| Zero Hedge waxes indignant that following a serious emergency the president — George W. Bush in this case — made a point of examining his legal options as chief executive. |
The George W. Bush Presidential Library turned over 500 out of 6,000 pages of the documents, known as "presidential emergency action documents" (PEADs), which "shed troubling new light on the powers that modern presidents claim they possess in moments of crisis," according to the Brennan Center, which obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
PEADs were created during the cold war, when the chance of a Soviet nuclear strike was at its peak. Early drafts reportedly rested on broad interpretations of executive powers. According to official reports from the 1960s, various PEADs authorized the president to enact measures such as suspending habeas corpus, to detain "dangerous persons" within the country, to censor news media, and to prevent international travel.
In light if 9/11, one Bush administration official viewed updating the PEADs an "urgent and compelling security effort, especially in light of ongoing threats."
While the Brennan Center was unable to obtain more recent PEADs, the documents show "some of the most disturbing aspects of early-Cold War emergency action documents" were maintained at least throughout 2008.
Here are the specific findings via the Brennan Center:
CONTROLLING COMMUNICATIONS
At least one of the documents under review was designed to implement the emergency authorities contained in Section 706 of the Communications Act. During World War II, Congress granted the president authority to shut down or seize control of “any facility or station for wire communication” upon proclamation “that there exists a state or threat of war involving the United States.”
This frighteningly expansive language was, at the time, hemmed in by Americans’ limited use of telephone calls and telegrams. Today, however, a president willing to test the limits of his or her authority might interpret “wire communications” to encompass the internet — and therefore claim a “kill switch” over vast swaths of electronic communication.
And indeed, Bush administration officials repeatedly highlighted the statute’s flexibility: it was “very broad,” as one official in the National Security Council scribbled, and it extended “broader than common carriers in FCC [Federal Communications Commission] juris[diction].”
| Other subheads: |
Inhibiting the right to travel
Triggering other emergency powers