 11.
Similarly, Congressman Brad Sherman, Congressman Paul Kanjorski and Senator James Inhofe all say that the government warned of martial law if Tarp wasn’t passed.
Last year, Senator Leahy said “If we learned anything from 9/11, the biggest mistake is to pass anything they ask for just because it’s an emergency”.
The New York Times wrote:
“The
rescue is being sold as a must-have emergency measure by an
administration with a controversial record when it comes to asking
Congress for special authority in time of duress.”
***
Mr.
Paulson has argued that the powers he seeks are necessary to chase away
the wolf howling at the door: a potentially swift shredding of the
American financial system. That would be catastrophic for everyone, he
argues, not only banks, but also ordinary Americans who depend on their
finances to buy homes and cars, and to pay for college.
Some are
suspicious of Mr. Paulson’s characterizations, finding in his warnings
and demands for extraordinary powers a parallel with the way the Bush
administration gained authority for the war in Iraq. Then, the White
House suggested that mushroom clouds could accompany Congress’s failure
to act. This time, it is financial Armageddon supposedly on the
doorstep.
“This is scare tactics to try to do something that’s in
the private but not the public interest,” said Allan Meltzer, a former
economic adviser to President Reagan, and an expert on monetary policy
at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. “It’s terrible.”
Most
of the Fed and Treasury’s looting of America to funnel trillions in
bailouts, loans, guarantees, and other favors to the too big to fails
was done under the justification of an “emergency”.
I don’t
know whether the official declaration of a “state of emergency” in
effect from September 2001 to today was directly used for financial
looting. But again, the fear of an existential threat to our country
was used to justify the looting.
Congress Has the Power to Revoke the State of Emergency
A note to Congressional staffers: Congressman Hamburg is right. Congress does have the power to revoke the state of emergency.
Specifically, the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. Sections 1601-1651 (passed in 1976), gives Congress the power to countermand a presidential declaration of national emergency. Indeed, in 1976, Congress rescinded
all of the declarations of national emergency made since World War II,
as many of them had been on the books for years and were giving the
executive unrestricted powers which were undermining the Constitution.
In 1983, the Supreme Court struck down
a portion of Congress’ power to countermand a declaration of national
emergency. But Congress got around that ruling by amending the National
Emergencies Act in 1985 to confirm Congress’ power to countermand -
through a joint resolution between the House and Senate – a declaration
of emergency by the president (see this).
Moreover, in 2007, the Bush Administration tried to ignore the National Emergencies Act by issuing National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 51. But that dog won’t hunt. The Constitution does not allow the president to unilaterally cut Congress out of the picture.
about 2 weeks ago
This man is a crook. He dose not even read the bills that he signs and supports. He is a miss leader. He has been working for the federal reserve for decades. Ask your self. Do you want to continue to support these bankers puppets?