- The sole branch of this government that is responsible
for creating legislation is the legislative branch the Congress of the
United States. However - the US Department of Homeland Security was created
directly by Presidential Executive Order No 13228, below.
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- "By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby
ordered as follows:"
- George W. Bush is claiming a "right under the Constitution"
that does NOT exist!
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- Article One, Section 1. of the United States Constitution
says: " All legislative powers herein shall be vested in a Congress
of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives."
There is no mention anywhere of the "right" of the Executive
to create anything like the largest single agency this government has ever
had - as this 'department' absorbed 22 separate existing agencies (that
were created by congress) into one that answers only to the executive.
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- Therefore the 'creation' of Homeland Security -
is in direct violation of Article One, Section 1, of the US Constitution,
as the executive branch had no authority to create any legislation - much
less whole departments of the government - only the congress can do this
under the Constitution: Therefore - this Executive Order is itself unconstitutional
on its face and must be rescinded! Please see the full text of this illegal
order below, as issued by the White House on Oct. 8, 2001
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- http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011008-2.html
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- Executive Order Establishing Office of Homeland Security
- Executive Order
- Establishing the Office of Homeland Security and the
Homeland Security Council
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- By the authority vested in me as President
by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is
hereby ordered as follows:
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- Section 1. Establishment. I hereby
establish within the Executive Office of the President an Office of Homeland
Security (the "Office") to be headed by the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security.
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- Sec. 2. Mission. The mission of
the Office shall be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive
national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or
attacks. The Office shall perform the functions necessary to carry
out this mission, including the functions specified in section 3 of this
order.
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- Sec. 3. Functions. The functions
of the Office shall be to coordinate the executive branch's efforts to
detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover
from terrorist attacks within the United States.
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- (a) National Strategy. The Office
shall work with executive departments and agencies, State and local governments,
and private entities to ensure the adequacy of the national strategy for
detecting, preparing for, preventing, protecting against, responding to,
and recovering from terrorist threats or attacks within the United States
and shall periodically review and coordinate revisions to that strategy
as necessary.
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- (b) Detection. The Office shall
identify priorities and coordinate efforts for collection and analysis
of information within the United States regarding threats of terrorism
against the United States and activities of terrorists or terrorist groups
within the United States. The Office also shall identify, in coordination
with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, priorities
for collection of intelligence outside the United States regarding threats
of terrorism within the United States.
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- (i) In performing these functions, the
Office shall work with Federal, State, and local agencies, as appropriate,
to:
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- (A) facilitate collection from State
and local governments and private entities of information pertaining to
terrorist threats or activities within the United States;
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- (B) coordinate and prioritize the
requirements for foreign intelligence relating to terrorism within the
United States of executive departments and agencies responsible for homeland
security and provide these requirements and priorities to the Director
of Central Intelligence and other agencies responsible collection of foreign
intelligence;
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- (C) coordinate efforts to ensure
that all executive departments and agencies that have intel-ligence collection
responsibilities have sufficient technological capabilities and resources
to collect intelligence and data relating to terrorist activities or possible
terrorist acts within the United States, working with the Assistant to
the President for National Security Affairs, as appropriate;
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- (D) coordinate development of monitoring
protocols and equipment for use in detecting the release of biological,
chemical, and radiological hazards; and
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- (E) ensure that, to the extent permitted
by law, all appropriate and necessary intelligence and law enforcement
information relating to homeland security is disseminated to and exchanged
among appropriate executive departments and agencies responsible for homeland
security and, where appropriate for reasons of homeland security, promote
exchange of such information with and among State and local governments
and private entities.
-
- (ii) Executive departments and agencies
shall, to the extent permitted by law, make available to the Office all
information relating to terrorist threats and activities within the United
States.
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- (c) Preparedness. The Office of Homeland
Security shall coordinate national efforts to prepare for and mitigate
the consequences of terrorist threats or attacks within the United States.
In performing this function, the Office shall work with Federal,
State, and local agencies, and private entities, as appropriate, to:
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- (i) review and assess the adequacy of
the portions of all Federal emergency response plans that pertain to terrorist
threats or attacks within the United States;
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- (ii) coordinate domestic exercises and
simulations designed to assess and practice systems that would be called
upon to respond to a terrorist threat or attack within the United States
and coordinate programs and activities for training Federal, State, and
local employees who would be called upon to respond to such a threat or
attack;
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- (iii) coordinate national efforts to
ensure public health preparedness for a terrorist attack, including reviewing
vaccination policies and reviewing the adequacy of and, if necessary, increasing
vaccine and pharmaceutical stockpiles and hospital capacity;
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- (iv) coordinate Federal assistance to
State and local authorities and nongovernmental organizations to prepare
for and respond to terrorist threats or attacks within the United States;
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- (v) ensure that national preparedness
programs and activities for terrorist threats or attacks are developed
and are regularly evaluated under appropriate standards and that resources
are allocated to improving and sustaining preparedness based on such evaluations;
and
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- (vi) ensure the readiness and coordinated
deployment of Federal response teams to respond to terrorist threats or
attacks, working with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, when appropriate.
