Posted on 08/21/2011 10:49:01 PM PDT by BBell
The United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, aided by Metro's SWAT unit and the FBI, raided a local gun store Friday, but Nellis Air Force Base has not released any information. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported the raid on the Citadel Gun & Safe Store at 4305 S. Dean Martin Drive, near the Flamingo Road overpass, involved a search warrant and included vacant buildings in the rear parking lot.
The base information officer, Master Sgt. Andrew Lynch, only told the LVRJ that the raid was part of an ongoing investigation, then referred all questions to the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va. The rare move of the Air Force being involved in a civilian raid caused speculation among neighbors of the gun store.
The question following the raid involving the Air Force, is if this has ever happened in Las Vegas or anywhere in the country before? The Nellis information office played the raid off as a common occurrence but the referral to the FBI headquarters lends credence to a federal investigation rather than a local matter.
The incident has brought about references to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The law as written states in part, "It shall not be lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress."
It is not unprecedented for the federal government to use the military in an action against a United States citizens but it is unusual in these circumstances. One example of military force being used against United States citizens was the raid on the Davidian Compound and
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I'm assuming the Air Force Office of Special Investigations is a kind of criminal investigating arm of the Air Force so it's not like they are using the Military Police or Air Force troops to do the raid.
Posse Comitatus?
Probably looking for stolen weapons from the AF base.
AF OSI are military troops.. and some civlian agents. Just like NCIS. :) They might be invovled if there was a military connection, such as a military member as suspect, or if weapons were being diverted from the AF. Or if it was suspected that classified information was “leaking” off the base, or of some other base.
OTOH, they might have needed to borrow the EOD team. The thing that makes me wonder about that is the fact that warrent included the “vacant” buildings. Perfect place to build/store bombs.
What you said is kind of what I figured. The article is very lacking in details.
Yes! Use Google. Google is your friend.
The local(Las Vegas) news said there were no weapons or explosives involved, but it was AF property.
Having served in the OSI (albeit many moons ago, like the late 60's) I was surprised to read this story.
Unless there has been a relaxation (or elimination) of Posse Comitatus, the OSI has no jurisdiction over civilians or legal right to affect any searches, seizures or arrest off Air Force bases, even if Air Force Personnel are involved.
While accurate that we were considered "Federal Agents" (heck our Credentials were identitical in every respect to those of the FBI and we could even carry on board Commercial Air Lines as long as we notified the flight crew) and did during presidential campaigns augment the SS in helping protect candidates, we were nevertheless, technically, still Military Personnel
The story notes there were other Fed LEO's and State Agencies involved, but it does appear they were the lead Organization.
Either the reporter(s) got their facts wrong or the fact that there were other duly authorized Fed/State Agencies provided a semblance of a joint opeartion, which still begs the question as to why they (OSI) were involved in the first place?
Posse commitatus is not relevant to its activities.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.