http://www.flu.gov/professional/federal/h1n1emergency10242009.html
On October 24, 2009, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic a National Emergency to facilitate our ability to respond to the pandemic by enabling – if warranted – the waiver of certain statutory Federal requirements for medical treatment facilities. In particular, this proclamation is aimed at providing HHS the ability to waive legal requirements that could otherwise limit the ability of our nation’s health care system to respond to the surge of patients with the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. Here is the official declaration .
Does this mean anything? I can not answer that question. It does illicit curiosity, however. Due to the government’s power grab over the past several years, and exacerbated by the fact the “H1N1″ flu does not seem important enough at this point to illicit such a powerful response, I became interested in learning more.
I have noted a brief summary of the National Emergency Powers Act, a report to Congress on Martial Law and National Emergency, and listed the Executive Orders that brought us to a place where, by the stroke of the President’s pen, our rights, our property, our freedom could be gone without due process or consideration of the Constitution.
At one point in life I had trust in my government. Those days are long gone. Our government no longer deserves our trust. We must stay vigilant and look to the future from a base of knowledge. It is to that end I present the following information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emergencies_Act
The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed in 1976 to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain “procedural formalities” on the President when invoking such powers.
The perceived need for the law arose from the scope and number of laws granting special powers to the executive in times of national emergency (or public danger).
At least two constitutional rights are subject to revocation during a state of emergency:
- The right of habeas corpus, under Article 1, Section 9;
- The right to a grand jury for members of the National Guard when in actual service, under Fifth Amendment.
In addition, many provisions of statutory law are contingent on a state of national emergency, as many as 500 by one count.
It was due in part to concern that a declaration of “emergency” for one purpose should not invoke every possible executive emergency power that Congress in 1976 passed the National Emergencies Act. Among other provisions, this act requires the President to declare formally a national emergency and to specify the statutory authorities to be used under such a declaration.
There were 32 declared national emergencies between 1976 and 2001. Most of these were for the purpose of restricting trade with certain foreign entities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701-1707).
CRS Report for Congress: Martial Law and National Emergency
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RS21024.pdf
Crises in public order, both real and potential, often evoke comments concerning a resort to martial law. While some ambiguity exists regarding the conditions of a martial law setting, such a prospect, nonetheless, is disturbing to many Americans who cherish their liberties, expect civilian law enforcement to prevail, and support civilian control of military authority. An overview of the concept of, exercise of, and authority underlying martial law is provided in this report, which will be updated as events warrant.
Here are the executive orders I could identify by scouring the web. There may be more and if you know of any, please leave a comment with the information.
Kennedy:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows government to seize control of communication media.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows government to take control of all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows government to take control over all food resources and farms.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows government to mobilize civilians for work brigades under government supervision.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows government to take control over all health, education and welfare functions.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows government to take control over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows government to take control over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
Johnson:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
Nixon:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11490 assigns emergency preparedness functions to federal departments and agencies, combining EOs 11001-11005 and 11051 into a single executive order.
Ford:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.
Carter:
Executive Orders 12127 & 12148 creating FEMA :
(from wikipedia)
FEMA was established under the 1978 Reorganization Plan No. 3, and activated April 1, 1979 by Jimmy Carter in his Executive Order 12127. In July, Carter signed Executive Order 12148 shifting disaster relief efforts to the new federal level agency. FEMA absorbed the Federal Insurance Administration, the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, the National Weather Service Community Preparedness Program, the Federal Preparedness Agency of the General Services Administration and the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration activities from HUD. FEMA was also given the responsibility for overseeing the nation’s Civil Defense, a function which had previously been performed by the Department of Defense’s Defense Civil Preparedness Agency.
Reagan:
Executive Order 12656 gives National Security Council authority to determine use of requisite emergency powers
Bush:
Executive Order 13010 gives FEMA control over all government agencies in cases of national emergency.
Recently I came across an article which tied all this together:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15099
Remember President Obama’s Executive Order basing 80,000 active troops at home for the first time in the history of the peacetime military establishment to “help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack….”
Now connect that information to the recent announcement that the military has established regional deployment locations all across the United States to “assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.”
Civil unrest and crowd control? Significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall? What do they know that we don’t?
Swine flu has been made into a crisis in the minds of the public, even though swine flu, or H1N1, is the most non-lethal “killer” virus ever uncovered. As a cataclysmic event demanding military assistance, it ranks near zero. It is doubtful whether swine flu could even be classified as an “epidemic,” much less a “pandemic.”
