The Pentagon has approached Congress to grant the Secretary of Defense the authority to post almost 400,000 military personnel throughout the United States in times of emergency or a major disaster. This request has already occasioned a dispute with the nationâs governors. And it raises the prospect of U.S. military personnel patrolling the streets of the United States, in conflict with the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. In June, the U.S. Northern Command distributed a âCongressional Fact Sheetâ entitled âLegislative Proposal for Activation of Federal Reserve Forces for Disasters.â That proposal would amend current law, thereby âauthorizing the Secretary of Defense to order any unit or member of the Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, and the Marine Corps Reserve, to active duty for a major disaster or emergency.â Taken together, these reserve units would amount to âmore than 379,000 military personnel in thousands of communities across the United States,â explained Paul Stockton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americaâs Security Affairs, in a letter to the National Governors Association, dated July 20. The governors were not happy about this proposal, since they want to maintain control of their own National Guard forces, as well as military personnel acting in a domestic capacity in their states. âWe are concerned that the legislative proposal you discuss in your letter would invite confusion on critical command and control issues,â Governor James H. Douglas of Vermont and Governor Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the president and vice president of the governorsâ association, wrote in a letter back to Stockton on August 7. The governors asserted that they âmust have tactical control over all . . . active duty and reserve military forces engaged in domestic operations within the governorâs state or territory.â According to Pentagon public affairs officer Lt. Col. Almarah K. Belk, Stockton has not responded formally to the governors but understands their concerns. âThere is a rub there,â she said. âIf the Secretary calls up the reserve personnel to provide support in a state and retains command and control of those forces, the governors are concerned about if I have command and control of the Guard, how do we ensure unity of effort and everyone is communicating and not running over each other.â Belk said Stockton is addressing this problem. âThat is exactly what Dr. Stockton is working out right now with the governors and DHS and the National Guard,â she said. âHeâs bringing all the stakeholders together.â Belk said the legislative change is necessary in the aftermath of a âcatastrophic natural disaster, not beyond that,â and she referred to Katrina, among other events. But NorthComâs Congressional fact sheet refers not just to a âmajor disasterâ but also to âemergencies.â And it says, âThose terms are defined in section 5122 of title 42, U.S. Code.â That section gives the President the sole discretion to designate an event as an âemergencyâ or a âmajor disaster.â Both are âin the determination of the Presidentâ alone. That section also defines âmajor disasterâ by citing plenty of specifics: âhurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought,â as well as âfire, flood, or explosion.â But the definition of âemergencyâ is vague: âEmergency means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States.â Currently, the President can call up the Reserves only in an emergency involving âa use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destructionâ or âa terrorist attack or threatened terrorist attack in the United States that results, or could result, in significant loss of life or property,â according to Title 10, Chapter 1209, Section 12304, of the U.S. Code. In fact, Section 12304 explicitly prohibits the President from calling up the Reserves for any other ânatural or manmade disaster, accident, or catastrophe.â So the new proposed legislation would greatly expand the Presidentâs power to call up the Reserves in a disaster or an emergency and would extend that power to the Secretary of Defense. (There are other circumstances, such as repelling invasions or rebellions or enforcing federal authority, where the President already has the authority to call up the Reserves.) The ACLU is alarmed by the proposed legislation. Mike German, the ACLUâs national security policy counsel, expressed amazement âthat the military would propose such a broad set of authorities and potentially undermine a 100-year-old prohibition against the military in domestic law enforcement with no public debate and seemingly little understanding of the threat to democracy.â At the moment, says Pentagon spokesperson Belk, the legislation does not have a sponsor in the House or the Senate. http://www.progressive.org/wx081209b.html
We should ALL be alarmed at this.. Each and every day, America is moving more and more toward a hob-nail boot police state...
With $1100 Trillion Derivatives, the next meltdown can happen today or tommorrow or any day now. So the revolution can happen today or tommorrow or any day now. Barack Obama should voluntarily step down before a revolution overthrows Obama and his team. http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173335
I pity the person that sponsors this shit... and whoever it is in the Pentagon that thinks this a good idea should be peeling potatoes within the fortnight.... I'd hate to fire on Americans in uniform but basically, army deployment in our own borders calls for just that... the frigging army can return the state troops to the states and let them handle the emergencies... I can't believe it, I wholeheartedly agree with the ACLU.. it almost makes up for all the.... no it doesn't...
Oh goody the National Guard ....if they perform in this neighborhood like they did in Katrina and Iraq I'm petrified. You people would be scared of your own shadow.