Before 1986: Oliver North Develops Emergency Plan Including Suspension of Constitution, Detentions

National Security Council officer Colonel Oliver North heads the development of a secret contingency plan called REX 84. In the event of an emergency, the plan calls “for suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], [and the] appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments.” The plan, initially revealed in the Miami Herald in 1987, also reportedly calls for the detention of upwards of 400,000 illegal aliens and an undisclosed number of American citizens in at least 10 military facilities maintained as potential holding camps. North operates the program from a secure White House site, allegedly using a software program known as PROMIS. PROMIS was designed to track individuals, such as prisoners, by pulling together information from disparate databases into a single record. According to Wired magazine: “Using the computers in his command center, North tracked dissidents and potential troublemakers within the United States. Compared to PROMIS, Richard Nixon’s enemies list or Senator Joe McCarthy’s blacklist look downright crude.” [Radar, 5/2008]