Regular influenza, the common flu, kills 36,000 people every year. The 1918 flu pandemic killed an estimated 50-100 million people worldwide over a period of two years, approximately one-third the population of Europe at that time. Global swine flu deaths topped just 1,000 this year.
But President Obama is predicting death tolls of 90,000 and possible infection of up to half the US population.
While every life matters, in statistical terms swine flu is a comparatively minor problem, which makes the hype by those in government and the military all the more suspicious.Washington certainly seems to be looking for some rationale for enhanced domestic military involvement, whether credible or not.US military at home—in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. With impeccable timing, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has gone before Congress asking for the unprecedented authority to base 400,000 soldiers in communities all across the United States.
A recent US Army War College Report even outlined the conditions under which martial law could be introduced, listing:
…unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters are all paths to disruptive domestic shock. [Emphasis added.]
The CDC is finalizing quarantine regulations formulated during the Bush years that provide for quarantining “a large group of persons” suspected of having swine flu or other illnesses listed in an executive order. This means that President Obama can quarantine anyone as long as they have an illness he determines to be dangerous. These new regulations even permit “provisional” quarantine of persons not actually carrying any virus. In one section, the regulations empower the president to quarantine anyone that does not agree to be vaccinated, an ominous condition since recent investigations have revealed that swine flu vaccines can cause serious medical complications. Thousands of doctors have voiced strong opposition to the proposed swine flu vaccine, due to its association with neurological disorders. No matter, a bill before the Massachusetts State Senate would permit authorities to enter homes and detain without warrant citizens who do not agree to be forcibly vaccinated. Iowa just released a new Orwellian quarantine policy directive that states in the event of a swine flu outbreak, “your home and other less restrictive alternatives are not acceptable.” These moves appear to be the result of federal incentives advancing mandatory vaccination.
The Army hasn’t missed a step, putting out ads for “Internment/Resettlement Specialists.” And, though most of the wild claims about “FEMA camps” have been appropriately and properly discredited, the fact remains that the Homeland Security Department has signed a $385 million contract with Halliburton subsidiary KBR Construction to build such facilities on an “as-needed” basis.
If you’re not already feeling nervous, revisit President Obama’s spine-chilling campaign pledge:
We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
With the Serve America Act, this alarming proposition has become reality. The broad authority given to this force is staggering. Section 1505 gives the newly created National Civilian Community Corps the power to address national “needs” related to “natural and other disasters,” “infrastructure improvement,” “environmental stewardship and conservation,” “energy conservation,” and “urban and rural development.” The legislation reiterates that the corps will “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service.”
Nowhere have these two spheres ever been combined that tyranny has not resulted.
We need to all pay attention and know what Martial Law entails. We will keep an eye on events and declarations from the government and from what I call “State TV”. We should not panic at this point over the flu or over the declaration of National Emergency. Keep your eyes and ears open and know going forward suspicion may be warranted.
Lastly, here is what I found through Dept of Health and Human Services:
http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/pdf/HHSPandemicInfluenzaPlan.pdf
HHS will be guided by the following principles in initiating and directing its response activities:
1) In advance of an influenza pandemic, HHS will work with federal, state, and local government partners and the private sector to coordinate pandemic influenza preparedness activities and to achieve interoperable response capabilities.
2) In advance of an influenza pandemic, HHS will encourage all Americans to be active partners in preparing their states, local communities, workplaces, and homes for pandemic influenza and will emphasize that a pandemic will require Americans to make difficult choices. An informed and responsive public is essential to minimizing the health effects of a pandemic and the resulting consequences to society.
3) In advance of an influenza pandemic, HHS, in concert with federal partners, will work with the
pharmaceutical industry to develop domestic vaccine production capacity sufficient to provide vaccine for the entire U.S. population as soon as possible after the onset of a pandemic and, during the pre-pandemic period, to produce up to 20 million courses of vaccine against each circulating influenza virus with pandemic potential and to expand seasonal influenza domestic vaccine production to cover all Americans for whom vaccine is recommended through normal commercial transactions.
4) In advance of an influenza pandemic, HHS, in concert with federal partners and in collaboration with the States, will procure sufficient quantities of antiviral drugs to treat 25% of the U.S. population and, in so doing, stimulate development of expanded domestic production capacity sufficient to accommodate subsequent needs through normal commercial transactions. HHS will stockpile antiviral medications in the Strategic National Stockpile, and states will create and maintain local stockpiles.
