Pubdate: Wed, 13 Oct 1999
Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web)
Copyright: 1999, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
Contact:  PO Box 409, Cave Junction, OR 97523-0409
Fax: (541) 597-1700
Website: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
Author: Jon E. Dougherty, staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.

NEW MILITARY UNIT FOR DOMESTIC DEPLOYMENT

Cohen Says Americans Should  'welcome' Troops On Home Soil

Critics are denouncing recent congressional changes to the Posse Comitatus 
Act that will allow a broader use of U.S. military forces in a domestic law 
enforcement role including a new unit for deployment in assisting civilian 
officers during a terrorist attack.

The new command, established Oct. 7 in Norfolk, Va., will be called the 
U.S. Joint Forces Command, and replaces the former U.S. Atlantic Command. 
At a ceremony commemorating the new unit, Defense Secretary William Cohen 
told participants the American people shouldn't fear the potential of 
seeing U.S. military forces on the streets of U.S. cities.

The military must "deal with the threats we are most likely to face," Cohen 
told reporters, downplaying concerns about troops operating on home soil. 
"The American people should not be concerned about it. They should welcome it."

The new command is designed to prepare U.S. troops to fight abroad or to 
respond if terrorists strike with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

In opposing the measure, critics cite the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which 
prohibits federal troops from participating in domestic law enforcement 
activities under most circumstances. With the concern over domestic 
terrorism rising since the World Trade Center bombing and numerous 
incidences of cyber-attacks on U.S. defense and financial institutions, the 
Clinton administration has begun to relax some of those restrictions.

In July, WorldNetDaily reported the new measures would end the requirement 
for local law agencies to reimburse the federal government for any local 
use of military equipment, as well as enable the Department of Defense to 
deploy military troops in cases of anticipated or actual terrorist attacks.

Then, David Kopel of the Independence Institute warned that the measures 
would, if passed, "set (bad) precedents for years to come."

Since the Waco debacle in 1993, when federal law officers and military 
personnel assaulted a church community resulting in the deaths of over 80 
men, women and children, Kopel said the federal government has been 
"eroding the protections contained in the Posse Comitatus Act." In the 
past, he told WorldNetDaily, most of the amendments to the original law had 
been  based on bogus drug issues. Now, he said, that issue seems to have 
shifted to so-called terrorist attacks, or at least the threat of them.

The Defense Department has said only the military has enough equipment to 
operate in a poisoned environment, or to manage a massive decontamination 
effort. Secretary Cohen told reporters last week that federal law will not 
be violated because the military would only respond if requested.

"It is subordinate to civilian control," he said.

But Gregory Nojeim, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties 
Union in Washington, D.C., told WorldNetDaily he is concerned about 
"nightmare scenarios" like those in the recent films, "Enemy of the State" 
and "The Siege."

"Soldiers are not equipped, by training or temperament, to enforce the laws 
with proper regard for civil and constitutional rights," he said. "They're 
trained to kill the enemy."

Nojeim said the ACLU is concerned about "letting loose the most effective 
fighting force in the history of the world" on American civilians.

Cohen said that the creation of the Joint Forces Command would better 
coordinate the training of the four armed services. However, history is 
replete with reasons why some Americans continue to be hesitant about using 
military troops in a law enforcement capacity.

Besides questions about the Army's Delta Force role during the Waco siege, 
most recently, in 1997, U.S. Marines assigned to assist the U.S. Border 
Patrol in combating illegal immigration accidentally shot and killed an 
18-year-old goat herder. That force has since been withdrawn and 
reassigned, but lawmakers have remained committed to expanding the 
military's civil law enforcement role in other ways.

For example, the military also has been given an expanded role in defending 
against cyber-terrorism, or assaults on U.S. computer systems. The U.S. 
Space Command in Colorado will be leading that effort.

Nojeim questioned the need for such an expansion of federal military forces 
into the domestic law enforcement arena, even though U.S. officials have 
said the nation is now at greater risk of terrorist attack. He also 
believes the White House should do a better job of educating the American 
people about why the changes to the Posse Comitatus law are needed.

"For years the federal government has showered the FBI with hundreds of 
millions of new dollars to help it combat crimes involving chemical and 
biological weapons," he told WorldNetDaily. "Taxpayers need to know where 
that money has gone and why the president now wants to call in the troops."

Addressing the long-term ramifications of the change in military law 
enforcement policy, Nojeim said, "When the crisis hits, those with the 
biggest guns will be subordinate to no one."