11 - U.S. State of Emergency

Yes, America is Still in an Official State of Emergency

by Washington's Blog

Is the U.S. 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.

Specifically:

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:

"Of the 54 National Security Presidential Directives issued by the
[George W.] Bush Administration to date, the titles of only about
half have been publicly identified. There is descriptive material
or actual text in the public domain for only about a third. In
other words, there are dozens of undisclosed Presidential
directives that define U.S. national security policy and task
government agencies, but whose substance is unknown either to the
public or, as a rule, to Congress."

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.