Federal Emergency Management Agency

According to some conspiracy theorists, FEMA has a very nasty secret agenda.

Certain watchdogs of the freedoms of U.S. citizens see the Federal Emergency Management Agency as having a secret agenda very different from FEMA’s own portrayal of itself as rescuer and benefactor when disaster strikes.

Among the concerns of many serious-minded guardians of American’s freedoms and liberties is an executive order signed into existence by President George H. W. Bush in 1989. This document authorized FEMA to build forty-three primary camps, each of which would have the capacity of housing 35,000 to 45,000 people, and hundreds of secondary facilities, some of which could accommodate 100,000 individuals.

Have these camps been constructed in preparation for some great future cataclysm that will deprive millions of people of their homes and force them to take shelter in the barracks-style housing thoughtfully prepared for such an emergency by the benevolent FEMA? Or are the camps designed by the federal government to hold prisoners of the state? Rather than refugee camps, are they concentration camps constructed to isolate those citizens who dare to oppose a new political order in the United States?

There are executive orders that grant frightening powers to FEMA and actually permit the government agency to suspend the Constitution and all the rights and liberties of U.S. citizens, as those rights are now known. These orders are in the Federal Register located in Washington, D.C., where they can be examined by concerned citizens who may wish to judge for themselves the awesome potential control of FEMA over all Americans and over every aspect of American life.

Executive Order 12148 stipulates that FEMA is in charge during national security emergencies, such as national disasters, social unrest, insurrection, or a national financial crisis.

Executive Order 11051 empowers FEMA to put the following orders into effect in time of increased international or domestic tension:

Executive Order 10995 authorizes FEMA, if the agency deems it necessary to accomplish its goals, to seize all communications media in the United States.

Executive Order 10997 provides for the seizure of all electric power, petroleum, gas, fuels, and minerals, both public and private.

Executive Order 10998 allows the seizure of all food supplies and resources, public and private—and all farms, lands, and equipment.

Executive Order 10999 provides for the seizure of all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks, or vehicles of any kind, and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.

Executive Order 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft—commercial, public, and private.

Executive Order 11005 provides for the seizure of all railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.

Executive Order 11000 allows the government to seize all American people for federally supervised work forces. If the government deems it necessary, it may even split up families.

Executive Order 11002 empowers the postmaster general to conduct a national registration of all persons. Under this order all U.S. citizens must report to their local post office to be registered. It is at this juncture that families might be separated and individual members assigned to new areas.

Executive Order 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate entire communities and to designate areas to be abandoned and new locations to be repopulated.

Executive Order 11001 permits the government to seize all functions of health, education, and welfare.

All of the orders listed above were combined by President Richard Nixon into Executive Order 11490, which permits the government to take control if a national emergency should be declared by the president. Should citizens of the United States be growing a bit nervous when we consider all the “national emergencies” that are declared each year? Should we worry that FEMA might one day decide that it is time to exercise the extraordinary powers that have been granted to it?

After the summer of 2011, when the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters had established a presence in many cities, Oakland, California mayor Jean Quan called for a crackdown on the OWS protesters in her city in early November 2011. When word of Oakland’s action became known, conspiracists warned that the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA might well be preparing to begin the occupation of some of the dissident camps first established by FEMA in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, according to those concerned with our freedoms, FEMA was alerted to detain as many as 20 million African Americans in anticipation of a black militant uprising in the United States, as well as those members of all ethnic groups who protested the Vietnam War.

Mayor Quan disclosed in an interview that she had been on a conference call with the mayors or civic leaders of 18 U.S. cities prior to the raids on the Oakland OWS protesters. Shortly after the Oakland police dispersed the encampment of OWS in that city, raids scattered OWS groups across the nation. With a number of civic leaders and government officials portraying the OWS as homegrown terrorists in the making, the likelihood that those protesting for any cause that the establishment deemed threatening might be packed off to detention camps seemed a real possibility.

When New York Representative Peter King, head of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee, expressed his concerns that the federal government had to be cautious concerning the OWS gaining any legitimacy with the general public, conspiracy researchers became worried. Especially, perhaps, when Rep. King said that he was old enough to recall what happened in the 1960s, when left-wing protesters took to the streets.

King warned that the government must be alert to this new movement being glorified by the media because it might attain enough public acceptance to actually shape policy. When other government officials vowed not to allow the OWS movement to gain power, conspiracists heard echoes of COINTELPRO, the FBI’s unconstitutional secret police who menaced protesters in the 1960s and 1970s.

The National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by the Senate immediately after 9/11, allows all military branches to be used to quell civic disturbances and to round up political activists. In addition, regarding those active protesters who might lead troublesome demonstrations, the NDAA allows any American suspected of civil disobedience to be snatched off the streets and confined.

