Patriot Paranoia, Part II: Hayden Takes on the SPLC's Top Ten Conspiracy Theories – Martial Law and FEMA Camps

Kevin Hayden - TruthisTreason.net

Part II – Martial Law & FEMA Camp Conspiracy Theories

Patriot Paranoia: Hayden Takes on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Top Ten Conspiracy Theories

In this multi-part series, I'll be offering responses to each of the SPLC's Top Ten Conspiracy Theories.    Part 1 – Chemtrails, can be found here.  You can see my other articles covering the SPLC “paranoia” here, here and here as well.

Southern Poverty Law Center‘s Conspiracy Theory #2 - Martial Law

Quoted from their website -
If Patriot groups fear anything more than the water vapor in the sky, it is the imminent imposition of martial law. A longstanding and central plank of the Patriot catechism is the belief that one day — very soon! — federal forces, in league with the states, will suspend constitutional government and institute a police state.

During the first few years after the 9/11 attacks, this fear was also discussed on the left. But what was a temporary concern there has long been an absolute certainty on the far right. Today, hundreds of Patriot groups around the country are actively preparing for the declaration of martial law, some of them by mapping wilderness areas, learning how to set booby traps, studying and practicing guerrilla warfare tactics, and setting up short-wave radio communications systems. The question is not if, but when, the New World Order will come crashing down.

Patriot groups believe the legal groundwork for the inevitable imposition of martial law is being laid in Washington, within the pages of a steady stream of classified National Security documents and directives. At the local level, meanwhile, they suspect town and city governments are also in on the plan, as evidenced by their passing of emergency powers ordinances.

Once the legal mechanisms are in place, all that's needed is a “crisis trigger,” for which Patriots are constantly on the lookout. Whether this trigger is real or manufactured matters less than the fact that it will succeed in frightening the population into submission and be used to justify suspension of the Constitution. This crisis trigger could take any form. Common scenarios suggested on Patriot discussion boards include economic collapse, followed by massive social unrest; a global (and likely government-created) pandemic; multiple acts of mega-terrorism (again, featuring government collusion); or possibly a fraudulent presidential election, resulting in rioting in major cities around the country.

Patriot groups often refer to the unelected junta that will rule the coming police state as a “metropolitan government.” This language, like the martial law scenario, has a long pedigree. As Patriot/survivalist Don Harkin explains in the Idaho Observer, a conspiracy rag popular among militia groups: “Metropolitan government was exposed in the late 1950s by Jo Hindman. … [Today] this unconstitutional form of government is being implemented all over the country — particularly in the nation's more densely populated areas such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.”

Once the “metropolitan government” is instituted, most Patriots are certain they will immediately be rounded up and sent to internment camps — which takes us to our third conspiracy, FEMA Camps.

Southern Poverty Law Center‘s Conspiracy Theory #3 - FEMA Concentration Camps

Following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Domestic Terrorism held hearings on the Patriot/militia subculture that bred and nurtured the bombers. Throughout the hearings, a running theme expressed by Patriots was a fear (Hayden's abbreviated edit:) …[of gun confiscation]…. then send the members of Patriot militias or dissident citizens to internment camps run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which most Patriot groups consider to be “the executive arm of the coming police state.”

The renewed chatter about “FEMA concentration camps” took many forms. Glenn Beck promised to “look into it.” Films such as “Camp FEMA: American Lockdown,” featuring conspiracy-monger Alex Jones, have been wildly popular on conspiracy-driven websites like martiallawsurvival.com, outselling all previous conspiracy-driven pseudo-documentaries. Aerial photographs, each supposedly showing secret government holding facilities, went viral on the Web.  And of course, former Governor and Navy SEAL Jesse Ventura's latest television series looked into the idea of FEMA camps on TRU TV, an episode that went viral within hours of debut.

