Bush Directive on National and Homeland Security

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 9, 2007
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National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
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White House News

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NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51
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HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-20
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Subject: National Continuity Policy
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Purpose
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(1) This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies. This policy establishes "National Essential Functions," prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.
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Definitions
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(2) In this directive:
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(a) "Category" refers to the categories of executive departments and agencies listed in Annex A to this directive;
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(b) "Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;
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(c) "Continuity of Government," or "COG," means a coordinated effort within the Federal Government's executive branch to ensure that National Essential Functions continue to be performed during a Catastrophic Emergency;
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(d) "Continuity of Operations," or "COOP," means an effort within individual executive departments and agencies to ensure that Primary Mission-Essential Functions continue to be performed during a wide range of emergencies, including localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological or attack-related emergencies;
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(e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;
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(f) "Executive Departments and Agencies" means the executive departments enumerated in 5 U.S.C. 101, independent establishments as defined by 5 U.S.C. 104(1), Government corporations as defined by 5 U.S.C. 103(1), and the United States Postal Service;
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(g) "Government Functions" means the collective functions of the heads of executive departments and agencies as defined by statute, regulation, presidential direction, or other legal authority, and the functions of the legislative and judicial branches;
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(h) "National Essential Functions," or "NEFs," means that subset of Government Functions that are necessary to lead and sustain the Nation during a catastrophic emergency and that, therefore, must be supported through COOP and COG capabilities; and
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(i) "Primary Mission Essential Functions," or "PMEFs," means those Government Functions that must be performed in order to support or implement the performance of NEFs before, during, and in the aftermath of an emergency.
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Policy
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(3) It is the policy of the United States to maintain a comprehensive and effective continuity capability composed of Continuity of Operations and Continuity of Government programs in order to ensure the preservation of our form of government under the Constitution and the continuing performance of National Essential Functions under all conditions.
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Implementation Actions
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(4) Continuity requirements shall be incorporated into daily operations of all executive departments and agencies. As a result of the asymmetric threat environment, adequate warning of potential emergencies that could pose a significant risk to the homeland might not be available, and therefore all continuity planning shall be based on the assumption that no such warning will be received. Emphasis will be placed upon geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, and infrastructure in order to increase survivability and maintain uninterrupted Government Functions. Risk management principles shall be applied to ensure that appropriate operational readiness decisions are based on the probability of an attack or other incident and its consequences.
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(5) The following NEFs are the foundation for all continuity programs and capabilities and represent the overarching responsibilities of the Federal Government to lead and sustain the Nation during a crisis, and therefore sustaining the following NEFs shall be the primary focus of the Federal Government leadership during and in the aftermath of an emergency that adversely affects the performance of Government Functions:
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(a) Ensuring the continued functioning of our form of government under the Constitution, including the functioning of the three separate branches of government;
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(b) Providing leadership visible to the Nation and the world and maintaining the trust and confidence of the American people;
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(c) Defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and preventing or interdicting attacks against the United States or its people, property, or interests;
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(d) Maintaining and fostering effective relationships with foreign nations;
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(e) Protecting against threats to the homeland and bringing to justice perpetrators of crimes or attacks against the United States or its people, property, or interests;
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(f) Providing rapid and effective response to and recovery from the domestic consequences of an attack or other incident;
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(g) Protecting and stabilizing the Nation's economy and ensuring public confidence in its financial systems; and
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(h) Providing for critical Federal Government services that address the national health, safety, and welfare needs of the United States.
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(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies. The Continuity Policy Coordination Committee (CPCC), chaired by a Senior Director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, shall be the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination.
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(7) For continuity purposes, each executive department and agency is assigned to a category in accordance with the nature and characteristics of its national security roles and responsibilities in support of the Federal Government's ability to sustain the NEFs. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall serve as the President's lead agent for coordinating overall continuity operations and activities of executive departments and agencies, and in such role shall perform the responsibilities set forth for the Secretary in sections 10 and 16 of this directive.
