However, Corsi and everyone else is missing the bigger point: Bush has already declared a national emergency. Indeed, Bush declared one in September of 2001, and has renewed the state of emergency each year up to the present.
And we are likely already under martial law via the Continuity of Government plans. (See this, this, this and this).
So what Does NSPD-51 Really Do?
While I have no hard facts which explain why Bush issued NSPD-51, I have a theory. Specifically, I believe that NSPD-51 may have been issued for three reasons:
(1) To consolidate all governmental power in the White House. For example, the Washington Post states "former Bush administration officials said the directive formalizes a shift of authority away from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House". And the Boston Globe states that NSPD-51 has the effect of "moving such doomsday planning for the first time from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to officials inside the White House" and that "security specialists and administration officials said the new policy centralizes control of such planning in the White House");
(2) To get around the provisions of the National Emergency Act, which limits the ability of the White House to seize power, and requires certain notifications to Congress; and
(3) To create a red herring or smokescreen by phrasing a national emergency as a hypothetical, future event, when -- in fact -- America has continuously been in a state of national emergency from 9/11/01 to the present.
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