A careful review of some of the photographs carried out by Popular Mechanics editor James Meigs made clear that the visual “evidence” was bogus in every instance. For example, a photograph of an alleged secret prison was actually a North Korean work camp. Other photographs showed nothing more sinister than well-known National Guard training centers and Amtrak rail yards. (Hayden's Note: Keep this in mind.  While a police officer in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, the Federal officials turned our Amtrak station into an internment camp and prison, complete with large dog kennel-like cells on the rail platform, excessive brutality and employing the NYPD's Dept. of Corrections to handle jail operations.  Much more about this in my rebuttal…)

Just as the agencies responsible for air travel and air quality have tried to respond to the chemtrails conspiracy allegations, so, too, has FEMA gone on record reassuring Americans that it has no intention of abrogating the Constitution or rounding up citizens. An internal FEMA memo, however, made clear that agency brass understands the losing-battle nature of trying to quell the conspiracies. “Most people know us as the agency that responds to natural disasters,” the memo read. “Others believe we have a somewhat sinister role. For the latter, it is not realistic to think that we can convince them otherwise and it is advisable not to enter into debate on the subject.”

Hayden's Note:

For simplicity and because the idea of martial law and internment camps seem to run so closely together, I'll be addressing both subjects in my rebuttal.

Definitions -

FEMA: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Order on 1 April 1979. The primary purpose of FEMA is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities.

Martial Law: …is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis – usually only temporary – when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively (e.g., maintain order and security, and provide essential services), when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread.

As I research the endless ways in which to counter the SPLC's idea that martial law is impossible and irrational, I look to our founding documents for guidance on the fundamentals.  You may be familiar with the Posse Comitatus Act and the original Insurrection Act.  If not;

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Navy, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the US President's ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion. The laws are chiefly contained in 10 U.S.C. § 331 – 10 U.S.C. § 335. The general aim is to limit Presidential power as much as possible, relying on state and local governments for initial response in the event of insurrection. Coupled with the Posse Comitatus Act, Presidential powers for law enforcement are limited and delayed.

 

On September 30, 2006, the Congress modified the Insurrection Act as part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill.

Section 1076 of the law changed Sec. 333 of the “Insurrection Act,” and widened the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States to enforce the laws. Under this act, the President may also deploy troops as a police force during a natural disaster, epidemic, serious public health emergency, terrorist attack, or other condition, when the President determines that the authorities of the state are incapable of maintaining public order. The bill also modified Sec. 334 of the Insurrection Act, giving the President authority to order the dispersal of either insurgents or “those obstructing the enforcement of the laws.” The law changed the name of the chapter from “Insurrection” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order.”

Senator Leahy remarked on September 19, 2006, “we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy….”

Luckily, rational members of Congress were able get it repealed it in it's entirety under the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill.  It should be noted however, when President Bush signed the 2008 Act into law, he also issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize the new limitations.  The reason that this is very important is that it shows the Executive Branch is seeking this power and believes it is entitled to it lawfully.  A basic understanding of the Constitution would quickly prove otherwise.  But did that stop them from trying to gain these powers again?  Most certainly not.

In January of 2010, President Barrack Obama signed Executive Order 13528. This order, which establishes a “Council of Governors” appointed directly by the President, is for the expressed purpose of circumventing The Posse Comitatus and Insurrection Act and building a national/domestic police partnership. The opening statement of this order reads:

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1822 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-181), and in order to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State governments to protect our Nation and its people and property,” it is hereby ordered as follows…

Gary D. Barnett explained it nicely when he said,

“This executive order was issued for one purpose only, and that is to build a “legal” partnership between the federal government's national military force and the domestic police state so that they become one and the same. But in reality, this “partnership” would be controlled by the executive branch of the federal government; this being the most dangerous kind of fascism. Nothing could be more treacherous or more of a threat to liberty than for one man, the president of this now “United State,” to have the power to control and use in domestic matters the entire federal military, the National Guard, the Reserves, the Coast Guard and all state police organizations. This would effectively give the president the power to establish Martial Law over the entire country at any given time of his choosing.”

A lengthy list of other Executive Orders that could easily allow for the complete takeover of the United States, including power, communications, transportation, food and fuel by the Executive Branch can be found in my article here, Martial Law, Economic Meltdown and Executive Orders.

A brief reading of Section 2 of Executive Order 13528 describes and outlines the functions of this new “partnership” and “Council of Governors,” documenting who is involved and what is intended to be shared.  It lists the Dept. of Homeland Security, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, NORTHCOM, Intergovernmental Affairs, Secretary of Defense, National Guard and many, many more.