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- (d) Prevention. The Office shall
coordinate efforts to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States.
In performing this function, the Office shall work with Federal,
State, and local agencies, and private entities, as appropriate, to:
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- (i) facilitate the exchange of information
among such agencies relating to immigration and visa matters and shipments
of cargo; and, working with the Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs, ensure coordination among such agencies to prevent the
entry of terrorists and terrorist materials and supplies into the United
States and facilitate removal of such terrorists from the United States,
when appropriate;
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- (ii) coordinate efforts to investigate
terrorist threats and attacks within the United States; and
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- (iii) coordinate efforts to improve the
security of United States borders, territorial waters, and airspace in
order to prevent acts of terrorism within the United States, working with
the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, when appropriate.
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- (e) Protection. The Office shall
coordinate efforts to protect the United States and its critical infrastructure
from the consequences of terrorist attacks. In performing this function,
the Office shall work with Federal, State, and local agencies, and private
entities, as appropriate, to:
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- (i) strengthen measures for protecting
energy production, transmission, and distribution services and critical
facilities; other utilities; telecommunications; facilities that produce,
use, store, or dispose of nuclear material; and other critical infrastructure
services and critical facilities within the United States from terrorist
attack;
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- (ii) coordinate efforts to protect critical
public and privately owned information systems within the United States
from terrorist attack;
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- (iii) develop criteria for reviewing
whether appropriate security measures are in place at major public and
privately owned facilities within the United States;
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- (iv) coordinate domestic efforts to ensure
that special events determined by appropriate senior officials to have
national significance are protected from terrorist attack;
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- (v) coordinate efforts to protect transportation
systems within the United States, including railways, highways, shipping,
ports and waterways, and airports and civilian aircraft, from terrorist
attack;
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- (vi) coordinate efforts to protect United
States livestock, agriculture, and systems for the provision of water and
food for human use and consumption from terrorist attack; and
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- (vii) coordinate efforts to prevent unauthorized
access to, development of, and unlawful importation into the United States
of, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive, or other related
materials that have the potential to be used in terrorist attacks.
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- (f) Response and Recovery. The
Office shall coordinate efforts to respond to and promote recovery from
terrorist threats or attacks within the United States. In performing
this function, the Office shall work with Federal, State, and local agencies,
and private entities, as appropriate, to:
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- (i) coordinate efforts to ensure rapid
restoration of transportation systems, energy production, transmission,
and distribution systems; telecommunications; other utilities; and other
critical infrastructure facilities after disruption by a terrorist threat
or attack;
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- (ii) coordinate efforts to ensure rapid
restoration of public and private critical information systems after disruption
by a terrorist threat or attack;
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- (iii) work with the National Economic
Council to coordinate efforts to stabilize United States financial markets
after a terrorist threat or attack and manage the immediate economic and
financial consequences of the incident;
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- (iv) coordinate Federal plans and programs
to provide medical, financial, and other assistance to victims of terrorist
attacks and their families; and
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- (v) coordinate containment and removal
of biological, chemical, radiological, explosive, or other hazardous materials
in the event of a terrorist threat or attack involving such hazards and
coordinate efforts to mitigate the effects of such an attack.
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- (g) Incident Management. The Assistant
to the President for Homeland Security shall be the individual primarily
respon-sible for coordinating the domestic response efforts of all departments
and agencies in the event of an imminent terrorist threat and during and
in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack within the United States
and shall be the principal point of contact for and to the President with
respect to coordination of such efforts. The Assistant to the President
for Homeland Security shall coordinate with the Assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs, as appropriate.
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- (h) Continuity of Government. The
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, in coordination with
the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, shall review
plans and preparations for ensuring the continuity of the Federal Government
in the event of a terrorist attack that threatens the safety and security
of the United States Government or its leadership.
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- (i) Public Affairs. The Office,
subject to the direction of the White House Office of Communications, shall
coordinate the strategy of the executive branch for communicating with
the public in the event of a terrorist threat or attack within the United
States. The Office also shall coordinate the develop-ment of programs
for educating the public about the nature of terrorist threats and appropriate
precautions and responses.
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- (j) Cooperation with State and Local
Governments and Private Entities. The Office shall encourage and invite
the participation of State and local governments and private entities,
as appropriate, in carrying out the Office's functions.