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(8) The National Continuity Coordinator, in consultation with the heads of appropriate executive departments and agencies, will lead the development of a National Continuity Implementation Plan (Plan), which shall include prioritized goals and objectives, a concept of operations, performance metrics by which to measure continuity readiness, procedures for continuity and incident management activities, and clear direction to executive department and agency continuity coordinators, as well as guidance to promote interoperability of Federal Government continuity programs and procedures with State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate. The Plan shall be submitted to the President for approval not later than 90 days after the date of this directive.
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(9) Recognizing that each branch of the Federal Government is responsible for its own continuity programs, an official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President shall ensure that the executive branch's COOP and COG policies in support of ECG efforts are appropriately coordinated with those of the legislative and judicial branches in order to ensure interoperability and allocate national assets efficiently to maintain a functioning Federal Government.
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(10) Federal Government COOP, COG, and ECG plans and operations shall be appropriately integrated with the emergency plans and capabilities of State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to promote interoperability and to prevent redundancies and conflicting lines of authority. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall coordinate the integration of Federal continuity plans and operations with State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the delivery of essential services during an emergency.
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(11) Continuity requirements for the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and executive departments and agencies shall include the following:
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(a) The continuation of the performance of PMEFs during any emergency must be for a period up to 30 days or until normal operations can be resumed, and the capability to be fully operational at alternate sites as soon as possible after the occurrence of an emergency, but not later than 12 hours after COOP activation;
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(b) Succession orders and pre-planned devolution of authorities that ensure the emergency delegation of authority must be planned and documented in advance in accordance with applicable law;
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(c) Vital resources, facilities, and records must be safeguarded, and official access to them must be provided;
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(d) Provision must be made for the acquisition of the resources necessary for continuity operations on an emergency basis;
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(e) Provision must be made for the availability and redundancy of critical communications capabilities at alternate sites in order to support connectivity between and among key government leadership, internal elements, other executive departments and agencies, critical partners, and the public;
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(f) Provision must be made for reconstitution capabilities that allow for recovery from a catastrophic emergency and resumption of normal operations; and
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(g) Provision must be made for the identification, training, and preparedness of personnel capable of relocating to alternate facilities to support the continuation of the performance of PMEFs.
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(12) In order to provide a coordinated response to escalating threat levels or actual emergencies, the Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (COGCON) system establishes executive branch continuity program readiness levels, focusing on possible threats to the National Capital Region. The President will determine and issue the COGCON Level. Executive departments and agencies shall comply with the requirements and assigned responsibilities under the COGCON program. During COOP activation, executive departments and agencies shall report their readiness status to the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Secretary's designee.
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(13) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall:
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(a) Conduct an annual assessment of executive department and agency continuity funding requests and performance data that are submitted by executive departments and agencies as part of the annual budget request process, in order to monitor progress in the implementation of the Plan and the execution of continuity budgets;
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(b) In coordination with the National Continuity Coordinator, issue annual continuity planning guidance for the development of continuity budget requests; and
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(c) Ensure that heads of executive departments and agencies prioritize budget resources for continuity capabilities, consistent with this directive.
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(14) The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall:
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(a) Define and issue minimum requirements for continuity communications for executive departments and agencies, in consultation with the APHS/CT, the APNSA, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Chief of Staff to the President;
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(b) Establish requirements for, and monitor the development, implementation, and maintenance of, a comprehensive communications architecture to integrate continuity components, in consultation with the APHS/CT, the APNSA, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Chief of Staff to the President; and
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(c) Review quarterly and annual assessments of continuity communications capabilities, as prepared pursuant to section 16(d) of this directive or otherwise, and report the results and recommended remedial actions to the National Continuity Coordinator.
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(15) An official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President shall:
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(a) Advise the President, the Chief of Staff to the President, the APHS/CT, and the APNSA on COGCON operational execution options; and
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(b) Consult with the Secretary of Homeland Security in order to ensure synchronization and integration of continuity activities among the four categories of executive departments and agencies.
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(16) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall:
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(a) Coordinate the implementation, execution, and assessment of continuity operations and activities;
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(b) Develop and promulgate Federal Continuity Directives in order to establish continuity planning requirements for executive departments and agencies;
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(c) Conduct biennial assessments of individual department and agency continuity capabilities as prescribed by the Plan and report the results to the President through the APHS/CT;
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(d) Conduct quarterly and annual assessments of continuity communications capabilities in consultation with an official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President;
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(e) Develop, lead, and conduct a Federal continuity training and exercise program, which shall be incorporated into the National Exercise Program developed pursuant to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-8 of December 17, 2003 ("National Preparedness"), in consultation with an official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President;
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(f) Develop and promulgate continuity planning guidance to State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators;
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(g) Make available continuity planning and exercise funding, in the form of grants as provided by law, to State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators; and
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(h) As Executive Agent of the National Communications System, develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive continuity communications architecture.
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(17) The Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall produce a biennial assessment of the foreign and domestic threats to the Nation's continuity of government.
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(18) The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall provide secure, integrated, Continuity of Government communications to the President, the Vice President, and, at a minimum, Category I executive departments and agencies.
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(19) Heads of executive departments and agencies shall execute their respective department or agency COOP plans in response to a localized emergency and shall:
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(a) Appoint a senior accountable official, at the Assistant Secretary level, as the Continuity Coordinator for the department or agency;
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(b) Identify and submit to the National Continuity Coordinator the list of PMEFs for the department or agency and develop continuity plans in support of the NEFs and the continuation of essential functions under all conditions;
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(c) Plan, program, and budget for continuity capabilities consistent with this directive;
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(d) Plan, conduct, and support annual tests and training, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, in order to evaluate program readiness and ensure adequacy and viability of continuity plans and communications systems; and
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(e) Support other continuity requirements, as assigned by category, in accordance with the nature and characteristics of its national security roles and responsibilities
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General Provisions
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(20) This directive shall be implemented in a manner that is consistent with, and facilitates effective implementation of, provisions of the Constitution concerning succession to the Presidency or the exercise of its powers, and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. 19), with consultation of the Vice President and, as appropriate, others involved. Heads of executive departments and agencies shall ensure that appropriate support is available to the Vice President and others involved as necessary to be prepared at all times to implement those provisions.
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(21) This directive:
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(a) Shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and the authorities of agencies, or heads of agencies, vested by law, and subject to the availability of appropriations;
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(b) Shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect (i) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, and legislative proposals, or (ii) the authority of the Secretary of Defense over the Department of Defense, including the chain of command for military forces from the President, to the Secretary of Defense, to the commander of military forces, or military command and control procedures; and
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(c) Is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
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(22) Revocation. Presidential Decision Directive 67 of October 21, 1998 ("Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations"), including all Annexes thereto, is hereby revoked.
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(23) Annex A and the classified Continuity Annexes, attached hereto, are hereby incorporated into and made a part of this directive.
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(24) Security. This directive and the information contained herein shall be protected from unauthorized disclosure, provided that, except for Annex A, the Annexes attached to this directive are classified and shall be accorded appropriate handling, consistent with applicable Executive Orders.
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GEORGE W. BUSH
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Thank You For Your--UH--"Service": Ramon's 9-11

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Thank You for Your–UH-”Service”: Ramon’s 9-11
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Introduction
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James Craven/Omahkohkiaayo i’poyi, like every surviving offspring of a mostly successful policy and practice of genocide, can do nothing but continue to exist and be an accusation leveled at a smug society. When I worked at Claremore Indian Hospital in 1989, I saw plenty of people who did that… many of them so deracinated and broken that they had lost any shred of their joie de vive, like the society in which they were stranded was some distant planet with a slow poison in the air.