“Besides the fact that virtually every major agency of force, both federal and domestic, is listed [within Section 2], the one standout is the inclusion of the United States Northern Command or “NORTHCOM.” On October 1st, 2008, the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, an elite combat squad returning from Iraq, became the first active-duty military unit to be dedicated and deployed for domestic duties. They are under direct control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of NORTHCOM. In addition, 20,000 more federal troops are to be added before 2011. Of course, this violates the Posse Comitatus Act and the original Insurrection Act; those two acts that forbid the federal government from using the military for domestic law enforcement…”

Hurricane Katrina & Martial Law, 2005

During Hurricane Katrina, I was able to witness many of these breaches of the Posse Comitatus Act and Insurrection Act firsthand.  As a New Orleans police officer, I was on the front lines of the chaos that ensued and was able to witness many things you only see in movies, in some far off 3rd world country.  And this was very clearly done before the Posse Comitatus and Insurrection Acts were ever modified; this was long before the President's new Executive Order and Council of Governors.  This was during a period where it was clearly defined in the law - Federal Troops can NOT be used for domestic law enforcement. 

Many people mention this when talking of the standoff that happened in Waco, Texas many years ago at the Branch Davidian building.  The ATF and other Federal agencies were at a stand-still and requested military vehicles and support.  Publicly, they were turned down due to the Posse Comitatus Act.  The military could not assist the Federal Agents in enforcing domestic laws.

But in New Orleans, no one seemed to care when the Humvees rolled down Bourbon Street, with thermal-imaging cameras mounted on the roof and federally-controlled troops at the helm (first on-scene were the Oklahoma National Guard due to the Louisiana National Guard being deployed overseas, therefore both under Federal control).  Everything from Chinook helicopters to Blackhawks, combat medics to infantry were patrolling the neighborhoods and streets of New Orleans.  Although completely illegal, it went unspoken due to the deteriorated state that the city was in.  Months passed and the troops were still on the streets, in an ever-increasing presence with assault weapons.  Federal troops began making traffic stops in their Humvees, displaying red and blue police lights or simply boxing vehicles in and forcing them to physically stop. They began making municipal and state arrests, including narcotics violations, stolen vehicles and simple trespassing.  It continued escalating, with the police department starting to train many of them in how to write NOPD incident reports and arrest reports.

By the next year, during Mardi Gras (February and March 2006), troops under Federal control were assigned to the parade routes and major intersections.  Large infantry trucks and Humvees were seen everywhere throughout the city.  Uniformed troops were posted at street corners, weapons slung at the low-ready.  But no one said anything.

I was assigned to the parade route, as I volunteered for it each year due to the community interaction.  I began talking with several soldiers, asking them under what authority were they able to block streets, carry weapons within the city and enforce our local and state laws?  Several seemed stunned by my questions and had no answer.  One intrepid young MP pulled a folded-up paper from his pocket and presented it to me.  It was a faded, copied page from the Governor's original Declaration of Emergency.

He simply said, without being able to explain, “That gives us the power to be the police…that's why we're here.”  I looked at him in amazement, speechless.  I had to explain to him in very blunt terms that he was not a police officer.  He was not a commissioned member of any law enforcement agency and most certainly was not a sworn officer, vested with the authority and responsibility to enforce New Orleans municipal law and state codes.  His only rebuttal was his little folded paper, yet again.

The stories that I've heard and the incidents I've witnessed from Hurricane Katrina would frighten most if they ever heard them and give pause for the reality of martial law here in America, even for the staunchest of government supporters.

Amtrak Railyard Detention Centers

I've heard a million and one stories about Amtrak railyards being used for internment and detention.  I've seen the YouTube videos of large railyards, supposedly ready to house thousands within their barbed-wire fences and herded onto railcars like cattle.  While some videos are rather interesting, they provide hardly any credible information or evidence of their actual purpose – only speculation and assumptions.

On or around the middle of September, 2005, when the Federal agencies and other supporting departments arrived in New Orleans to assist with Katrina and began setting up their camps and getting settled in, I began to witness some very disturbing events.  At the time, I had been a police officer for roughly two years; still with my rookie mentality of “arrest everyone, let the Judge sort'em out!”  But Katrina changed that very rapidly.

