Difference between revisions of "NSPD 51 / HSPD 20"

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==Overview==
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K412gw Thanks for good post
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[[NSPD 51 / HSPD 20]] is a policy statement issued by [[US president]] [[George W. Bush]] on 2007-05-09, as both a National Security directive and a Homeland Security directive. It sets forth guidelines under which the [[US government]] would [[Continuity of Government (US)|continue operating]] in the event of a national emergency; these guidelines include essentially unlimited authority for the president.
 
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It was apparently released by the President on his own authority, without any kind of approval process.
 
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===Status===
 
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Bush would appear to have already declared a "national emergency" in 2003, so the provisions of the NSHSPD are ready to be put into effect at any time (or would the minor difference in phrasing, "national emergency" vs. "catastrophic emergency", actually make a difference? Who would be in a position to decide the legality of an invocation of this directive, and is that person already in Bush's pocket?):
 
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* '''2003-05-22''' [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522-15.html Executive Order Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has An Interest]: "This situation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat."
 
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===Aliases/Keywords===
 
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* NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE - NSPD51
 
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* HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE - HSPD20
 
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===Key Concepts===
 
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* The definition of [[Catastrophic Emergency (NSHSPD)|Catastrophic Emergency]]: 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.
 
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* [[Continuity of Government (US)|Continuity of Government]] ('''COG'''): a coordinated effort within the Federal Government's executive branch to ensure that [[National Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|National Essential Functions]] continue to be performed during a [[Catastrophic Emergency (NSHSPD)|Catastrophic Emergency]].
 
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* [[Continuity of Operations (US government)|Continuity of Operations]] ('''COOP'''): an effort within individual executive departments and agencies to ensure that [[Primary Mission-Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|Primary Mission-Essential Functions]] continue to be performed during a wide range of emergencies, including localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological or attack-related emergencies.
 
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* [[Enduring Constitutional Government (NSHSPD)|Enduring Constitutional Government]] ('''ECG'''): a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of [[wikipedia:comity|comity]] with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional [[separation of powers]] among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the [[National Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|National Essential Functions]] during a [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]].
 
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* [[National Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|National Essential Functions]] ('''NEF'''s): that subset of Government Functions that are necessary to lead and sustain the Nation during a catastrophic emergency and that, therefore, must be supported through [[Continuity of Operations (US government)|COOP]] and [[Continuity of Government (US)|COG]] capabilities.
 
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* [[Primary Mission Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|Primary Mission Essential Functions]] ('''PMEF'''s): those Government Functions that must be performed in order to support or implement the performance of [[National Essential Functions (NSHSPD)|NEFs]] before, during, and in the aftermath of an emergency.
 
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* [[Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (US)|Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions]] ('''COGCON'''), a system that "establishes executive branch continuity program readiness levels, focusing on possible threats to the National Capital Region" – from the sound of it, something similar to the color-coded terror threat level system but reporting on governmental readiness to deal with threat rather than the threat itself, though the language is vague enough that it remains to be seen what measures will be required by the COGCON system under various conditions.
 
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===The Real Threat: An Inside Job?===
 
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Many have interpreted this directive as '''the President giving himself the ability to assume unlimited authority''' – by:
 
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* defining the president's authority as unlimited in a "catastrophic emergency", and
 
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* giving the president the authority to declare such an emergency.
 
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Both of the following must be evaluated in light of this directive in order to determine if this theory holds water:
 
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* the nature of the president's power with regard to declaration of [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]]
 
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* the nature of the powers granted to the president when a [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]] has been declared
 
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'''First''', what does the directive say about declaring an emergency?
 
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* The '''definition''' of [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]] requires "extraordinary levels of '''mass casualties, damage, or disruption''' severely affecting the '''U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function'''". Presumably, nobody has the power to declare a [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]] if it doesn't meet those criteria.
 
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'''The mildest conditions''' which meet the requirements for a [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]], then, would seem to be "extraordinary levels of disruption severely affecting the economy" or "...severely affecting government function". Does this allow Bush to, say, declare that a really bad day on Wall Street represents "extraordinary levels of disruption severely affecting the economy"? Or perhaps the next major scandal involving multiple members of the administration would involve "extraordinary levels of disruption severely affecting government function"? How can we determine what verbal stretching and twisting the president might be able to get away with, especially in the context of a disruptive situation (of a level sufficient to cause confusion but not representing any kind of near-term national threat)?
 
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* As far as the '''power to declare''' a [[catastrophic emergency (NSHSPD)|catastrophic emergency]], assuming that actual conditions arguably meet the criteria above, the directive itself ''seems'' only to go so far as establishing the [[Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (US)|COGCON]] system, which ''seems'' merely to be a system for determining ''readiness'' levels, not ''threat'' levels, and giving the president the ability to "determine and issue the COGCON Level"..
 
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'''However''', according to the [[DMSO Mission Assurance Lexicon]], COGCON is:
 
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{{quoteon}}
 
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A rating system specifically designed to relate COOP actions to threat and alert posture. The new system, COOP COGCON, shows actions designated by ratings of 1 through 4, with 1 being the highest, that should be accomplished when the government’s "level of concern" changes from a range of Guarded (i.e., COGCON 4) to High (COGCON 1).
 
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{{quoteoff}}
 
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This sounds very much like a threat level assessment of the sort which could be used to order that [[Catastrophic Emergency]] measures be taken. More research is needed to find out just what degree of control is given to the president by giving him the ability to set the COGCON level. Primary question: '''where is the substance of [[Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (US)|COGCON]]?''' Either way, one of the two documents is in error: the Lexicon document explains COGCON as defining "actions designated" to be taken under different "level(s) of concern", while the Presidential Directive implies that COGCON does nothing more than establish "executive branch continuity program readiness levels".
 
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It should be noted that using underhanded text-shuffling tactics to enhance his own powers as president would be entirely consistent with earlier actions by Bush, both [[Bush's elevation of presidential powers|while in office]] and prior to arriving there ''(need article about Bush's classifying of his own official papers as Governor; also the trick of making an erroneous claim of fact, which the media then repeats as fact without checking it, which Bush then reiterates later as fact citing the media as a source)''.
 
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==

Revision as of 08:10, 1 January 2009

K412gw Thanks for good post

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