So much for Posse Comitatus
The WaPo:
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.
I wonder if the Bush loyalists are still going to be OK with that come January?
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
well, you know the Posse Comitatus act has been amended a few times already.
There’s a “loophole” big enough to drive a water buffalo through on it’s way to New Orleans. There’s a “loophole” big enough to fly the SR-71 Blackbird through looking for John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, heck there were tanks at Waco, and they overflew the “compound” with military hardware just because some anonymous bureaucrat that will never see justice said that there was a meth lab in among the Jesus freaks.
Caesar crossed the Rubicon a long time ago, slippery slope style. Nether the (D) nor the (R) people want that genie back in the bottle and we are a nation of people who will trade away every check and balance to feel “safe”.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
This doesn’t alter the Posse Comitatus act at all. The act simple prohibits the use of the military as a common law posse comitatus by local law enforcement unless such use is permitted by the Constitution or an act of Congress. Congress is apparently authorizing this action. The law was implemented to stop the use of federal troops as a posse by Southern sheriffs after the civil war. With few civilians capable of being pressed into posses, the sheriffs started calling up the local garrison for law enforcement assistance placing federal troops subordinate to local officials and risking that said troops would be used against freed slaves.
The question is how will these 20,000 troops be used. Will it be in a technical/advisory role, will they be subordinated to the FBI or local law enforcement, or will they function in a martial law role in which the DoD chain of command has full and final authority. Outside of martial law, the troops cannot be given arrest authority unless subordinated to a law enforcement official as a posse commitatus.
My guess is they will be in a technical/advisory role as otherwise the turf wars would use up most of the utility a force might bring to the situation.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
The text of the posse comitatus act is:
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Posse Comitatus prevents the State, County, City gov’ts from using the Federal Military as police officers. It does not prevent the use of the military for domestic purposes as a whole.
Whether is should is a seperate issue.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Isn’t this what the National Guard is for?
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Drudge calls it passé comitatus. Though as other commenters have pointed out, the popular view of the law may be better described as never-really-was-in-the-first-place-tatus.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Is this 130 year old law necessary? Does the current system of using National Guard troops make sense (like during Katrina)?
I would prefer to disband the hodge-podge National Guard system and use our highly skilled and trained active duty warriors to defend our country. The National Guard made sense 130 years ago, but does it today with modern travel and modern communication abilities? Do we want to rely on the Governor Blancos of the world?
If the Government was going to abuse their power with federal troops, would a law really stop them anyways? Let’s come up with the simplest most effective solution for the problem at hand…
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I lost confidence in Doofus 43’s competence and judgment quite a while back.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I’m with Brad. Repeal the aptly named Dick Act, and National Defence Act, and go back to the original militia system, as intended by the founders.
Show up for militia drill with weapon, boots, rucksack etc. or you don’t get to vote. You WILL learn to get along with your neighbors, while all of you are armed, even.