The Secret Laws of The United States of America
Did you know we have secret laws? Not just secret from the American people, but secret from everyone, except for the President and a select few.
No votes in Congress, no committee meetings, no blue ribbon panels, no congressional hearings, just the President’s John Hancock on the bottom — and it’s law.
Presidential Policy Directives (PPD’s)
I am, of course, referring to Presidential Policy Directives. Similar to an executive order, PPDs give the president the power and authority to sign laws, in secret, without disclosing them to anyone — including other branches of the US government.
President Obama was responsible for 42 PPDs, — 30 of them in June of 2015 alone . Sixteen of those PPDs are still totally secret.
How would we know that? Hummm.
George W. Bush was certainly no slouch issuing 91 PPDs.
But you’d have to go pretty far to top President Ronald Reagan.Reagan issued a whopping 325 PPDs, many of them having to do with secrets pertaining to nuclear weapons and other military objectives during the Cold War era.
No Checks, No Balances
Unlike most actions of Presidents, the Supreme Court, and Congress, PPDs won’t be found in the Federal Register.
The President can sit down and create a law out of thin air without anyone in the National Security Council knowing anything about it. And it’s effective immediately.
No vote, no checks or balances.
Some Final Thoughts
While this interesting practice has been going on for many years even a big spoonful of sugar doesn’t make it go down any easier. Imagine if a President wanted to put certain groups of people in internment camps? I guess that could be done with no vote or oversight.
Most of these PPDs are done under the guise of National Security so they can be kept secret to prevent leaks to our enemies.
Or, in other words, Congress.
Are secret laws okay with you?
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