Don't want to be alarmist about this, but these three simultaneous items together are really jarring.
- First, without any discussion or warning, Bush announced Wednesday that he has extended the terrorism-related state of National Emergency he declared after 9/11.
- Second, a Washington Post columnist tells us that yesterday was the kickoff of "GRANITE SHADOW", a massive Pentagon exercise simulating the declaration of a martial law in Washington, DC. Military special forces and intelligence officers have, in fact, been deployed in force -- wearing civilian clothes -- in the streets of the capitol.
- Third, Bush is going to Colorado Springs on Saturday, HQ of Northern Command (NORCOM), we are told to monitor Hurricane Rita response efforts. NORCOM is the operational headquarters that is simultaneously running the GRANITE SHADOW operation.
Of course, this comes on the eve of the largest anti-war demonstration in DC in 35 years.
More below . . .
1)
Notice of September 21, 2005--Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism
Presidential Documents
_______________________
Title 3--
The President
Notice of September 21, 2005
Continuation of the National Emergency With
Respect to Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or
Support Terrorism
On September 23, 2001, by Executive Order 13224, I
declared a national emergency with respect to persons
who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism,
pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706). I took this action to deal
with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the
national security, foreign policy, and economy of the
United States constituted by the grave acts of
terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign
terrorists, including the terrorist attacks in New
York, in Pennsylvania, and against the Pentagon
committed on September 11, 2001, and the continuing and
immediate threat of further attacks against United
States nationals or the United States. Because the
actions of these persons who commit, threaten to
commit, or support terrorism continue to pose an
unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States,
the national emergency declared on September 23, 2001,
and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that
emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 23,
2005. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of
the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am
continuing for 1 year the national emergency with
respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or
support terrorism.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register
and transmitted to the Congress.
(Presidential Sig.)B
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 21, 2005.
Filed 9-21-05; 1:07 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/e ...
**
2)
Now, read this:
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2005/09/to ...
William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security
Today in DC: Commandos in the Streets?
Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow "demonstration."
Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military's extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.
A spokesman at the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR) confirmed the existence of Granite Shadow to me yesterday, but all he would say is that Granite Shadow is the unclassified name for a classified plan.
SNIP
When that "area of operations" is the United States, things become particularly sensitive.
That's where Granite Shadow comes in. U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), the military's new homeland security command, is preparing its draft version of CONPLAN 0400 for military operations in the United States, and the resulting Granite Shadow plan has been classified above Top Secret by adding a Special Category (SPECAT) compartment restricting access.
The sensitivities, according to military sources, include deployment of "special mission units" (the so-called Delta Force, SEAL teams, Rangers, and other special units of Joint Special Operations Command) in Washington, DC and other domestic hot spots. NORTHCOM has worked closely with U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), as well as the secret branches of non-military agencies and departments to enforce "unity of command" over any post 9/11 efforts.
Further, Granite Shadow posits domestic military operations, including intelligence collection and surveillance, unique rules of engagement regarding the use of lethal force, the use of experimental non-lethal weapons, and federal and military control of incident locations that are highly controversial and might border on the illegal.
Granite Shadow is the twin to Power Geyser, a program I first revealed to The New York Times in January. The JFHQ spokesman confirms that Granite Shadow and Power Geyser are two different unclassified names for two different classified plans.
In the case of Power Geyser, the classified plan is CJCS CONPLAN 0300, whose entire title is classified. According the military documents, the unclassified title is "Counter-Terrorism Special Operations Support to Civil Agencies in the event of a domestic incident." It is another Top Secret/SPECAT plan directing the same special mission units to provide weapons of mass destruction recovery and "render safe" in either a terrorist incident or in the case of a stolen (or lost) nuclear weapon. Render safe refers to the ability of explosive ordnance disposal experts to isolate and disarm any type of biological, chemical, nuclear or radiological weapon.
SNIP
There's still time. The full-scale exercise of Granite Shadow's capabilities and procedures doesn't start until April 2006.
A note to readers: Today begins a weekly feature of Early Warning, namely code name of the week. This will endeavor to discuss some secret program of the government, sometimes with an argument that the secrecy is excessive, sometime with far more questions than answers.
**
3)
NYT: Bush will "ride out the storm" at NorCom HQ in Colorado Springs
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/national/nationalspec ...
After today's Texas photo-op, according to the Times:
He then intends to fly to Colorado Springs, the White House said, to ride out the storm at the headquarters of the Northern Command.
Mr. Bush can monitor the hurricane from the Northern Command's operations center, where oversight of the military response to crises in the United States is managed. It is at an airfield just across town from Cheyenne Mountain, where the military once monitored the Soviet Union for nuclear missile launching.
****
So, Mr. President, who is it who still poses such an extraordinary, immediate threat to our lives and safety? I am not so bothered by your potential power to declare martial law -- you could always do that in a true emergency -- as by the demonstrated fact that terrorist strikes seem to shadow the very exercises that are designed to prepare us for them. I refer, of course, to what happened on both 9/11 and 7/7 during pre-scheduled simulated attacks in New York, Washington and London.
- Copyright 2005, Mark G. Levey