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Plan C: The Cold War Plan Which Would Have Brought the US Under Martial Law
v3rgEz writes with this story of a top secret Cold War plan which would have brought the U.S. under martial law. Starting on April 19, 1956, the federal government practiced and planned for a near-doomsday scenario known as Plan C. When activated, Plan C would have brought the United States under martial law, rounded up over ten thousand individuals connected to 'subversive' organizations, implemented a censorship board, and prepared the country for life after nuclear attack. There was no Plan A or B....Details of this program were distributed to each FBI field office. Over the following months and years, Plan C would be adjusted as drills and meetings found holes in the defensive strategy: Communications were more closely held, authority was apparently more dispersed, and certain segments of the government, such as the U.S. Attorneys, had trouble actually delineating who was responsible for what. Bureau employees were encouraged to prepare their families for the worst, but had to keep secret the more in-depth plans for what the government would do if war did break out. Families were given a phone number and city for where the relocated agency locations would be, but not the exact location.
It was part of a series of contingency plans, each labeled with a different color, for various potential conflicts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_color-coded_war_plans
Some examples:
Green - Mexico
Orange - Japan
Black - Germany
Gold - France
Yellow - China
Probably the most interesting (and dangerous) alternate history was War Plan Red-Orange, which postulated a war against Britain and Japan, who were allied at the time.
The most appropriate for this subject, though, would be War Plan White, which dealt with domestic uprising and civil disturbances.
But things still get out.
What's changed are the targets. In the '50s it was the leftists. Now the government targets right-wing groups.
For example, a recent training exercise involved "handling" a right wing group called "Free Americans against Socialist Tyranny".
They don't actually exist, but the government is so paranoid of right wingers that they make up groups to train against.
Because short of the martial law of troops in the streets with body armor and M16's..... Oh wait... Our COPS have those now.
Well they dont have assult vehicles...... Wait....
Nor do they have grenade launchers...... Welll.....
So basically they have been planning on the shit we have today for decades?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Although a war with Britain/Canada seems implausible in hindsight, it was not always considered so unlikely. A decade prior to WW1, many British strategists considered rising American naval power to be the biggest threat to their empire. And they assumed that in a 20th century conflict with America, they could always rely on their historically ally, Germany.
Well, considering the armed insurrection at Ferguson, and the raft of armed "activists" ready to confront law enforcement while using peaceful protesters as human shields while burning the property of completely innocent people to the ground, it would be extremely bizarre if they weren't running training exercises. One could say that they would be negligent if they weren't...
And yet somehow we survived with these 10,000 people with connections to subversive organizations roaming freely in our midst. Amazing.
Dear ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: *THIS* is why we don't want you to have infinite surveillance. Because those 10,000 people you had files on did EXACTLY NOTHING. You want to wiretap someone, go get some ACTUAL FUCKING EVIDENCE. Not just "he read this book and knows this guy and likes to encrypt his files."
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Really? What about the Weavers where this asshole killed an innocent woman by blowing fragments of her skull all over her infant.
Of course, instead of starting a fucking firefight, they could have caught Randy Weaver when he drove into town for errands, but that's not sexy, now is it?
Sorry son, try again. The government is the one that's out of control.