FEMA - The Secret Government

[BlueJac]

By Harry V. Martin with research assistance from David Caul


Copyright FreeAmerica and Harry V. Martin, 1995


Some people have referred to it as the "secret government" of the United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. This government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress, it has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution.
Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States, but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It was a product of a Presidential Executive Order. No, it is not the U.S. military nor the Central Intelligence Agency, they are subject to Congress. The organization is called FEMA, which stands for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Originally conceived in the Richard Nixon Administration, it was refined by President Jimmy Carter and given teeth in the Ronald Reagan and George Bush Administrations.

FEMA had one original concept when it was created, to assure the survivability of the United States government in the event of a nuclear attack on this nation. It was also provided with the task of being a federal coordinating body during times of domestic disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Its awesome powers grow under the tutelage of people like Lt. Col. Oliver North and General Richard Secord, the architects on the Iran-Contra scandal and the looting of America's savings and loan institutions. FEMA has even been given control of the State Defense Forces, a rag-tag, often considered neo-Nazi, civilian army that will substitute for the National Guard, if the Guard is called to duty overseas.

THE MOST POWERFUL ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES


I find it so hard to believe that the King of the Arabian horse show circuit, Michael Brown, is running such a powerful US organization. Mr Brown must of done some pretty good deeds for GW to hire him for this post!





http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/gvcon6.html

[Occulus]

1. After Katrina, I would argue,

disband FEMA, and create individual specialized agencies which will perform the functions FEMA once performed. No one organization should EVER have as much power as FEMA does- and that includes response to a biological threat such as the bird flu.

FEMA needs to go. It has too much power and too little accountability to exist in any democracy.

[Divernan]

3. That was Bush's original plan;replace them with private businesses

FEMA worked just great under Clinton, when FEMA was a cabinet level agency and answered directly only to Clinton. In emergencies you need a centralized power to make quick decisions and take action. The problem now is that Bush/Chertoff have the final say on any actions by FEMA and they held FEMA back, for whatever reason. Every FEMA region in the country was ready to deploy most of their people to the Gulf Coast area even before Katrina made landfall. They were forced to wait for a go-ahead from Washington. Brown has to clear everything with Chertoff. I don't know who Chertoff answers too, whether Rove or Chaney. Bush is just informed after decisions are made.

Yes, Bush has corrupted the agency at the top. That's what he does to all agencies. If we disbanded every federal agency Bush has co-opted to the benefit of his military industrial war profiteers, or other private interests, we'd have to do away with the EPA, Education, the National Park Service, Welfare, the FBI,
etc ., etc.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. He's probably a figure head just like Pinhead** is. nt