Brent Colton is a retired CIA operations officer now in the employ of the Creighton Corporation, a privately owned think tank that advocates various opinions on world issues, but it’s his clandestine job to solve the dirty problems for their private clients for a million dollar fee with no questions asked. When recovering stolen technology from a Vietnamese industrialist, Colton obtains evidence that he secretly partnered with a U.S. Senatorto rig the recent presidential election and elect him to the nation’s highest office.

FEMA’S ACT OF BENEVOLENCE?
by Terry Heath, 2005

“Are you familiar with FEMA? What the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s real power is? FEMA allows the White House to suspend constitutional government under declaration of a national emergency. It allows creation of a non-elected national government. Think about that, Agent Mulder!
” – Dialogue from the movie ‘X-Files: Fight the Future’

The government run entity known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency has a major public relations problem on its hands in any attempt on the agency’s part in trying to explain their extremely inept handling of the recovery efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi following the destructive powers of Hurricane Katrina, as potentially thousands of people will have died following the breaking of the levies in New Orleans in the three to five days before government personnel finally arrived to bring food and water. FEMA was given a unique chance to prove to all Americans that it was not some sinister, secretive agency that conspiracy fans of ‘The X-Files’ believe that is out to control us but is instead here to help our neediest citizens in time of disaster such as this crisis brought.

But, in addition of having the personnel at this mysterious agency try to defend what was the cause of their slow arrival, they should finally inform the American people just what exactly is the real purpose of their organization. Are they to help U.S. citizens in time of need following a calamity or are they merely biding time with these side projects of helping out the down and out while waiting for executive authorization from a desperate president to suspend all of our constitutional rights and institute martial law if a real national crisis threatens the sovereignty of this country and the power of such a chief executive?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 by an executive order so one government entity could coordinate relief efforts in any area of the country once deemed a disaster area by a president. But that was just one minor part of the agency’s functions. Their main, albeit secretive, task was to make sure the federal government continued its operations if this country was attacked by a nuclear strike through a program cynically called ‘continuity of government.’ Most U.S. citizens would be dead and our major cities destroyed but the functions of our government would still be going under ‘COG,’ although it was never properly explained how government bureaucrats would do their jobs with everyone else dead and, presumably, unable to fill out such tedious forms as an income tax return.

The Cold War ended in 1991 and FEMA’s main function allegedly changed to assisting regions damaged in natural disasters. But Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in August, 1992 and FEMA’s poor and slow response to that disaster contributed to George H.W. Bush’s loss of that state in his re-election bid that November and ultimate defeat to Bill Clinton. At least for this President Bush, his re-election is already behind him, so he can’t face the voters’ wrath in that same region for this bungling under his watch.

Supposedly, we were told, the personnel of that beleaguered agency cleaned up its act since then and has better responded to the crises that took place in the 1990’s when Clinton was president. But this is the first major disaster for it to handle since the terror attack in New York and Washington on 09/11/2001 and subsequent placing of the agency under the direction of the cabinet department entity known as Homeland Security.

Homeland Security’s main focus is on preventing any future terrorist attacks against the United States. But if FEMA’s supposed only function is to help out when areas of this country are in crisis from a disaster then why do they do such a poor job at it? Could it be that their seeming inaction at assisting those in need from a natural occurrence is because that job is still a secondary function as many conspiracy theorists suggest and their main priority is to run this country by force once a president gives such an order. Are the bureaucrats at FEMA the benevolent government functionaries they wish us to believe or are they prepared to do a president’s bidding when called to do so and do it willingly since he put them in those positions of power in the first place?

By a single decree of his own choosing at any time in his presidency a chief executive can become our king/dictator, and rule this country as his fiefdom. And it is alleged that the employees of FEMA would be his agents in completing this task as their authority would supersede all other federal agencies as long as the country remains in that crisis. So are the bureaucrats at FEMA prepared to follow their dictator’s wishes and control this country by force when asked?