While patrolling the streets of New Orleans, I would pass literal convoys of NYPD and California Highway Patrol cars, headed the opposite direction on some unknown assignment.  Lacking radio communication with the hundreds of various agencies in town, it was impossible to coordinate anything unless a liason was assigned to that particular unit.  With 600 deserters within the NOPD alone, that task was simply impossible and so these other agencies were, at best, being directed by the Feds and very loosely and vaguely from the top brass of the New Orleans Police Department.

Due to the flood waters engulfing Central Lock-up (the nation's largest municipal jail, even though it served a city of only 500k), the Union Passenger Terminal (Amtrak station) located at 1001 Loyola Ave was turned into the new lock-up.  My first interaction with this place was when my partner and I had arrested a looter who was a bit unruly.  After 15 minutes of lousy radio communications and trying to figure out where to take prisoners, we were directed to the Amtrak station.  While enroute, the arrested subject continued to spit at my partner and I, constantly tried to bite us and once inside the Amtrak Station, began cursing and screaming at everyone who would look his way.  While this happens occasionally with drunks, apparently those in charge of the new “detention center” were none too thrilled.

We were approached by several uniformed members of the New York Police Department's Correctional team, who were effectively operating and in command of the jail in New Orleans.  After placing a bag over the subject's head, they took him towards a back room that was cordoned off.  The arrested subject was kicking, screaming and fighting the entire way down the hall.  After six or seven minutes had passed, they returned with the prisoner, who was now crying and apologizing.  He was then handed off to another DoC member who eventually took him out to the rail platform where large dog kennel-like cages were placed in between the support beams of the platform.  Each cage had a porta-john toilet and nothing else, many of them housing anywhere from five to fifteen prisoners.  Officers from various agencies stood guard on the platform, some visibly armed with shotguns.

During my many trips to this “detention camp,”  the cages were always filled with arrestees yelling for a phone call, to speak with their attorney or asking what they were being charged with.  Some were even asking where they were at.  Many times, the response from the law enforcement agents standing watch would be a 12 gauge beanbag round fired into the thigh or pelvis.

Martial Law Mentality

Over the next few weeks, things began operating somewhat smoother, with municipal logistics starting to regain their composure but the police, Feds and military still controlled every faucet of the city, including anyone coming into or attempting to exit New Orleans.  Effectively, the city was under lock and key and you could not move without fear of being arrested, shot or harrassed by anyone from the California Highway Patrol, Border Patrol, FBI, military, local cops, Texas Rangers, small town sheriffs from Nebraska or Utah, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the plethora of SWAT Teams who had descended upon the city, some even driving cross-country in their armored vehicles.  Even the police weren't safe – several were threatened by foreign private security contractors, namely the Israelis, and denied access to certain streets and neighborhoods.

The city imposed a strict curfew, with everyday citizens getting caught in the net while many of the criminal element knew how to avoid the police and went unscathed.  Businesses of all types began to be harrassed – diners, cafes, coffe shops and especially bars.  Many times, a half dozen Humvees would roll up to these businesses and order everyone to disperse under threat of arrest.  Obviously, most people immediately complied but after awhile, people began to resist this oppressive tactic.  Businesses began locking their doors shortly before curfew times in order to discourage customers being out after the city-mandated decree and also to avoid the penalties for having patrons inside after 7 or 8pm.  But even then, troops and local cops would threaten to kick in the doors if they were not granted immediate access.  Mass arrests were soon made at numerous cafes and bars, many times an hour before the city-imposed curfew took effect.

I happened to respond to one of these events.  When I arrived on scene, I found a dozen troops with M16 rifles and another dozen NOPD officers huddled around four citizens, all handcuffed together.  Some of them were crying, some were just silently sobbing, asking what was going on.  When one particular Sergeant's authority was questioned by a small female, he slapped her and exclaimed, “Take'em all to jail!  F*ck'em!  Write'em up for curfew charges…”  At this point I intervened and began asking what exactly he planned to charge them with as there were no city or state laws regarding curfews for adults.  When I tried to explain to him that if he wanted to proceed properly, he would have to find the emergency powers act and cite specific sections of that for the violation – instead, he said it was easier to simply arrest them all using the the municipal Juvenile Curfew code.

