DRAFT - Work in Progress

Plan to End Militarism and Convert 90% of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) to Support a Peaceful, Just, Green World with No Layoffs

(Updated January 28, 2012)

(This is a work in progress. Please provide comments/suggestions to Fisher@wethepeoplenow.org)

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES:

This general plan outlines critical actions to:

1. Organize and strengthen State National Guards (Militias) as necessary to execute their Constitutional responsibilities.

2. Rapidly and drastically reduce the size and cost of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps. Air Force, Department of Defense, Defense Agencies, Warfare Centers and Laboratories.

3. Rapidly convert military industrial complex (MIC) personnel, spending, facilities, land, vehicles and other resources to support a peaceful, just, green world economy with transfers but no involuntary layoffs.

This plan is a major element of the Strategic Plan for a Peaceful Prosperous World outlined on www.WeThePeopleNow.org and should be refined and executed in accordance with this plan and in particular with the following elements:

NOTE: Please consider this plan as a draft, open ended and a work-in-progress and provide additional items, constructive comments and recommendations to Fisher@WeThePeopleNow.org.

BACKGROUND

No country is a threat to the U. S. and no country has even one tenth of the existing arsenal or weapon systems building programs that the U.S. has.

As outlined in Attachment A: Responsibilities of Congress and the President, Defensive Not Offensive War Powers and the Constitutional Role and Responsibilities of the National/State Guards (Militias)

The U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, clearly shows that:

•    The president has no inherent war making powers or even the authority to make the rules or regulations for the conduct of war or handling of prisoners. The President is responsible for insuring the laws, rules and regulations made by Congress are faithfully executed.

•    The president does not have the authority to wage any acts of war without Congress specifically declaring war.

•    Standing armies are not permitted and National/State Guards are required to perform what are massive standing Army, Navy, Marine Corp and Air Force are doing

Russia and other former Soviet block countries have considerable experience and learned many lessons about reducing their armed forces and converting their defense industries for peaceful purposes.

Much of this early experience is described in two articles published on pages 16-20, Vol. 46, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1990 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. (http://bit.ly/pa7yQd)

The following is paraphrased from these articles with key points bolded for emphasis by the compiler. From the first articles: Guns Into Butter, Soviet Style by Leonid Vid, deputy chairman of the U.S.S.R. State Planning Committee (Gosplan):

“Soon after the signing of the Soviet-U.S. treaty on intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in December 1987, our top economic priority became converstion with two elements:

     •    reduction of the armed forces and

     •    transforming military into civilian production. ...

we began reducing military production and arms spending in early 1988. This aspect of the conversion process was formalized on March 21, 1989.

[Shortly after this, Soviet officials proposed substantial reductions in Soviet and U. S. nuclear weapons and other arms which sadly U.S. officials rejected.]

the essence and main problem of conversion concerns the second element - the diversification and retooling of the armaments industry and its research and design branches.

Long term planning is crucial for the demilitarization of national economies in countries such as the United States and the Soviet Union, because the conversion process involves many sectors of production and must have constant political guidance, as well as government supervision.”

By 1990, 400 defense plants were being retooled to manufacture more civilian products, while some other plants had been temporarily closed for major reconstruction. Three defense plants were ready for complete conversion

As defense plants started producing machinery and equipment to process agricultural goods, they found that civilian research institutes were preparing designs that did not meet modern requirements.

Actually, the high cost of goods produced at defense plants is one of the negative aspects of conversion.

Another difficulty of conversion concerns military equipment that is unusable for civilian production.

Conversion in the United States and the Soviet Union should be actively and consistently buttressed by political decisions and agreements furthering the disarmament process and building up trust.”

The following is excerpted from the second article: Conversion or Chaos? by John P. Hardt, Associate Director of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress:

Leonid Vid’s frank and revealing article suggests that for the Soviets, conversion is a much broader and longer term policy than so far has been assumed in the West [Mr. Hardt stated this in early1990 - sadly it is still very true today].

I would contend that a major, immediate shift from defense to civilian growth is necessary - and an end to the privileged access to resources enjoyed by the military.

The choice between guns and butter rests on three potential policy shifts:

     •    Implementing a defensive [not offensive that the U. S. has ] military doctrine [which is required by our Constitution] would greatly reduce the priority requirements of the military on the economy, in terms of both quantity and quality.

     •    The pursuit of global interdependence according to Gorbachev’s “new thinking” would downgrade the role of military forces and military aid.

     •    The allocation of resources now and in the upcoming five-year plan, to fulfill consumption requirements would reinforce the reduction of the military sector’s priority.”

As outlined in Attachment A: Responsibilities of Congress and the President, Defensive Not Offensive War Powers and the Constitutional Role and Responsibilities of the National/State Guards (Militias)

The U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, clearly shows that:

•    The president has no inherent war making powers or even the authority to make the rules or regulations for the conduct of war or handling of prisoners. The President is responsible for insuring the laws, rules and regulations made by Congress are faithfully executed.

