Posted on 12/01/2008 7:52:18 AM PST by Historix
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
-It’s a good thing Bush sealed the border so we don’t have to worry about it as much.
The Posse Commitatus Act needs revising, but it does give me pause having thousands of military assuming national law enforcement duties under the next President.
Ya, rediculous, let’s don’t seal the border or profile airline passengers, instead, let’s gear up from the eventual attack that we are going to just let happen. The USA doesn’t deserve to exist any longer frankly, it has forfeighted it’s inheritance ...
Will these troops soon be tranferred and issued new uniforms with National Civilian Security Force markings...something like a pair of lightning bolts, perhaps?
They’re preparing for the coming revolution. They’ll send southern rural troops against the inner cities, and urban troops against the southern suburbs and rural areas.
< /tin foil hat >
Are those the same ones who complained that President Bush allowed (or caused) New Orleans to flood because he didn't send in troops within minutes of Katrina's landfall?
This is but one more example of how government puts bandaids on a problem instead of fixing the problem.
Oh well, I guess it will make the illegal Mexicans feel right at home. For decades the Mexicans have had their Federales set up roadblocks to check out papers held by drivers.
This is very bad and runs contrary to our American traditiosns of civilian control. This is another dangerous Bush legacy for Obama.
The “leftists” won’t complain about this because they now control the troops! It is the conservatives who supported this kind of thing that will have reason to complain. Unfortunately, many of them won’t have a leg to stand on in terms of principle.
I believe under Posse Comitatus, the military is allowed to be used for training civilian law enforcement and they are allowed to ‘loan’ their equipment, etc. But, the military is not supposed to take an active role in LE unless LE is unable to do so. And we are clearly not in that situation.
This whole thing concerns me because I see it starting off as a training session, then tip toe’ing over the line, then revising laws to ignore the purpose of Posse Comitatus.
It sounds like this is where BO’s Domestic Civilian Security Force starts.
I do not agree with this at all..
Despite the call to reform the Act. Military troops are not the right way to go within the borders. Basically the troops are trained to defend the country though combat power.. not domestic duties outside of the gates of the installations.
But.. this is not the only thing happening in the military that seems crazy since I went and retired.
Best way to start a fight is to get right up in someones face.
My Government is getting in my face.
It would seem President Bush gave Obama all of the tools he will need, it hardly seems by chance.
Yes, BO has Bush and other Republicans to thank for it! Maybe, conservatives will start being suspicious of the federal police state again, as they were under Clinton. We can only hope they will continue to remain so even if a Republican comes back to power.
I find it very strange too that Bush would do this. I would have expected BO to have implemented this allowing him to train his civlian force. This is getting stranger by the day. Where’s my tinfoil?
We have the national guard for that - I don’t buy the premise for this “need”.
We get all this security, now I wonder how much liberty its going to cast us.
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