20,000 US troops deployed … in the United States

I am often reminded of the movie “The Siege” when I hear discussions regarding the deployment of U.S. forces within the United States.  If you are not familiar with the movie, terrorists blew up a bus with hostages on board in New York.  A handful of politicians and the Attorney General discuss ways to police the city in order to find the terrorists, with the discussion turning to deploying the Army.  General Devereaux (played by Bruce Willis) explains the military’s position.  Please note that there is some foul language in the script:

CONGRESSMAN MARSHALL:  Look it keeps escalating. First a bus, then the theatre. What’s next?

SENATOR WRIGHT:  Anything but leadership.

GENERAL DEVEREAUX:  With all respect, Senator, why don’t we just stipulate that the President is a dumb son of a bitch so we can all get down to business.

CONGRESSMAN MARSHALL:  What about sending in the Guard?

ATTORNEY GENERAL:  The National Guard are trained for riot control not counter-terrorism.

SENATOR WRIGHT:  The Army then. I’ve seen the contingency plans.

ATTORNEY GENERAL:  It’s settled legal doctrine, posse comitatus, that the Army not be turned against our own people.

SENATOR WRIGHT:  Even if that’s what our own people are asking for, three to one?

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  If the President is willing to declare a State of Emergency –

SENATOR WRIGHT:  President Lincoln declared martial law in 1862. He suspended –

ATTORNEY GENERAL:  — which the Supreme Court later found un-constitutional. Ex parte Milligan.

CONGRESSMAN MARSHALL:  And I’ve got an election in November. Ex-United States Congressman.

CHIEF OF STAFF:  Guys, guys, the President lost a lot of friends last night –

CONGRESSMAN MARSHALL:  Not to mention six points in the polls.

CHIEF OF STAFF:  — And his plane lands in two hours. We owe it to him to have a consensus.

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  You don’t fight a junkyard dog with ASPCA rules. What you do is take the leash off your own, bigger, meaner dog.

CHIEF OF STAFF:  …General?

DEVEREAUX:  The Army is a broadsword not a scalpel. You do not want us in an American city.

CHIEF OF STAFF:  But hypothetically… how long would it take you to –

DEVEREAUX:  We only go if the President invokes the War Powers Act.

CHIEF OF STAFF:  I understand that, General. Let us imagine, though, for a moment, that the order has been given.

DEVEREAUX:  …Twelve hours after the President gives the word we can be on the ground. One light infantry division of ten thousand seven hundred men. Elements of the Rapid Deployment Force combined with Special Forces — Delta. APC’s, tanks, helicopters. And of course, the ubiquitous M-16A1 assault rifle, a humble weapon until you see a man carrying one outside your local bowling alley or Seven-Eleven. It will be noisy, it will be scary and it will not be mistaken for a VFW parade. That means civilian casualties. At a minimum it’s a drunk private joyriding in a Hummer who runs down an old lady in Greenpoint. At a maximum… (sighs) Make no mistake. We will hunt the enemy. We will find the enemy. And we will kill the enemy.

As the movie script states, there are laws regarding deploying the military on U.S. soil.  In particular, the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385): 

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.

However, there are exceptions to the rule.  Under 18 U.S.C. § 831:

(d) The Attorney General may request assistance from the Secretary of Defense under chapter 18 of title 10 in the enforcement of this section and the Secretary of Defense may provide such assistance in accordance with chapter 18 of title 10, except that the Secretary of Defense may provide such assistance through any Department of Defense personnel.

(e)

(1) The Attorney General may also request assistance from the Secretary of Defense under this subsection in the enforcement of this section. Notwithstanding section 1385 of this title, the Secretary of Defense may, in accordance with other applicable law, provide such assistance to the Attorney General if—

(A) an emergency situation exists (as jointly determined by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense in their discretion); and
(B) the provision of such assistance will not adversely affect the military preparedness of the United States (as determined by the Secretary of Defense in such Secretary’s discretion).

(2) As used in this subsection, the term “emergency situation” means a circumstance—

(A) that poses a serious threat to the interests of the United States; and
(B) in which—

(i) enforcement of the law would be seriously impaired if the assistance were not provided; and
(ii) civilian law enforcement personnel are not capable of enforcing the law.

(3) Assistance under this section may include—

(A) use of personnel of the Department of Defense to arrest persons and conduct searches and seizures with respect to violations of this section; and
(B) such other activity as is incidental to the enforcement of this section, or to the protection of persons or property from conduct that violates this section.

Ok, if you bothered to read everything above, I give you a lot of credit.  Basically, the government has rules regarding how the military is deployed.  In short, the military isn’t suppose to be used in a law enforcement role unless there is a national emergency, and only if the requests go through the Attorney General.  So why are we having the law discussion today?  There is a report that the government is considering creating a 20,000 member unit to be deployed within our borders to respond to biological, nuclear, or national disaster. 

Naturally, there are concerns about this from the ACLU and Libertarian organizations, and I do not blame them.  However, as Hurricane Katrina pointed out to us, there are cases where domestic forces (National Guard, local police, etc) are not capable of responding in a manner that is in the best interest of the general public.  If the three “quick response” units are structured and operate under the existing laws noted above, I do not see anything wrong with this reorganization of our forces.  Would local law enforcement or State Guard units be capable (manpower or training) of handing a large biological weapon attack or a nuclear power plant meltdown?  If the U.S. forces are structured to work WITH local law enforcement, and all major cities are involved with joint response training for biological, nuclear, and natural disaster, then the addition of 20,000 highly skilled responders can only be a benefit to the general public.

Related articles:
MSNBC – “Pentagon to detail military to bolster security”
Washington Post – “Pentagon to Detail Troopse to Bolster Domestic Security”