The following is a piece of lore notated by MyelinGames.
Summary[]
The Strategic Homeland Division, SHD, or the Division for short, is activated in response to a catastrophic virus outbreak. Manhattan is at the center of the epidemic and has fallen to rioting, looting and utter chaos. In order to regain control and prevent further causalities, the President evokes Directive 51. But what is Directive 51?
Directive 51, is a real Presidential Directive, that still exists to this day. It was created and signed by President of the United States George W. Bush on May 4th, 2007. The directive states that when the President declares a catastrophic emergency, which is defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass causalities, damage, or disruption severely affecting the US population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions”, the nation’s regular government will be replaced by an Enduring Constitutional Government.
What does Enduring Constitutional Government mean? It means a cooperative effort among the three branches of the Federal government;
- The executive branch (i.e. the President and the Cabinet, which includes 15 heads of executive departments, such as Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General)
- The legislative branch (i.e. Congress comprising of the Senate and the House of Representatives, where Bills are passed)
- and the judicial branch (i.e. The federal court System)
Also be aware that control of the National Military is under the Secretary of Defense, within Cabinet, within the Executive branch of Government. These three branches govern the United States of America and under regular government, these branches remain independent of each other to ensure separation of power. By separating the Government into three separate branches, separating the power, it was intended to create system of checks and balances to ensure decisions were always made in the best interest of the American people.
When the President declares a catastrophic emergency and Directive 51 is activated, the three Government branches, no longer function independently, they no longer have to check and balance each other, and this is logistically achieved by giving all the decision making ability and power to one person, the President. The President’s orders are then carried out by two specific individuals;
Section 6 of the Directive describes these individuals as;
- Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT)
- And Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA).
Whilst it is concerning to have a one-man national rule over the entire country, what is equally concerning is the lack of time frames. The President can declare a catastrophic event activating Directive 51, however there is no reference to when there is return to regular government. In fact, there is specific reference to continuation of Directive 51 during the “aftermath” of the event. Whilst, this is not necessarily sinister, as assistance would be required both during and after a catastrophic event, it is interesting to note that we do not know who decides when the catastrophic event has ended, we do not know who decides when this period of Aftermath has ended and we do not know who decides when the government can return to normality. I can only assume that this is a decision made by the President.
Just remember agents, Directive 51 called us to action and empowered us beyond any other operative, agent or federal employee, we now answer directly to the President, with the hope to rebuild our society.
Our justification is embedded in our moto “Desperate times call for desperate measures”.
TLDR: Directive 51 was activated following the virus outbreak. The Directive replaces the current Government giving all power and decision making ability to one person, The President.