In 2006, KBR, a global engineering and services company that is a subsidiary of Halliburton, was contracted by Homeland Security to build detention camps that could hold large numbers of people. The ostensible reasons given for such camps was that they were to be used as places to hold an emergency influx of immigrants; they were also to be made available for unnamed “new government programs” that would need to house large numbers of people.

In 2008 troops returning from duty in Iraq were put on notice that they could be called to serve on homeland patrols to deal with crowd control. The Washington Post reported that as many as 20,000 U.S. military troops could be called to assist in squelching civil unrest and terror attacks set in motion in the event of complete economic collapse.

On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama expressed his reservations about his signing into law the bill that Congress placed on his desk extending the powers of the NDAA. It would allow even a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil to be placed in military custody. In spite of such reservations, the president did sign the law.

Such a seemingly unconstitutional and dangerous act reinforced fears initially instigated by the revelation that in early December 2011 KBR was hiring subcontractors to staff and outfit “emergency environment” camps in five regions in the United States. It seems to conspiracy theorists that the risk of protesters being thrown into FEMA camps is now a grim reality.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical guidance and training. These coordinated activities at the federal, state, and local levels ensure a broad-based emergency program to insure public safety and protect property. FEMA is prepared to respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, and human-caused events such as toxic chemical spills, problems at Nuclear Power plants, and nuclear war.

FEMA came into the national spotlight in the aftermath of the September 11th Attacks, where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and seriously damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Shortly after those attacks, FEMA fully activated the Federal Response Plan. The agency's Emergency Response Team was immediately deployed to the attack sites.

In the weeks following the attacks, FEMA employees worked relentlessly in a massive rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site. More than 1,500 employees of FEMA and more than 6,500 other federal employees took part in the effort. Tens of thousands of tons of debris were removed from the site in New York and taken to a landfill on Staten Island. Several hundred bodies were discovered, although few people were found alive in the first days following the attack. The clean-up effort continued into 2002.

FEMA also established programs to assist victims of the attacks. The agency designated more than $11 million for crisis counseling funds to assist victims and others affected by the attacks in New York City. FEMA likewise established assistance and benefits programs for victims of the attacks, including mortgage and rental assistance for those who suffered financial hardships due to the attacks. In March 2003, the agency announced it had released $250 million in grant money to state and local government agencies for costs associated with pensions given to the surviving spouses and children of police officers and firefighters killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

FEMA was established in the Executive Branch as an independent agency pursuant to Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 (43 Fed. Reg. 41, 943), and Executive Orders No. 12,127 (March 31, 1979) (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and No. 12,148 (July 20, 1979) (Federal Emergency Management).

FEMA has ten regional offices, which are the primary means by which the agency's programs are carried out at the state and local levels. The regional directors are the FEMA director's principal representatives in contacts and relationships with federal, state, regional, and local agencies; industry; and other public and private groups. They are responsible for accomplishing within their region the national program objectives established by the agency, and they work with the director to develop national policy.

FEMA developed the Federal Response Plan, a program for quickly responding to any type of catastrophic disaster. When, for example, an earthquake causes substantial damage and dislocation to a city or region, FEMA moves emergency teams into the area and coordinates efforts to restore public services and to provide food and shelter for those displaced by the natural disaster. FEMA's Telecommunications and computer systems are used as a hub operation providing support services for day-to-day emergency activities. FEMA also works with state and local governments to develop emergency response plans and to provide training and technical support to these agencies through its Emergency Management Institute.

FEMA includes the Federal Insurance Administration (FIA), which administers the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the National Crime Insurance Program (NCIP). The NFIP makes flood insurance available to residents of communities that adopt and enforce the program's floodplain management regulations to reduce future flood losses. Over 18,000 communities participate in NFIP, a self-supporting program requiring no taxpayer funds to pay claim or operating expenses. The NCIP authorizes the FIA to sell crime insurance at affordable rates in any eligible state. The NCIP offers protection to home and business owners against financial loss from Burglary and Robbery.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is another FEMA agency. The USFA provides leadership, coordination, and support for FEMA's activities in the areas of fire prevention and control, hazardous materials, and emergency medical services. The USFA develops and disseminates fire safety information to the fire service and the general public. Through its National Fire Academy, the USFA develops and delivers training and education programs to fire service personnel. The USFA is also responsible for the activities of the National Fire Data Center, and for the management of the National Emergency Training Center, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The USFA works closely with the public and private sectors to reduce fire deaths, injuries, and property losses.

FEMA's External Affairs directorate serves as the focal point of contact for the public, the media, public interest groups, state and local government organizations, Congress, and foreign governments. The directorate provides the director, the director's staff, and the agencies within FEMA with advice on how to develop and execute programs in the areas of congressional affairs and public and intergovernmental affairs.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency