from RT.com: US President Barack Obama quietly signed his name to an Executive
Order on Friday, allowing the White House to control all private
communications in the country in the name of national security.


President Obama released his latest
Executive Order on Friday, July 6, a 2,205-word statement
offered as the “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.” And although the
president chose not to commemorate the signing with much fanfare,
the powers he provides to himself and the federal government
under the latest order are among the most far-reaching yet of any
of his executive decisions. 

“The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate
at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most
critical and time sensitive missions,” the president begins
the order. 

“Survivable, resilient, enduring and effective
communications, both domestic and international, are essential to
enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and
with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local,
territorial and tribal governments; private sector entities; and
the public, allies and other nations.”

President Obama adds that it is necessary for the government to
be able to reach anyone in the country during situations it
considers “critical”, writing, “Such communications must be
possible under all circumstances to ensure national security,
effectively manage emergencies and improve national
resilience.” Later the president explains that such could be
done by establishing a “joint industry-Government center that
is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination,
restoration and reconstitution of NS/EP [national security and
emergency preparedness] communications services or facilities
under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis or
emergency.”
 

“The views of all levels of government, the private and
nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of
NS/EP communications policies, programs and capabilities,”
he adds. 

On the government’s official website for the National
Communications Systems, the government explains that that
“infrastructure includes wireline, wireless, satellite,
cable, and broadcasting, and provides the transport networks that
support the Internet and other key information systems,”
suggesting that the president has indeed effectively just allowed
himself to control the country’s Internet access. 

In order to allow the White House to reach anyone within the US,
the president has put forth a plan to establish a high-level
committee calling from agents with the Department of Homeland
Security, Pentagon, Federal Communications Commission and other
government divisions to ensure that his new executive order can
be implemented. 

In explaining the order, the Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC) writes that the president has authorized the DHS
“the authority to seize private facilities when necessary,
effectively shutting down or limiting civilian
communications.“




In Section 5 of his order, President Obama outlines the specific
department and agency responsibilities that will see through his
demands. In a few paragraphs, President Obama explains that
Executive Committee that will oversee his order must be supplied
with “the technical support necessary to develop and maintain
plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of
NS/EP communications,” and that that same body will be in
tasked with dispatching that communiqué “to the Federal
Government and State, local, territorial and trial
governments,” by means of “commercial, Government and
privately owned communications resources.”
 


Later, the president announces that the Department of Homeland
Security will be tasked with drafting a plan during the next 60
days to explain how the DHS will command the government’s
Emergency Telecommunications Service, as well as other telecom
conduits. In order to be able to spread the White House’s message
across the country, President Obama also asks for the purchasing
of equipment and services that will enable such.