The Emperor's New Succession Directive

PAUL MELLON heard it on KGO radio out of San Francisco. The Bernie Ward show. That's what we old folks do. We lie awake at night and listen for news of the revolution -- or the suppression of the revolution, which is what Paul heard: On May 9, Paul wrote:

Bush has issued an Executive Order giving the President power over all three branches of government in the case of a national emergency. Of course, the definition of an emergency is wide open to interpretation. Further, [Bush] says he is doing this to protect the Constitution, by taking control of the Judicial and Legislative branches.

I looked it up. It was National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20. It was released on May 9 in the dullest possible, lengthy, detailed manner from the Office of the Press Secretary.

The report establishes a "comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations" and establishes "a single National Continuity Coordinator" responsible for ... wait for it ... "coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies."  See what I mean? That it's been 11 days and it's just hitting the blogosphere?! and forget the national press for at least another week.

Some of the directive is old stuff -- the COOP (Continuity of Operations) plan, for example that will "ensure Primary MIssion-Essential Functions" continue to operate in bureaucracies...that's been around for several years.  But some stuff is brand new and certainly worth a long, critical look.

1. The National Continuity Coordinator is a new job, and the person who will hold that job is the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Frances Fragos Townsend (above) , a 46-year-old mother of young boys. Townsend is a former assistant commandant for intelligence at the Coast Guard, and before that, 13 years at DOJ, "in a variety of senior positions." The appointment to this new role came the day after it was mentioned on CNN that she might be named to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General (Townsend is an attorney and a former ADA in Brooklyn, and a former US attorney in the Southern District of New York).

2. Townsend is to submit to Bush, by August 9, a National Continuity Implementation Plan, that will go into effect when there is a "catastrophic emergency," which means

"any 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."

And there's the rub. Parse that sentence carefully. "Regardless of location"? Does that mean a nuclear attack between, say, India and Pakistan, could result in the President taking control of all branches of government on the basis that it "severely" affects our "economy"?

In a Diary on Daily Kos, Pinche Tejano discusses the issue thoroughly and elicits (to date) over 500 comments, some of which are full of information and insight, both in placing this Directive in historical perspective (all Presidents have had some sort of similar plan) and as to its unique (and, therefore, threatening to democratic principles) angles.