Break in Case of Emergency?

02Jun07

A presidential directive, NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51 / HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-20, outlines a plan for use in case of “catastrophic” emergencies such as a terrorist attack or a major natural disaster. Called an “National Continuity Policy”, the plan supersedes the 1998 Presidential Decision Directive 67, which was designed to ensure the continuation of constitutional government.

This directive has liberal bloggers and conspiracy theorists up in arms. Posts on how twisted the idea is to break the constitution in order to preserve it sprung up. They are furious about the line “The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government.” and how this has not received any mainstream press coverage. Their fears are probably best summarized by this clip from V for Vendetta

Excuse the poor quality of the copyrighted content…

But really, this is again another example of why I’m very reluctant to associate myself with the hard left. If you actually read the directive, the lines preceding the controversial statement indicate symbolic presidential leadership in order to reassure the country and maintain stability during crisis. Everything after the statement outline emergency plans to be executed within the executive branch. The directive states that each branch of government has its own continuation plan, and each plan will be coordinated with their counterparts in other branches to ensure the continuation of the government as a whole. So there is no need to worry about Bush centralizing all the power into the executive and becoming a dictator.

But I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed.

via dvorak

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