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Jim has done something different, though. His life is one of those stubborn sparks that fans itself in the winds of political struggle. His accusations are not passive. Passive accusation gets invisibilized, like the homeless people we ignore as we pass them on the street. Jim accuses actively with his words and actions. Who better to tell us, as he did recently, that there is something mighty strange when the US press can natter on for days about a resolution on the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians in the grip of the press’ own intransigent amnesia about the very land upon which they stand and natter.
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I don’t think Jim is motivated by vengeance or venom, even though his accusations are bitter. He is a committed socialist, which to me means someone who wants to relieve suffering… not impose it. The bitterness of his thoughts and words are the bitterness of a strong medicine that we need. Without trying to excuse or write an equal-sign between the suffering of the oppressed and the suffering of those who are privileged within a system of oppression, I will say — as Toni Morrison did — that the slave bears her scars on her back, and the master pays the cost of a fragmented personality.
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This contribution to Insurgent American is Omahkohkiaayo i’poyi doing what he does best; and if it’s bitter, then savor the bitterness. It is good for you.
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Stan Goff
October 25, 2007
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Thank You for Your–UH-”Service”: Ramon’s 9-11
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by James Craven/Omahkohkiaayo i’poyi
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We’ve all done it. Someone in uniform, military mostly, but also police, firefighters, we say it almost like “Good Morning”; it is “Thank you for your service.” And we mean it. Thank you for being among the few with the courage and sacrifice to put your own life and comforts on the line for a transcendent cause beyond yourself; particularly if that Cause is the safety and liberty of me and mine.
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But that begs a thought experiment: Do Germans thank former SS for their “service” that many actually convinced thmselves was for the safety and liberty of their system, culture and “own kind”? Can we or should we separate the “service” to a transcendent Cause from the nature of that Cause itself?
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This occurred to me further when I got and and immediately digested the new book by Valerie Plame Wilson “Fair Game”. On one level I could respect that she put her life on the line for a transcendent Cause beyond her own self and selfishness and self-preservation; a Cause that she still believes in. But when she is quoted on the jacket of the book that she is “proud to have served my country by working at the Central Intelligence Agency” a chill goes up my spine:
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I think of all the books on the CIA written by insiders, never mind the outsider critics, I have read, along with all the released internal files of the CIA, that show what can only be described as organized terrorism and Imperial hubris against innocents. I think as well, about revelations, that, contrary to the hype and spin, almost every covert operation since CIA’s inception, has been/is coming back as “Blowback” with far worse evils coming back and/or ourselves being turned into, than the operation was intended to deal with or prevent. I think of Tim Weiner’s “Legacy of Ashes: The Secret History of the CIA” and Ralph McGehee’s Deadly Deceits” and all that they and so many other histories like it reveal. I think of the rigged elections in Italy in 1948; the overthrow of Mossadeq in 1953 and installation of the brutal Shah; Guatemala 1954; Syria 1956; Tibet 1959; Laos 59-62; South Korea 1962; Cuba 1962; Vietnam 1963; Dominican Republic 1965; Indonesia 1965; and on and on and on–the “blood-and-treasure” count.
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But most of all and always first, I think of Ramon. That is a pseudonym for a real person and I dare not use even his alias as I do not know if he is alive or if it might compromise him in some way. Ramon’s own special
9-11 was 9-11-1973 outside Santiago Chile when the democratically-elected Government of Salvador Allende (far fairer election than any of Bush) was violently overthrown by a CIA planned, designed, nurtured, initiated, executed, consolidated and covered-up fascist coup d’etat that installed the brutal fascist dictatorship of Pinochet.
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On his 9-11, Ramon was an engineering student working/studying outside Santiago at the copper pits. His wife was an artist who ran a center in Santiago. They were both idealists and progressives, but not members of any organization. Ramon, when attacked by fascist forces on 9-11, at the copper pits, picked up a gun for the first time in his life to defend himself. He was captured and because they thought he was some kind of a leader, he was slated for torture instead of immediate execution.