Something to take note of is that these were regular citizens, trying to rebuild their lives and make sense out of just losing everything they owned, myself included.  These were not looters, criminals or insurgents.  These were doctors, construction workers, students, relief and medical responders and of course the famous New Orleans restaurant personnel.

After arguing with the Sgt. and other officers for a bit, I was instructed to “get off the scene…”  The sheer mentality of what I was witnessing was that of power-hungry, jack-booted Nazi thugs.  This doesn't even scratch the surface of what happened during those months, including officer-involved murders, mass theft and blatant looting by law enforcement, including Lt's and Captains, and more.

My point is that when traditional social rules break down, it takes only days – if not mere hours for a Gestapo-like police state to exist.  In fact, even without outside influences and legal precedants, many police officers will naturally progress towards this herd mentality, especially if encouraged or informed that they have special/emergency authority.  In an almost tribal sort of way, the police department fractured and groups of officers began doing anything they wanted.  Some maintained their patrols and attempted to provide law and order.  Some took over private homes, others took over businesses, schools or gas stations.  Other groups of officers merely went on killing sprees, literally.  No business or personal property was safe due to the police having been granted [falsely] “the authority to seize and confiscate what was needed,” even from private possession with absolutely zero oversight.

Gun Confiscation Under Martial Law

Obviously, I can't mention New Orleans and Katrina without touching on the rampant gun confiscation that occurred.  The NRA, ABC, Fox and many more reported on this at length but focused on what Superintendent of Police Compass said when he stated, “…no one will be armed…only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns….”  What many of the mainstream media failed to address was the literal door-to-door searches that were conducted by the military and various police agencies.  By now, most people have seen or read about the elderly lady who had her revolver brutally confiscated from her.  But what goes unsaid is the fact that members of the New Orleans Police Dept and supporting military units were instructed to seize all firearms in an effort to “take back the city.”  While searching each house for bodies or survivors, officers would “confiscate” any firearms discovered in empty homes.  Very few of these ever made it into the hastily-set up “Central Evidence & Property” location.   Even when citizens were encountered with legally owned firearms, they were disarmed at gunpoint, brutally beaten with 2×4′s, pipes or pistol-whipped and most have never been able to recover their weapons, even 5 years later.

Reports from a group who were crossing the Ponchartrain Lake by boat to enter the city state that St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Deputies stopped and boarded their boat, seized all firearms and ordered them to turn around.

One citizen, JoAnn Guidos, owned a pub in New Orleans.  After the hurricane, she kept the pub open for two weeks serving drinks and food to neighborhood people, law enforcement officers, and press.  She didn't want to evacuate because she was afraid of looters coming through and destroying the place and burning it down, which she claimed happened all around the area.

After a couple weeks, Guidos and friends decided to lock up and leave, since it was still very hot and humid and there was still no power.  While loading up her van to leave she had her Browning shotgun and .38 revolver on her, when five U.S. Marshals armed with M-16s saw her and forced her to give up her weapons.  Despite her request, no ID nor receipts were given by the Marshals.

In November of 2008 she completed the paperwork to receive her weapons, and never heard back.  The New Orleans city attorney Papai claimed he contacted her several times, and even showed a letter he sent to her, but the letter was dated three weeks previous to her filing of the paperwork.

I could cite hundreds of examples of this, but the clear fact is that law enforcement and city leaders took it upon themselves to disarm the population and violate their 2nd amendment rights.  The water had long ago receded and dried up; their reasoning behind violating citizen's rights were due to the power and lights still being out and theft occurring.  As the Southern Poverty Law Center would have you believe, conspiracy theorists think that some major, national disaster must occur (“some “trigger”"), ending all life as we know it before martial law and gun confiscation begin.  All it took in New Orleans was a flood and suddenly Federal, State and local officials threw their sworn oaths in the trashcan and began acting like lawless rogues - all on their own.

National Level Exercises and FEMA Camps

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other government institutions conducted an 8-day anti-terror and disaster exercise from May 1st through May 8th 2008 called National Level Exercise 2-08. I covered this exercise in great detail while I was still on the air, co-hosting the radio show Truth is Treason using press releases from FEMA and U.S. Northern Command as source material.

