The Nation - News from July 5, 1987

A number of President Reagan’s top advisers operated a phantom government that has been linked to the theft of briefing materials from Jimmy Carter’s 1980 presidential campaign, the Miami Herald reported. The group operated almost from the day Reagan took office, with the National Security Council coordinating its activities, government sources told the paper. Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, then an NSC aide, reportedly drafted a plan in 1982 calling for suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law during a national crisis.