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Ramon was taken initially to the soccer stadium in Santiago. He kept asking where was his wife. His wife was brought into a room with six guards and a “gringo” present, while he was forced to watch his wife repeatedly gang raped and then beheaded with piano wire. Later he had two fingers cut off but in the internment camp a doctor sewed up his hand with horse hairs improvised. While in the internment camp, the Red Cross came and a worker saw him, with TB, and took pity and got him out and to Canada where he became a legal refugee and immigrant.
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I was teaching in a tenure-track position at a community college. Some friends approached me and basically asked for my help to do what amounted to the same thing as hiding Jews in nazi Germany. Although these Chilean immigrants were perfectly legal residents, as legal refugees and/or immigrants, they were subject to surveillance, harassment, kidnapping and even assassination (e.g. Orlando Letalier in Washington, DC) as Chilean DINA or national police, were allowed to operate, with the knowledge of the national intelligence services, in countries like the U.S., Canada, Britain, etc.
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I was asked to help to set up safe areas for legal refugees fleeing locally-assisted DINA agents looking for them and to do some long-distance photography at the airport baggage pickup. Here, after all they had suffered, they were still not safe as they were hounded against, as legal refugees ,within the countries that had accepted them as refugees.
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Last time I heard from Ramon was from a bakery somewhere on the east coast. Just like the Iraqis who got politicized, energized and became straight insurgents against a foreign occupying power, as we celebrate about ourselves doing every July 4th, and they have nothing to do with Al Qaeda, or that kind of ideology, they are not jihadists, so, people like Ramon, got politicized, energized and mobilized to devote their entire lives, and likely shorten those lives, in becoming very political, very radical and very determined. Another Blowback. Ramon got very political, and he became his own kind of counterterrorist against those who had terrorized him and so many like him.
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I also found Ms Plame Wilson’s book a bit self-absorbed. Over and over it comes through that, although she believes in all the good stuff, Americanism, Mom, apple pie, the flag, military,etc, her main choices were about her, her need for some thrills and travel, and what interested her personally as ways to make her contribution to the transcendent Causes. When her cover was blown, and other vital jobs were still open, but not in Directorate of Operations, or at least in the field, she chose to pack it in because the jobs did not fit her own personal interests and needs. So much for sacrifice for the ol Transcendent Cause.
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Finally, her work, which most certainly was covert, as was her CIA association until she was outed by right-wingers, and her job as Chief of Operations in the Counterproliferation Division, were far beyond the “glorified secretary” portrayed on Fox News (which, apparently, is the network of choice at the CIA and that itself is frightening and revealing about the culture of CIA at the same time). But here is another question: Since nuclear weapons, used by anyone in a conflict, threaten many other nations and even the whole planet–not a parties to any wars between nations–why should any nation be allowed to have nuclear weapons, given their massive letality and global spillover effects? Or, if any nation has nuclear weapons, why does that not give license and precedent of any other nation to have similar so as to have their own deterrence and protect their own national security? And in stopping proliferations of weapons unless authorized by the U.S. Government (like the U.S. arming Saddam Hussein) Ms Plame Wilson seems uncurious and ahistorical as to the implications of any nation, being a sole global superpower, armed with weapons no other nation has, and with no other nations able to hold it to any accountability in law.
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We can judge and rank-order systems on the basis of, with what given resources and constraints they deal with questions like: Who are the players? What do they do? How, Where, When, For Whom and Why do they do what they do relative to other systems? When we just look at the line-up of “candidates” for the presidency, historically and in the present, when we think that out of such a vast nation, is this really the “best” we could come up with? That thought experiment alone leads to some radical conclusions. And since all systems must be judged not only by what they really produce, BUT, also, relative to what they had to work with to produce it, and for whom they really produce it, then America is in some deep crap as is the whole world.
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I now say “Thank you for your ’service’ when I really mean it and when I do not have to de-link the service from the nature of “The Cause” that was/is really being served.
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