According to those reports, the federal government had leased out the entire National Cattle Congress fairgrounds until May 25th for the exercise and began moving large trailers, mobile homes, barbed-wire fencing and electrical and mechanical systems such as heating and air into the fairgrounds.  Initial speculation and theories thought that the involvement of ICE was a cover for a FEMA Camp-type drill.  I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and personally believed that it was merely another emergency/disaster preparation drill.  I soon realized that I was horribly mistaken.

According to the Des Moines Register's report;

“Tim Counts, a Midwest spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to say Monday whether an immigration raid is pending that would use the fairgrounds as a detention center.  He declined to say whether the “exercise” involves training or an immigration enforcement operation.”

Representatives of Gov. Chet Culver and U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley said they had no information about what was happening at the Cattle Congress fairgrounds.

At Grassley's request, his staff called ICE officials on Monday.

“During the call, the ICE officials would neither confirm nor deny anything to Senator Grassley's staff,” said Beth Pellett Levine, a Grassley aide.

The apparent involvement of FEMA and ICE indicated that the purpose of this exercise was to test their FEMA camp deployment apparatus using the round-up of illegal aliens as a test case.  And that's exactly what happened soon after setting up.

Several large busses and SUVs pulled into the AgriProcessors, Inc. factory nearby and conducted a raid, searching for illegal aliens.  After arresting a large number of illegals, they were transported back to the Fairgrounds for processing and questioning.  Most were released after processing and a brief detention, citing “humanitarian reasons.”  ICE and FEMA then packed up and left town.  Many believe that this was simply a live-fire exercise for both agencies to test inter-operability when having to process hundreds or thousands of citizens.  Otherwise, why was it an official “National Level Exercise”?  Most NLEs are merely disaster training with fake victims, such as a simulated airplace crash, toxic spill or similar.  They don't actually conduct raids with live rounds and make arrests.

The instances and examples of FEMA concentration-like camps or exercises is endless.  I have yet to form the opinion that the Powers That Be are actually setting up and preparing these internment camps, but then again… what happened to the American-Asian population after World War II?  Many were rounded up and placed in detention camps.  With the fast pace of technology today and the ever-increasing use of secret prisons, torture, “black-bagging” and warrantless spying, it would be incredibly easy for government agents to create a vast database of “dissidents.”  We already see the beginnings of these sort of “lists” with the “No-Fly List,” Fusion Center Intelligence Reports on harmless political activists and rallies, and more.  Like all naturally-progressing entities, who or what could stop this sort of action?

HR 645 and SB 3476

Many FEMA camp theorists make mention of either H.R. 645, which was introduced in 2009 or Senate Bill 3476, introduced in 2010 when citing examples of government-sponsored internment camps.  While reading the latest version of the bills, titled ‘National Emergency Centers Establishment Act' does give pause for concern, so far there has been no concrete evidence of nefarious intentions or use.  The rationale behind this theory is that the legislation serves as a mechanism of control and legality if the authorities need facilities to hold large amounts of dissenting people or insurgents.

In the bill, it suggests building “Emergency Centers” on military installations in the respective FEMA zones of operation with an initial budget of $180 million.  The Centers are defined as being a place where “refugees” or victims of a catastrophic event could be temporarily housed and fed.  While the initial budget isn't much when compared to the billions of dollars poured into Dept of Defense projects and intelligence operations, the bill targets military bases that can be easily converted or refurbished – some not needing anything more than the power to be restored.  So just how much chainlink fencing and barbed wire can $180,000,000 buy?

But what about the other indicators or suspicious pieces of legislation?  Let's look at a few additional pieces of circumstantial evidence…

Army Regulation 210–35

Civilian Inmate Labor Program

Chapter 1
Introduction

1–1. Purpose
This regulation provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison
camps on Army installations. Sources of civilian inmate labor are limited to on– and off–post Federal corrections
facilities, State and/or local corrections facilities operating from on–post prison camps pursuant to leases under Section
2667, Title 10, United States Code…

While most of this Army regulation is innoculous, it sets the groundwork required to implement any actual detention camps on military installations.  Currently, it only pertains to civilian inmates already in custody and only through those prison bodies that have an agreement to provide no-cost labor to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  Many county jails and state prisons have this agreement in-place because it carries with it some benefits and perks.