5) Sustained human-to-human transmission anywhere in the world will be the triggering event to initiate a pandemic response by the United States. Because we live in a global community, a human outbreak anywhere means risk everywhere.
6) The US will attempt to prevent an influenza pandemic or delay its emergence by striving to arrest isolated outbreaks of a novel influenza wherever circumstances suggest that such an attempt might be successful, acting in concert with WHO and other nations as appropriate. At the core of this strategy will be basic public health measures to reduce person-to-person transmission.
7) At the onset of an influenza pandemic, HHS, in concert with federal partners, will work with the
pharmaceutical industry to procure vaccine directed against the pandemic strain and to distribute vaccine to state and local public health departments for pre-determined priority groups based on pre-approved state plans.
8 ) At the onset of an influenza pandemic, HHS, in collaboration with the states, will begin to distribute and deliver antiviral drugs from public stockpiles to healthcare facilities and others with direct patient care responsibility for administration to pre-determined priority groups.
HHS will follow the WHO published guidance for national pandemic planning, which defines pandemic
activities in six phases. WHO Phases 1 and 2 are the Interpandemic Period, which includes phases where no
new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans.
The Pandemic Alert Period includes a phase when human infection with a novel influenza strain has been identified but no evidence has been found of transmission between people or at most rare instances of spread to a close contact (WHO Phase 3) and includes phases where person-to-person transmission is occurring in clusters with limited human-to-human transmission (WHO Phases 4 and 5). WHO Phase 6 is the Pandemic
Period, in which there is increased and sustained transmission in the general population. (Appendix C describes the WHO pandemic phases in detail.)
Each pandemic phase is associated with a range of preparedness and response activities directed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, after consultation with international authorities and others, as necessary. Given that an influenza pandemic may not unfold in a completely predictable way, decision-makers must regularly reassess their strategies and actions and make adjustments as necessary. This section highlights
critical pandemic preparedness and response activities to be implemented by HHS.
Table C-1: Summary of WHO Global Pandemic Phases (WHO Global Influenza
Preparedness Plan, 2005) – As of April, we are at Phase 5
Interpandemic Period
Phase 1. No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. An influenza virus subtype that has caused human infection may be present in animals. If present in animals, the risk of human infection or disease is considered to be low
Phase 2. No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. However, a circulating animal influenza virus subtype poses a substantial risk of human disease
Pandemic Alert Period
Phase 3. Human infection(s) with a new subtype but no human-to-human spread or at most rare instances of spread to a close contact
Phase 4. Small cluster(s) with limited human-to-human transmission but spread is highly localized, suggesting that the virus is not well adapted to humans
Phase 5. Larger cluster(s) but human-to-human spread is still localized, suggesting that the virus is becoming increasingly better adapted to humans but may not yet be fully transmissible (substantial pandemic risk)
Pandemic Period
Phase 6. Pandemic phase: increased and sustained transmission in the general population
An influenza pandemic may require activation of the National Response Plan (NRP), especially if the first
appearance of the disease in the United States occurs in one or a few isolated communities and an intense multi-party containment effort led by the federal government seems feasible. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in collaboration with HHS and other response partners, developed the NRP and the associated
National Incident Management System (NIMS) pursuant to the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) #5 – Management of Domestic Incidents. Full descriptions of the NRP and the NIMS, respectively, are available at www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRP_FullText.pdf and
www.fema.gov/nims/nims_compliance.shtm#nimsdocument.
The intent of the NRP is to reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, major disasters, and other emergencies;
to minimize the damage resulting from these emergencies; and to facilitate recovery. The NIMS aligns the special-purpose incident management and emergency response plans of federal government agencies into a unitary structure. Together, the NRP and the NIMS provide a conceptual and operational framework to
integrate the capabilities and resources of various governmental jurisdictions, incident management and emergency response disciplines, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector into a cohesive, coordinated, and seamless national framework for domestic incident management. The federal government can invoke the NRP partially or fully in the context of a threat, anticipation of a significant event, or the response to a significant event.
Other sources you may want to consult:
Selected Executive Orders on National Security
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/index.html
Federal Registry Database on Executive Orders
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/
FEMA
http://www.fema.gov/
No comments:
Post a Comment