•    The president does not have the authority to wage any acts of war without Congress specifically declaring war.

•    Standing armies are not permitted and National/State Guards are required to perform what are massive standing Army, Navy, Marine Corp and Air Force are doing

ACTIONS

General Actions

1. Our Public Servants must rapidly:

     a. Organize and strengthen the State Guards (Militia) as necessary to execute their Constitutional responsibilities

     b. Drastically reduce MIC spending and the size of the standing Air Force, Navy, Army, Department of Defense, Defense Agencies, Warfare Centers and Laboratories.

     c. Rapidly employ the well disciplined, organized and punctual military and engineers, architects, planners and estimators, human resource and administrative personnel, project and program managers, etc. in the MIC conversion process with no involuntary layoffs.

2.Refine and integrate this plan with the overall

     a. The Common Strategic Plan for a Peaceful Prosperous World on www.WeThePeopleNow.org, which provides among other things a list of funding sources for all the work that needs to be done.

     b. The Plan to Permanently End U.S. Wars and Occupations

     c. The Plan to Provide Both Employment Opportunities at Living Wages and Affordable Necessities of Life for All which provides among other things a list of employee needs/employment opportunities.

A. Congress in Coordination with the President:

1. Pass legislation that reduces total annual military-industrial complex spending from about $1 trillion to less than $100 billion by:

     a. Prohibiting any appropriations or weapons being used for offensive or covert operations or any use of force in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, Pakistan or anywhere else in the world without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

     b. Prohibiting all military aid, arms/munitions sales/gifts and military technical support to any country.

     c. Converting existing military contracts and foreign military sales to green, peaceful purposes, for example build firefighting aircraft instead of bombers and fighters.

     d. Eliminating all funding for the following and reprogram these funds to provide support for the Common Agenda and a peaceful green economy:

           i. Assassinations, secret arrests, renditions, torture and abusive treatment of detainees and prisoners.

           ii. Development or modification of nuclear weapons

           iii. Anti-ballistic missile system

           iv. Military aid and on a case by case basis provide necessary economic aid

           v. Deploying members or units of the United States Armed Forces or civilian military contractors to the Middle East.

           vi. Closing U.S. bases overseas and other unneeded work.

           vii. Ceasing offensive or clandestine operations in Iraq, Iran or in any country in the world in the absence of a formal declaration of war by the United States Congress.

           viii. Deploying or operate U.S. aircraft carriers or other surface combat vessels in the Persian Gulf.

           ix. Intervening or to plan to threaten or to overtly or covertly, intervene in the internal affairs of Iraq, Iran or any other nation.

           x. Ceasing warrant less detentions, unlawful interrogation programs, clandestine operations and "regime changes".

           xi. Ceasing nuclear weapon development programs or to improve or refine existing nuclear weapons. These programs violate the spirit and intent of Article VI of the 1967 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPR).

     e. Ceasing funding for any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) development programs or to improve or refine existing anti-ballistic missile development programs. ABM’s will not work, are much too expensive and violate the spirit and intent of 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

     f. Ceasing funding from cancellation of other unneeded offensive weapons systems.

B. THE PRESIDENT IN COORDINATION WITH CONGRESS, MUST:

1. Bring all US troops and government contractors home from wars, occupations, overseas base and facilities. Some of these individuals would provide much of the leadership, training, logistics, financial and technical personnel and workers for the new Works Projects Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). As appropriate go to college, go back to their old job, go into the Peace Corps, serve in the State National Guards (under the control of the governors).

2. Provide transportation and logistics support for relief efforts and "Marshall Plans" in countries harmed by the U. S. Government and Wall Street. Provide clearly marked non military aircraft and ground vehicles, ships and U.S. bases and facilities to transport and distribute foodstuffs, goods, commodities, water and shelter with local nationals being paid a living wage to do as much of the work as possible. This work will be done in all countries harmed by the U.S. including Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Libya and the West Bank. The website www.jobsforafghans.org Jobs for Afghans outlines a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan. These plans should essentially provide employment opportunities for the unemployed and basic services, health care, educational programs, reconstruction, clearing land mines and debris, repairing battle damage, rebuild roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities, houses, and factories. In particular the need to produce opium crops should be eliminated and replaced with crops needed by the local inhabitants.

3. Revitalize State Guards (militias) and affirm their Constitutional roles and functions which as the Constitution states are "necessary to the security of a free State". National should be eliminated from the State Guards’ name.

