![]() ![]() Previously, it was a matter of speculation as to whether any emergency action documents purported to implement this authority. 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.Īnd 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 juris.” This frighteningly expansive language was, at the time, hemmed in by Americans’ limited use of telephone calls and telegrams. 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.” ![]() Controlling communicationsĪt least one of the documents under review was designed to implement the emergency authorities contained in Section 706 of the Communications Act. Although the library withheld almost all substantive information about the PEADs under review, we have been able to reconstruct the broad contours of several of them. We have been left to wonder whether existing documents still green-light the violation of Americans’ constitutional rights and civil liberties, or if modern sensibilities and understandings of the law have moderated their approach.Įquipped with the latest tranche of presidential records, we now know that at least some of the most disturbing aspects of early–Cold War emergency action documents persisted as of 2008. (The Brennan Center’s repository of related materials, spanning the administrations of 12 presidents, can be found here.)īeyond that period, however, our knowledge of PEADs’ content fades. Official reports from the 1960s indicate that various PEADs authorized the president to suspend habeas corpus, detain “dangerous persons” within the United States, censor news media, and prevent international travel. Although none has ever been leaked, declassified, or deployed, we know that some early drafts rested on broad claims to inherent executive power. Originsįaced with the possibility of a Soviet nuclear strike, mid- to late-20th-century presidents crafted a collection of pre-planned emergency actions. (Another 6,000 pages were withheld in full because they are classified.) The released records shed troubling new light on the powers that modern presidents claim they possess in moments of crisis - powers that appear to lack oversight from Congress, the courts, or the public. Bush Presidential Library turned over to the Brennan Center more than 500 pages generated during this review and subsequent reviews in 20. In response to Freedom of Information Act requests, the George W. Their review was, as one Bush official saw it, an “urgent and compelling security effort, especially in light of ongoing threats.” Those documents had been revised previously, but they took on new significance in the wake of 9/11. ![]() Their goal was to refresh a set of secret plans known as “presidential emergency action documents,” or PEADs, the continuity-of-government playbook that emerged under President Dwight Eisenhower as a response to the threat of nuclear war. Bush administration spearheaded a holistic review of the president’s emergency powers. In 2004, high-ranking staffers in the George W. Attend the Brennan Legacy Awards Dinner.Advance Constitutional Change Show / hide.National Task Force on Democracy Reform & the Rule of Law.Government Targeting of Minority Communities Show / hide.Campaign Finance in the Courts Show / hide.Gerrymandering & Fair Representation Show / hide.Ensure Every American Can Vote Show / hide. ![]()
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