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DOD Outlines Authority For Employing Military Force Against American Citizens
Obama, fresh off his Rose Garden triumph to free 5 of the most dangerous “international terrorists” in captivity, announced an effort to re-establish a law-enforcement group to prevent “homegrown terrorism,” according to a report in World Net Daily. The panel apparently will include representatives from the National Security Division of the Justice Department, the US Attorney General’s office, and the FBI. Reuters News Service and The Washington Times reported that the new panel, to be announced this week, will focus on cases “that involve Americans who may be spurred to violence for political or prejudicial reasons.” The Obama administration will employ the US military, DHS, and Special Weapons Para –military Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams that were created in non-security related Federal Agencies against unrest by “domestic groups.”
For 5 years, the Obama administration’s has been taking unusual steps to prepare to employ military force against American Citizens, those plans have been issued in a Pentagon Directive and tested in large scale military urban training exercises (reported over the last few years by alarmed citizens and news media throughout the nation). Pentagon's Directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities" has provisions in it to use military force against domestic unrest. The directive was signed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn. A copy can be found on the Pentagon Web site at:http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/302518p.pdf “This appears to be the latest step in theadministration’s decision to be able to use force within the United States against its citizens on Obama’s orders,” said a defense official opposed to the directive. In a recent New York Times articlehttp://nyti.ms/1ptgjkU it was reported that the Pentagon has developed programs to arm police departments in 38 states with grenade launchers, heavily armored mine resistant vehicles, silencers, flash grenades, 5.56 mm & 7.62 mm machine guns, equipment to detect buried mines, M-16 rifles, night vision goggles, etc.
This latest initiative is designed to prevent “homegrown/domestic terrorism” is continuing the very early efforts by the Obama administration to address their concern about domestic opposition to administration various policies. That very early initiative, began in the first weeks of Obama’s White House tenure, when Obama put conservatives in the bull’s-eye in his campaign speeches to supposedly oppose domestic unrest. At that time a newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report warned of the possibility of violence by unnamed “right-wing extremists,” including opponents of abortion. The DHS report was followed days later by a report from the Missouri Information Analysis Center that warned law enforcement officials to watch out for individuals with “radical” ideologies based on Christianity and warned of the threat posed by returning Combat Veterans who were considered a danger to the Obama administration, and initiatives to prevent returning Combat Veterans being treated for PTSD from ever being able to own a firearm, which would be violation of their Second Amendment rights.
The Department of Homeland Security has been building up its armed Federal Police Force at a steady pace for 5 years. DHS has been purchasing many heavily armored vehicles for crowd control, an excessive amount of hollow tipped rounds of ammunition (many more millions of rounds of ammunition than the US Army and the US Marine Corps combined uses annually for training their personnel’s annually).
In the below listed article, in addition to the authority to employ military force against American citizens, concerned defense analysts say there has been a surprising creation and buildup by the Obama administration, of military units within non-security-related Federal Agencies, notably the creation of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams in non-security-related Federal Agencies that have no need for SWAT Teams. Those Federal agencies include the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Education Department.
The US Army, the US Army Reserve, the National Guard, and the FBI are fully equipped and qualified to provide security for all those non-security-related agencies in conjunction with local, county, and state law enforcement agencies, if the need arises. The Republican leadership in Congress has been “asleep at the switch” allowing the Obama Administration to create these private armed Para-military Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams to receive salaries, to be funded for their tactical training over the last 5 years, allowing them to buy massive amounts of ammunition, bullet proof vests, helmets, and allowed them to be armed with heavy weapons including machineguns & automatic weapons. Does anyone in Congress really think that the Education Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Consumer Products Safety Commission, etc. needs to be armed to the teeth with SWAT Teams?
The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, that is in controls of the Federal Agency purse strings, should have put a stop to the development of those heavily armed Para-military Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams over the past 5 years; some defense officials in Washington have referred to those heavily armed SWAT Teams as the beginnings of a Private Army. Those SWAT Teams should be eliminated by the Republican Leadership of Congress by eliminating the wasteful funding OF the purchase of millions of rounds of ammunition, the SWAT Teams intensive training programs, their bullet proof vests, their purchase of heavy weapons, helmets, SWAT Team uniforms, armored SWAT Team vehicles, and the salaries being paid to those SWAT Teams. Those SWAT Teams appear to have been developed under the direction of Obama’s appointed Czars, without Congressional authority or approval. The below listed article provides additional details.
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DOD Directive outlines Obama’s policy to use the military against citizens
sBy Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Pentagon's directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities"
A 2010 Pentagon directive on military support to civilian authorities details what critics say is a troubling policy that envisions the Obama administration’s potential use of military force against Americans.
The directive contains noncontroversial provisions on support to civilian fire and emergency services, special events and the domestic use of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The troubling aspect of the directive outlines presidential authority for the use of military arms and forces, including unarmed drones, in operations against domestic unrest.
“This appears to be the latest step in the administration’s decision to use force within the United States against its citizens,” said a defense official opposed to the directive.
Directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities,” was issued Dec. 29, 2010, and states that U.S. commanders “are provided emergency authority under this directive.”
“Federal military forces shall not be used to quell civil disturbances unless specifically authorized by the president in accordance with applicable law or permitted under emergency authority,” the directive states.
“In these circumstances, those federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances” under two conditions.
The conditions include military support needed “to prevent significant loss of life or wanton destruction of property and are necessary to restore governmental function and public order.” A second use is when federal, state and local authorities “are unable or decline to provide adequate protection for federal property or federal governmental functions.”
“Federal action, including the use of federal military forces, is authorized when necessary to protect the federal property or functions,” the directive states.
Military assistance can include loans of arms, ammunition, vessels and aircraft. The directive states clearly that it is for engaging civilians during times of unrest.
A U.S. official said the Obama administration considered but rejected deploying military force under the directive during the recent standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed supporters.
Mr. Bundy is engaged in a legal battle with the federal Bureau of Land Management over unpaid grazing fees. Along with a group of protesters, Mr. Bundy in April confronted federal and local authorities in a standoff that ended when the authorities backed down.
The Pentagon directive authorizes the secretary of defense to approve the use of unarmed drones in domestic unrest. But it bans the use of missile-firing unmanned aircraft.
“Use of armed [unmanned aircraft systems] is not authorized,” the directive says.
The directive was signed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn. A copy can be found on the Pentagon website:http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/302518p.pdf .
Defense analysts say there has been a buildup of military units within non-security-related federal agencies, notably the creation of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams. The buildup has raised questions about whether the Obama administration is undermining civil liberties under the guise of counterterrorism and counter narcotics efforts.
Other agencies with SWAT teams reportedly include the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Education Department.
The militarization of federal agencies, under little-known statues that permit deputation of security officials, comes as the White House has launched verbal attacks on private citizens’ ownership of firearms despite the fact that most gun owners are law-abiding citizens.
A White House National Security Council spokeswoman declined to comment.
President Obama stated at the National Defense University a year ago: “I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen — with a drone or with a shotgun — without due process, nor should any president deploy armed drones over U.S. soil.”