Rex 84

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Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was a classified "scenario and drill" developed by
the United States federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial
law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large
numbers of American citiens who are deemed to be "national security threats", in the event that
the !resident declares a "State of "ational #mergency"$ %he plan states, events causing such a
declaration would be widespread U$S$ opposition to a U$S$ military invasion abroad, such as if
the United States were to directly invade Central America$&' (&) (&* (&+ (&, ( %o combat what the
government perceived as "subversive activities", the plan also authoried the military to direct
ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels$&- (
.e/ 0+ was written by 1ieutenant Colonel 2liver "orth, who was both "ational Security
Council White 3ouse Aide, and "SC liaison to the Federal #mergency 4anagement Agency
5F#4A6, and 7ohn 8rinkerhoff, the deputy director of "national preparedness" programs for the
F#4A$ %hey patterned the plan on a '9:; report written by F#4A chief 1ouis <iuffrida, at the
Army War College, which proposed the detention of up to )' million "American "egroes", if
there were a black militant uprising in the United States$&' (&: ( #/istence of a master military
contingency plan 5of which .#=>0+ was a part6, "<arden !lot" and a similar earlier e/ercise,
"1antern Spike", were originally revealed by ?ournalist .on .idenhour, who summaried his
findings in an article in CounterSpy$&0 (
%ranscripts from the @ran>Contra 3earings in '90: record the following dialogue between
Congressman 7ack 8rooks, 2liver "orthAs attorney 8rendan Sullivan and Senator Baniel @nouye,
the Bemocratic Chair of the ?oint Senate>3ouse CommitteeC&9 (
[Congressman Jack] Brooks: Colonel "orth, in your work at the "$S$C$ were you not assigned,
at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in the event of a ma?or disasterD
Brendan Sullivan [Nor!"s counsel# agiaedl$]: 4r$ ChairmanD
[Senaor %aniel] &nou$e: @ believe that Euestion touches upon a highly sensitive and classified
area so may @ reEuest that you not touch upon thatD
Brooks: @ was particularly concerned, 4r$ Chairman, because @ read in 4iami papers, and
several others, that there had been a plan developed, by that same agency, a contingency plan in
the event of emergency, that would suspend the American constitution$ And @ was deeply
concerned about it and wondered if that was an area in which he had worked$ @ believe that it was
and @ wanted to get his confirmation$
&nou$e: 4ay @ most respectfully reEuest that that matter not be touched upon at this stage$ @f we
wish to get into this, @Am certain arrangements can be made for an e/ecutive session$
#/ercises similar to .e/ 0+ have happened in the past$&'; ( For e/ample, from '9-: to '9:', the
F8@ kept a list of over ';;,;;; persons to be rounded up as subversive, dubbed the "AB#=" list$
&'' (