4. Drastically reduce the size of the standing Army, Navy and Air Force.

5. Use excess Department of Defense land, bases, facilities, buildings, equipments, ships, vehicles and aircraft for peaceful, productive purposes, for example:

     a. Bases, facilities, buildings for the WPA and Civilian Corps to plan, train and manage work from.

     b. National Guard helicopters, C-130, C-17 and other military aircraft equipped with precision containerized aerial delivery (PCAD) systems for fighting wild fires and combating hazardous material incidents. Testing of prototype PCAD firefighting systems are ongoing.

     c. Barracks as dormitories and emergency housing

     d. Land to build affordable housing and communities

     e. Walter Reed and other military hospitals and clinics which are being closed turned into not for profit Medicare/Medicaid hospitals and clinics that provides free, single payer comprehensive physical, dental, and mental health care for everyone, civilians, military and veterans, and also educate and trains, doctors, nurses, dentists, nurses aids and other health care personnel.

     f. Firefighting training facilities on bases to train civilian firefighters.

6. Have the Government purchase insolvent companies and operate them as government owned contractor operated (GOCO) entities. Keep their workforce. Convert these factories to produce goods for:

     a. Environmental friendly, energy efficient, safe versions of the products that they normally produce e.g. automobiles and new modes of transportation.

     b. New items needed for the work outlined in Section A of this plan.

7. Assign the management of specific DoD contracts to the new Work Projects Administration (WPA) and convert these contracts from producing weapon systems to producing products for peaceful, productive purposes in particular for the work, programs and projects listed in Section B above. For example, instead of producing F35 fighter/bombers and aerial tankers, build firefighting aircraft to combat the ever increasing wildfire threat which is being exacerbated by global warming. This work should employ modern technologies such as stir welding of aluminum. Also, these firefighting aircraft should be equipped with modern technology including as night vision, GPS, all weather capability, sophisticated digital sensors and communications and the precision firefighting system.

8. Conduct the contracting, work, bookkeeping and disbursement of funds locally using:

     a. An industrial funds system approach

     b. Time and materials and management type contracts with companies not paid a profit or percentage of the value of the contract

     c. Temporary or permanent government hires with managers and workers paid wages at the Davis Bacon local prevailing rates. (Review, refine and revise these rates as necessary)

9. This will speed up contracting and reduce costs

10. Encourage and work with state governments to develop and execute integrated plans.

C. U.S. EFFORTS TO HELP PUT THE WORLD TO WORK

U. S. wars and certain U.S. stockbrokers, bankers, corporation executives and government officials caused much of the worldwide economic crisis. Helping the rest of the world to recover from the crises the U.S. has caused. Unless the rest of the world does recover quickly, there could be massive starvation and immigration and increases in terrorist acts. The U.S. is not in competition with the other countries of the world. There should come a time when each large country/area of the globe does most of its own manufacturing and provides most of its own services to its own people.

1. Require all agencies of the government to cooperate with other countries, to create at least one billion jobs within the next twelve months in meaningful work at living wages. Fund this work in about the same ways outlined above for the U.S. including in particular

     a. Nationalizing Central Banks and Government lend money directly

     b. Progressive income/revenues and property taxes on individuals, companies and multi-national corporations.

2. Fund diplomacy, not armaments, conflicts, war and spying.

3. Strengthen and expand the U.S. Peace Corps and U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).

4. Support and help strengthen and expand the roles and assistance provided by the United Nations, its agencies and peacekeeping teams.

5. Replace foreign military aid and CIA spying and covert operations with increased economic aid and development funding. This funding should be managed by the State Department, Peace Corps and AID and, as much as possible, benefit the people countries not governments.

6. On a country by country basis, turn over bases, land, facilities, buildings, equipments and even ships, vehicles and aircraft for peaceful, productive purposes as appropriate to the host country and if appropriate items and portions to UN Peacekeeping Forces and/or the State Department, Peace Corps and AID for used to distribute and help with economic aid and development

7. Continually Report the Status of this Plan. The status of all of these items should be continually maintained and available to the public on the White House web site.

Attachment A

 Responsibilities of Congress and the President,

Defensive Not Offensive War Powers and the

Constitutional Role & Responsibilities of the National/State Guards (Militias)

“War ... should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”

“Testimony of all ages forces us to admit that war is among the most dangerous enemies to liberty, and that the executive is the branch most favored by it of all the branches of Power.” President James Madison

1. War Powers and Responsibilities granted to Congress by the Constitution under Article I. - The Legislative Branch, Section 8 - “The Congress shall have Power:”

     To Provide for the common Defense [Not offense]

To Define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

     To provide and maintain a Navy;

     To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

     a. War powers and responsibilities granted to the President by the Constitution are very limited and are:

           i. Article II - Section 1:

                 (1) The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States

                 (2) The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; ...

           ii. Article II - Section 3

                 (1) The President “shall take Care that the Laws [made by Congress] be faithfully executed”.

Please note that: “Shall” is a mandate and “faithfully” executed implies that the spirit and intent of the “Laws” are executed. This mandate is all encompassing and covers all the private and public sectors, the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government, corporations, the election laws, banking laws. The president has the entire executive department to support him in executing this massive and critical responsibility.