While this is extremely circumstantial, it does add to the speculation and theories regarding future internment camps.  Let's continue on to some more legislation…

Rex 84 – Readiness Exercise 1984

Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, is a contingency plan developed by the United States Federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens who were deemed to be “national security threats”, in the event that the President declared a “State of Domestic National Emergency”. The plan stated that events that might cause such a declaration would be widespread U.S. opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad, such as if the United States were to directly invade Central America.  To combat what the government perceived as “subversive activities” by American citizens, the plan also authorized the military to directly order movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels.

Rex 84 was written by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, who was both the National Security Council White House Aide and NSC liaison to FEMA, and John Brinkerhoff, the deputy director of “national preparedness” programs for FEMA.  They patterned the plan on a 1970 report written by FEMA chief Louis Giuffrida, at the Army War College, which proposed the detention of up to 21 million “American Negroes”, if there were a black militant uprising in the United States.  Existence of a master military contingency plan (of which REX-84 was a part), “Garden Plot” and a similar earlier exercise, “Lantern Spike” were originally revealed by journalist Ron Ridenhour, who summarized his findings in “Garden Plot and the New Action Army.”

A great book to read for similar information on Rex 84 and civil disturbance being a trigger for martial law is Police State America: US Military ‘Civil Disturbance' Planning

In shocking detail, the meticulously researched articles in this anthology expose the national security state's blueprint for destroying the Republic and crushing dissent. Deploying ‘civil disturbance' strategies as part of a comprehensive doctrine of ‘homeland defense', police, national guard and Army counterinsurgency units are gearing up for ‘operations other than war' in US cities. Contributors include Frank Morales, Michael Novick, Ron Ridenhour, Arthur Lubow, Mitzi Waltz and Douglas Valentine.

Banker Bailout and Threats of Martial Law

During House debate on the banker “rescue” bill in October of 2008, Rep. Brad Sherman told his fellow Congressmen the government will declare martial law and the stock market will drop 3,000 points if the bill is not passed.

“The panic-mongers were to the point of telling people the market would drop 3,000 points and there would be martial law,” said Sherman.

Sherman's comment was not in the same context as a comment issued by Rep. Michael Burgess earlier that week. Burgess had stated Pelosi threatened to invoke House rule XIII(6)(a), described as “martial law,” intended to suspend normal procedures and safeguards and thus allowing the House leadership to operate in a more authoritarian fashion.  Representative Sherman, however, said the threats of martial law that were conveyed to him were aimed at Wall Street and Main Street and not used in a Congressional manner.

Whether key players in the Federal government intended to instill fear about “Congressional Martial Law” in order to get the bill passed or actual martial law on the streets of America is up to debate, depending on who's side you're on.  Regardless, Congressional martial law is something to be concerned about as well, especially when regarding such a massive, important bill as the Bailout was.  To instill fear and terror in order to accomplish a political agenda is called terrorism.

Closing Arguments

While much of this is circumstantial, there is a growing amount of legislation and evidence pointing towards the fact that the Federal Government might be considering martial law – either as a pre-emptive strike against dissidents within America or as a retalitory, defensive measure against some “triggering event,” such as the current economic meltdown.  If Americans were to start taking to the streets as we've seen in France, Greece and elsewhere, we very well might see some of these measures put into place.

Again, my point is not to prove that martial law is being planned or whether FEMA camps exist.  Instead, I seek to merely counter the Southern Poverty Law Center's notion that martial law is impossible and irrational or simply a product of extremist views.  At this current junction of America, nothing is impossible.

With the conclusion of Theories 1, 2 and 3, we move on to #4 – Foreign Troops on US Soil.

#1 Chemtrails

#2 Martial Law

#3 FEMA Camps

#4 Foreign Troops on U.S. Soil

#5 ‘Door-to-Door' Gun Confiscations

#6 9/11 as Government Plot

#7 Population Control

#8 HAARP

#9 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy

#10 The North American Union

This article was originally published on Nov 17, 2010 @ 22:20

Related posts:

1. Patriot Paranoia: Hayden Takes on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Top Ten Conspiracy Theories
2. Gerald Celente: Economic Martial Law Will be Declared
3. Martial Law, Economic Meltdown & Executive Orders