What would be the ramifications if our leaders order martial law? Would it be localized in the region that is in crisis or on a nationwide basis? And what would be the criteria the president refers to when making that decision since President Bush has already decreed this crisis has ‘national significance?’ Could this disaster be a test case with national implications for FEMA to gauge the American response on how the government handles disaster relief that many in New Orleans are already alleging?

Many critics of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s handling of the recovery process in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the destructive forces of Hurricane Katrina have described the relief effort as inadequate at best and woefully incompetent at its worst, and has probably contributed to the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of additional people, by a lack of food and water and exposure to the elements in the week it took for relief to finally arrive. Could we presume that this would be an example of how our federal government will control events in our country following a major terrorist attack?

Suppose the conspiracy theorists are right and this is a calculated plan by FEMA to monitor behavior of its citizens in the aftermath of a disaster. By observing how we react under stress to delayed rescues, bungled relief operations and poor bureaucratic management they could make keen observations and determinations on how quick our citizens would crumble under adverse situations before demanding help from the federal bureaucracy in exchange for surrendering all constitutional rights as long as Uncle Sam takes care of them.

National Guard troops, under the direction of the personnel of FEMA, are going into the abandoned city of New Orleans with guns drawn with no apparent agenda being explained to the news media for such a hostile posture, other than to prevent so-called looting by a groups of roving criminals. Is this a rescue operation by our troops or a military invasion by those involved? The last time the North invaded this region was in 1865 at the conclusion of the Civil War and they stayed in the south for ten years. How long will this present occupation last and what are the long-term implications for the residents of Mississippi and Louisiana under this forced subjugation? Will military forces occupy these two states for a foreseeable future in the same manner that our troops occupy Iraq at present and with the same presidential decree to subjugate the local citizens to the rules of the occupying force?

Are the refugees of Hurricane Katrina the unwitting test subjects needed by a FEMA sponsored government experiment to monitor human behavior to see how American citizens react to social stress under 9/11 conditions to better determine how we would cope if we are ever the victims of a nuclear terrorist attack? If so, then we’re all in trouble because if there is a large-scale terrorist attack that would involve two or more major cities then it’s apparent there’s no way for FEMA or any agency of the federal government to handle such a catastrophe and save most of us.

It’s reasonable to expect the federal government to need three to five days to begin the mobilization necessary to bring in the rescue personnel, equipment and supplies following the conclusion of an incident so one must presume that you are on your own in a disaster for a minimum of a week, but thousands of desperate people who have lost everything won’t wait that long before they start blaming the federal government for their problems. But FEMA’s latest bungled attempt of rescuing American citizens should prove to everyone that if you are unfortunate enough to be the victim of a natural disaster or terrorist attack then you are on your own without assistance for the short-term, which should be a minimum of three to five days, so you must prepare for your own survival.

FEMA’s inept handling of this crisis should be a wake-up call to all citizens. Don’t expect Uncle Sam to save you right away as your rescue may not meet their particular needs in resolving the crisis. You’re on your own for at least a week. Every American must develop their own plan for survival in anticipation of federal assistance at some future point, and not assume that some faraway Washington bureaucrat will drop all they are doing to make sure you are saved right away.

So what is FEMA’s real purpose in these times? A benevolent agency that helps the needy in the times of disaster or waiting to control all of us through martial law once the president gives the word and just biding its time with these small-scale disasters by learning how to control events and people in times of strife until the real national crisis begins? It needs to be defined and explained to a skeptical U.S. public who will become even more cynical about our federal government regarding this recovery and what Uncle Sam should and could do for its citizens in times of crisis when the very lives of thousands of citizens could be in the balance of what FEMA ultimately decides to do.

The infrastructure comprising the city of New Orleans will take up to twenty years to rebuild and will obviously never be the same, even once businesses and homes are rebuilt, and its citizens are allowed to come home. But what will become of the information learned by FEMA on the reactions of these victims while waiting for help that will be studied by the bureaucratic bean counters for later implementation on the rest of us when the next, even bigger crisis arrives?

“Attention Agent Mulder! Who really is in charge around here?”

Terry Heath California E-Mail readermail@terryheathbooks.com