-Caveat Lector- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Declan McCullagh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[I co-authored an article a few years ago that covered Posse Comitatus in some detail. The relevant excerpt follows below. The law is here: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1385.html I'd make two points in response to Ben's message: (1) Posse Comitatus restricts the military from enforcing civilian laws, a restriction the Pentagon has interpreted to mean troops assisting in search, seizure, and arrests. Videotaping protesters, assuming the images are what they appear to be, is a disturbing development -- but it does not seem to cross that line. (2) It is odd to see the military conducting surveillance, since there were so many civilian police on the streets doing just that. See: http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-28/police-prepared-for-protests-3.html --Declan] --- From: "Ben" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Military filming protests Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 23:31:04 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0007_01C26F22.C5097DE0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal I thought this was illegal, and according to this site it is in fact a violation of the "Posse Comitatus Act." Anyway, whether this is for politech or not is up to you. I just thought the photos were a little interesting (and bothersome). http://www.thememoryhole.org/policestate/protesters-filmed.htm --- By Declan McCullagh and Solveig Singleton February 1, 1999 [...] With the end of the cold war, it would have made sense for the US military to shrink. Retired Army chief of staff Edward Meyer admitted to a Washington Post reporter in 1989 that "the end of the cold war makes it inevitable that the Army will shrink far below the 772,000 on duty today." It didn't. Supporters of an expansive US military have spent the last decade finding something for it to do. In the 1980s, Congress amended the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 -- which restricts use of troops to enforce civilian laws -- to let the President enlist the military in the war on drugs. President Reagan in 1986 signed a National Security Decision Directive declaring drug trafficking a threat to the security of the United States. The framers of the US Constitution opposed standing armies in general, and especially their use for purposes other than defending the country against foreign enemies. It was the arrest of civilians by the British army, quartering of soldiers in private homes, and similarly incendiary tactics that provided the tinder that sparked the American Revolution. Less than a century later, President Lincoln usurped constitutional authority in well- chronicled ways. His justification: The inherent power of the commander-in-chief and his duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully Executed." During the Civil War and Reconstruction, the arrest and trial of civilians by military and civilian courts -- and the impotence of civilian courts when the military refused to respect orders of habeus corpus -- led to the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act. Since that time, understanding of the dangers of deploying the military in the domestic arena has diminished. DEA administrator Francis Mullen once casually dismissed civil libertarians' concerns about potential abuses if the military joined law enforcement. "There is sufficient oversight on the part of Congress and others," he told a Newsweek reporter, "to deter infringement on individual liberties." A Democratic Congressman characterized the Posse Comitatus Act as a "sinful, evil law." Military leaders appear more aware of the danger of deploying forces domestically. Marine Major General Stephen G. Olmstead, deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug policy, warned a Senate subcommittee in 1987 that calling out the military to fight the drug war within the U.S. would be unwise. "One of [America's] greatest strengths is that the military is responsive to civilian authority and that we do not allow the Army, Navy, and the Marines and the Air Force to be a police force. History is replete with countries that allowed that to happen. Disaster is the result." Use of military procedure by FBI agents proved a disaster at Ruby Ridge. Vicky Weaver was murdered in part because the officers who shot her were governed by military rules of engagement. They allow troops to shoot an enemy on sight -- a far cry from the rules controlling domestic law enforcement. At Ruby Ridge the rules of engagement let officers fire at any armed adult, rather than engage in usual threat assessment. Even though using the military to perform civilian functions is extraordinarily dangerous, the Posse Comitatus Act has gradually been eroded. The Stafford Act of 1984 allows the military to help during natural disasters. After a natural disaster, a governor can ask the president to declare a state of emergency. Once the emergency has been declared, soldiers on active duty can be deployed as directed by FEMA. In August of 1992, the Army was deployed in South Florida to respond to Hurricane Andrew, and a month later on the island of Kaui after Hurricane Iniki. Since the Posse Comitatus Act remained in effect during this time, soldiers could not enforce the law, arrest or detain civilians, serve search warrants or any other form of process. In South Florida the soldiers doled out aid to citizens and illegal immigrants alike, without questions. Active-duty soldiers were not permitted to provide security at relief centers occupied by civilians. When it comes to the use of troops to restore order during riots, however, the president can suspend the Posse Comitatus Act at the stroke of a pen. The act doesn't cover soldiers deployed as authorized by the Constitution or exempted from the Act by statute. Defense Department regulations (DoD Directive 3025.12) outline one of the larger loopholes. It allows soliders to be used "to prevent loss of life or wanton destruction of property and to restore governmental functioning and public order when sudden and unexpected civil disturbances, disaster, or calamities seriously endanger life and property and disrupt normal governmental functions." The reality? The president can deploy troops whenever he feels like it. President Bush did just this in response to the the Los Angeles riots. On April 29, 1992, the jury released its verdict in the Rodney King trial. A wave of riots followed. On May 1, 1992, California asked the president for aid; Bush responded with an Executive Order allowing the Secretary of Defense to call out the Army. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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