PLAGUE PROPORTIONS

Decon^3: Deconstructing and Decontextualizing Decontamination

Foucault described how authorities once used the specter of plague to justify draconian quieting of any civil unrest.

Just the mere mention of the word "plague" could be used for quarantine or forced mass evacuations. Forced evacuation to mass delousing centers, cleansing stations, or the like, has sometimes been used to remove undesirables from a given area. Even "ethnic cleansing" could fall under the domain of decontamination ("decon").

Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government describes powers that responding agencies might desire:

• The authority to compel people to remain in one location or move to another, including temporary detention;
• The authority to use the military for domestic law enforcement, population control, and mass logistics;
• The authority to seize community or private property, such as hospitals, utilities, medicines, vehicles, or transit centers, or to compel the production of certain goods;
• The authority to compel individuals to undertake decontamination procedures, take medicines, or be quarantined;
• The authority to censor and control the media;
• The authority to liberalize standards for conducting searches and seizures;...
• The authority to waive regulatory requirements on the use of certain pharmaceuticals.