What the Wikileaks document shows is the date of the draft; Rumsfeld’s signature carries no date, so we have no way of knowing on what date he actually did the sign-off. But sign-off he most certainly did. Wikileaks is a solid source, their documents are meticulously vetted, I have no reason to doubt its veracity.

As Secretary of Defense, as an individual with long-standing participation in Continuity of Government exercises and a “legendary” micromanager, Rumsfeld would have been most interested in updating COG & COOP procedures for the Dept. of the Army.

The additional resources cited in the appendix refer to COG planning, guidance documents and enabling orders, including Presidential Decision Directives.

Northern Command itself, launched in 2002 has the Pentagon’s brief for “civil disturbance” planning. I’d advise you to check out in this regard, the Army’s GARDEN PLOT, “civil disturbance” guidance, DoD Directive 3025.12, Military Assistance for Civil Disturbances (MACDIS) http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/302512p.pdf, or DoD 3025.15, Military Assistance to Civil Authorities http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/302515p.pdf, or for that matter, Executive Order 12656, Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities, http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/EO12656.htm. More contemporaneously, check out National Security Presidential Directive 51, National Continuity Policy, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html.

The militarization of policing in the U.S. is following a rather ominous trajectory. A Brigade Combat Team assigned to “homeland” duties and training with “non-lethal” weapons for “crowd control,” and “civil unrest” is not exactly encouraging.

Should we bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best, j?