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- (k) Review of Legal Authorities and Development
of Legislative Proposals. The Office shall coordinate a periodic
review and assessment of the legal authorities available to executive departments
and agencies to permit them to perform the functions described in this
order. When the Office determines that such legal authorities are
inadequate, the Office shall develop, in consultation with executive departments
and agencies, proposals for presidential action and legislative proposals
for submission to the Office of Management and Budget to enhance the ability
of executive departments and agencies to perform those functions. The
Office shall work with State and local govern-ments in assessing the adequacy
of their legal authorities to permit them to detect, prepare for, prevent,
protect against, and recover from terrorist threats and attacks.
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- (l) Budget Review. The Assistant
to the President for Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget (the "Director") and the
heads of executive departments and agencies, shall identify programs that
contribute to the Administration's strategy for homeland security and,
in the development of the President's annual budget submission, shall review
and provide advice to the heads of departments and agencies for such programs.
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security shall provide
advice to the Director on the level and use of funding in departments and
agencies for homeland security-related activities and, prior to the Director's
forwarding of the proposed annual budget submission to the President for
transmittal to the Congress, shall certify to the Director the funding
levels that the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security believes
are necessary and appropriate for the homeland security-related activities
of the executive branch.
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- Sec. 4. Administration.
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- (a) The Office of Homeland Security shall
be directed by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security.
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- (b) The Office of Administration within
the Executive Office of the President shall provide the Office of Homeland
Security with such personnel, funding, and administrative support, to the
extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations,
as directed by the Chief of Staff to carry out the provisions of this order.
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- (c) Heads of executive departments and
agencies are authorized, to the extent permitted by law, to detail or assign
personnel of such departments and agencies to the Office of Homeland Security
upon request of the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, subject
to the approval of the Chief of Staff.
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- Sec. 5. Establishment of Homeland Security
Council.
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- (a) I hereby establish a Homeland Security
Council (the "Council"), which shall be responsible for advising
and assisting the President with respect to all aspects of homeland security.
The Council shall serve as the mechanism for ensuring coordina-tion
of homeland security-related activities of executive departments and agencies
and effective development and implementation of homeland security policies.
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- (b) The Council shall have as its members
the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary
of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the Director of Central Intelligence, the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security, and such other officers of the executive branch as the
President may from time to time designate. The Chief of Staff, the
Chief of Staff to the Vice President, the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, the Counsel to the President, and the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget also are invited to attend any Council
meeting. The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, the
Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Labor,
the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Assistant to the President
for Economic Policy, and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
shall be invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities.
The heads of other executive departments and agencies and other senior
officials shall be invited to attend Council meetings when appropriate.
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- (c) The Council shall meet at the President's
direction. When the President is absent from a meeting of the Council,
at the President's direction the Vice President may preside. The
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security shall be responsible,
at the President's direction, for determining the agenda, ensuring that
necessary papers are prepared, and recording Council actions and Presidential
decisions.
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- Sec. 6. Original Classification Authority.
I hereby delegate the authority to classify information originally
as Top Secret, in accordance with Executive Order 12958 or any successor
Executive Order, to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security.
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- Sec. 7. Continuing Authorities. This
order does not alter the existing authorities of United States Government
departments and agencies. All executive departments and agencies
are directed to assist the Council and the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security in carrying out the purposes of this order.
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- Sec. 8. General Provisions.
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- (a) This order does not create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by
a party against the United States, its departments, agencies or instrumentalities,
its officers or employees, or any other person.
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- (b) References in this order to State
and local governments shall be construed to include tribal governments
and United States territories and other possessions.
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- (c) References to the "United States"
shall be construed to include United States territories and possessions.
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- Sec. 9. Amendments to Executive Order
12656. Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, as amended, is
hereby further amended as follows:
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- (a) Section 101(a) is amended by adding
at the end of the fourth sentence: ", except that the Homeland
Security Council shall be responsible for administering such policy with
respect to terrorist threats and attacks within the United States."
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- (b) Section 104(a) is amended by adding
at the end: ", except that the Homeland Security Council is
the principal forum for consideration of policy relating to terrorist threats
and attacks within theUnited States."
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- (c) Section 104(b) is amended by inserting
the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
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- (d) The first sentence of section 104(c)
is amended by inserting the words "and the Homeland Security Council"
after the words "National Security Council."
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- (e) The second sentence of section 104(c)
is replaced with the following two sentences: "Pursuant to such
procedures for the organization and management of the National Security
Council and Homeland Security Council processes as the President may establish,
the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency also shall assist
in the implementation of and management of those processes as the President
may establish. The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
also shall assist in the implementation of national security emergency
preparedness policy by coordinating with the other Federal departments
and agencies and with State and local governments, and by providing periodic
reports to the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council
on implementation of national security emergency preparedness policy."
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- (f) Section 201(7) is amended by inserting
the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
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- (g) Section 206 is amended by inserting
the words "and the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
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- (h) Section 208 is amended by inserting
the words "or the Homeland Security Council" after the words
"National Security Council."
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- GEORGE W. BUSH
- THE WHITE HOUSE,
- October 8, 2001.
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