I didn't understand this at first. I thought nothing of it--military divisions rotate home all the time. Then Terry Karney and Glenn Greenwalk woke me up.
Summary: an Army brigade (a significantly large unit, consisting of between 1,500 and 3,200 soldiers)
has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
In other words, impose martial law. That mission runs smack up against the Posse Comitatus Act. (If your Latin is rusty, the phrase means generally the "power (force) of the county". If the historical meaning of the Act is rusty, consult Wikipedia.)
It is another example of the current administration trampling on checks and balances and civil liberties.
Link: pecunium: 1BCT/3ID.
Seeding the army with people who see the citizens as needing the Army to keep them from riot (even if they never have to do it) is starting to separate them. Take it far enough, let the solution get saturated, and that might crystalise in to a coup. I don't see it as being soon, but I wonder at the choice of location for this Hq. Colorado Springs is a really right-wing part of the nation, almost to the point of fetish. I worry about that coloring those who are assigned to the command. Is that overboard? Maybe.
Bloggers:
- Terry Karney: 1BCT/3ID
- Radley Balko: Posse Comiwhatus?
- Glenn Greenwald: Why Is A U.S. Army Brigade Being Stationed In The "Homeland"?
Comments