(Chris Parker, Headline USA) Documents recently released by the U.S. government detail sweeping powers granted to Congress and the president during an apocalyptic scenario – and they grossly undermine our nation’s highest laws.
The documents discuss powers that have been expanded since the emergency and wartime powers developed during the Cold War. Those included “steps like imposing martial law, rounding up people deemed dangerous and censoring news from abroad,” according to the New York Times.
The expanded powers also say that, “the President, if he deems it necessary in the interest of national security or defense, may suspend or amend, for such time as he may see fit, the rules and regulations applicable to any or all stations or devices capable of emitting electromagnetic radiations.”
That includes “the closing of any station for radio communication, or any device capable of emitting electromagnetic radiations between 10 kilocycles and 100,000 megacycles.”
In other words, news dissemination within the United States would be extinguished or severely limited. It applies to the internet, too; during an emergency declaration, the president may “suspend or amend the rules and regulations applicable to any or all facilities or stations for wire communication within the jurisdiction of the United States.”
These mostly secretive powers have existed for decades under both Democrat and Republican presidents. They have largely been kept from public eye, although their actual “classified” status has varied.
Similar measures have come under scrutiny recently in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last January, New York Democrats sparked significant controversy after proposing a bill to “detain individuals who pose a threat to public health by a single order,” reported Fox News. Those individuals would be held in a facility specifically approved by the governor.
The Biden administration also wants to give the World Health Organization greater powers in the event of another outbreak. According to documents released by the WHO, the new amendments would “give Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unilateral authority to declare a public health emergency in any nation based on whatever evidence he chooses.”
