- Harper's magazine investigative reporter Christopher
Ketcham says that the federal government's secret "Continuity in Governance"
program is much more than a contingency plan to provide safe havens for
high government officials during a national crisis. After interviewing
half a dozen former government officials with direct knowledge of the program,
he was left with the impression that it was also about using a national
emergency to justify rounding up potential dissidents who oppose government
power. "According to a senior government officialThere exists a database
of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are
considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated.
The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost
instantaneously."
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- Scott Horton, Ketcham's colleague at Harpers comments
that "He and other sources tell Radar (the publication where Ketcham
originally published his research) that the database is sometimes referred
to by the code nameMain Core [aka the "RED" list]. One knowledgeable
source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially
suspect. [I believe there are sub lists within this database that focus
directly upon "patriots" who hold strong views about constitutional
limits upon government power and their own civil rights. In the event of
a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from
heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly
even detention.]
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- "Ketcham starts his narrative with former Deputy
Attorney General James Comey's dramatic disclosures about the nighttime
visit that Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card paid on an ailing, hospitalized
John Ashcroft [US Attorney General]. They whipped out papers and pressed
the sedated Ashcroft to sign them. In what has come to be viewed as the
most noble act of his term, Ashcroft angrily sent Gonzales and Card on
their way. Comey later provided a riveting account of this incident, under
oath, in Congressional testimony.
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- "So what was this program all about? Speculation
for months has focused on a massive surveillance program that skirted the
criminal law restrictions contained in the FISA statute. Maybe. But Ketcham
suggests there is more. He focuses on the Government's super-secret Continuity
of Governance program--its plans for government following a catastrophe,
such as a devastating attack or massive natural disaster.
-
- "Ketcham goes on to explain how the database would
be used and who's on the list. And surely Congress is keeping an eye on
this program, yes? No, not really. And when civil libertarians raise concerns
about the treatment of detainees in Guantánamo and other legal black
holes fashioned by the Bush Administration, they are told that this is
designed only for the 'worst of the worst,' never for U.S. citizens. But
experience has shown that such divisions rarely stand; abusive practices
break through the barriers set in place for them."
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- This information, coupled with the evil legal precedent
established by judge Michael Luttig means that any number of patriotic
constitutionalists can be herded into concentration camps without due process
and disappear forever with no right to habeas corpus. Luttig's September
9, 2005 opinion, written for a 3-judge panel Fourth Circuit Court ruling
in the Jose Padilla case, said the government could arrest any citizen
on American soil and keep them prisoner indefinitely as long as they did
not charge them with a crime -all to avoid the constitutional requirement
for a speedy trial. This can be done, Luttig said, simply by designating
them an "enemy combatant."
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- World Affairs Brief - Commentary and Insights on
a Troubled World
-
- Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution
permitted.
-
- Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief <http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com> http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
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