National Security Directive

Quite a few five-alarm e-mails have arrived in my in box regarding a National Security Directive signed without much notice by President Bush on May 9. The sirens were screaming power grab, dictatorship on the way! Given our much abused sense of trust in our leaders the signing looked like it could be pretty bad news. Josh Marshall had some of his investigators look into the matter, and found there is less than there might be. Not even the ACLU is worried.

The consensus amongst experts seems to be that the directive, aimed at establishing “continuity of government” after a major disaster, is not new nor does the policy seem to expand executive power.

In fact, Mike German, the policy counsel to the ACLU’s Washington office told me (Laura McGann) that an executive continuity plan actually might “not be that bad of an idea.”

Executive power expert, NYU law professor David Golove, also sent me an email saying the directive didn’t appear to be a power grab.

National Security Presidential Directive 51 or Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 is posted here. Have a look.

Presidential directives outlining how the executive branch will remain intact in the event of an emergency have been around since the Cold War. The directive posted this month is the first to be made public, to the best of German’s recollection. (A description of Clinton’s continuity directive is available here.) German called the release a positive sign, but said he urges the release of all previous directives so we can get a real sense of what has changed.

TPMMuckraker

Does this lay the issue to rest? Not completely. Even if this NSD is not any different than the one Clinton signed (see complete article) the signers certainly are very dangerously different. However, it does seem some deep breathing is in order for those who believe the trap has been sprung and the barbed wire is rolling down the streets.

Wolfowitz: Looking for Friends in High Places

“US officials want to reach over the heads of (World Bank) hostile board members and development ministers, to finance ministers, foreign ministers and even heads of government, in the hope they can be persuaded to over-rule their colleagues and agree to let Mr Wolfowitz stay,” the newspaper wrote.

Save Me! Save Me!

Rove: Office of Special Counsel Investigation

Maybe this explains Rove’s surly behavior when Sheryl Crow touched his arm the other day.

Low-key office launches high-profile inquiry
The Office of Special Counsel will investigate U.S. attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove.

the Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.

The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

The 106-person Office of Special Counsel has never conducted such a broad and high-profile inquiry in its history. One of its primary missions has been to enforce the Hatch Act, a law enacted in 1939 to preserve the integrity of the civil service.

Bloch said the new investigation grew from two narrower inquiries his staff had begun in recent weeks.

One involved the fired U.S. attorney from New Mexico, David C. Iglesias.

The other centered on a PowerPoint presentation that a Rove aide, J. Scott Jennings, made at the General Services Administration this year.

That presentation listed recent polls and the outlook for battleground House and Senate races in 2008. After the presentation, GSA Administrator Lorita Doan encouraged agency managers to “support our candidates,” according to half a dozen witnesses…

It would be too much to hope that Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel is another Patrick Fitzgerald, but

Let Us Pray

It will be interesting to learn more about Mr. Bloch, his history and bonafides. He’s going to need every resource he has to properly pursue this. You can be sure that BushCo will not take it sitting down.

[thx AmericaBlog.org]