URGENT FYI
President Bush has signed an executive order granting extraordinary powers to the office of the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight.
The order was signed May 9 without any announcement.
Please read the Executive Order here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
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In the event of an “incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions” I would rather have a plan in place that dictates what needs to be done and who is responsible for what, than to suffer through another failure like post-Katrina.
This looks like the Administration is thinking ahead (albeit slowly) as opposed to grabbing power.
What I see here isn’t materially different from similar executive orders promulgated during the Clinton Administration. In the case of an utter catastrophe such as a nuclear attack, we’d need something like this. As little as I am inclined to trust the Shrub, I guess I’m missing the reason for alarm.
Where exactly does it say that the President acquires any new powers in this order? I heard yesterday that this order supposedly granted the President control over Congress during an emergency, but I don’t see it.
As I read it, it only provides for advance planning of emergencies, not the actual assumption of power. It directs various people and agencies to formulate plans and to streamline these plans with legislative, judicial, state, local, and private sector efforts.
AFAICT, it’s just a modern re-working of Presidential Decision Directive 67, as revoked toward the end of the order. The worst thing I caught out of my admittedly incomplete reading was that all continuity plans would be kept classified.