Comments
on the Posse Comittatus Act
The below article from the Cato Institute concerns the militarization of our law enforcement by using US troops to police us, often in violation of the Posse
Comittatus Act. It is well written, and very chilling. However, I personally do not agree with the author on his stand of not using US forces to patrol or block our international border lines. The Constitution plainly states that one job of the federal government is to defend the nation against foreign invasion or threats ("Provide for the common defense"). I see no problem with using the US Army to establish border
surveillance stations along our borders (especially Mexico) and patrol between the stations to keep illegal crossers from infiltrating our country at will. The author states that our forces are not trained for a "law enforcement mission," however as a former police officer and military officer I see no reason why they can not be trained to act in a law enforcement manner as border security agents. They should be armed with sidearms and radios to call Border Patrol officers as backup. It would take a very short school to teach them "use of force" policies, and proper arrest techniques. After all, many police officers today are former military personnel who have gone through police academies. The author fails to consider that our soldiers CAN be trained in areas other that "shoot to kill and tear up the real estate." Add to this that the Army has its Military Police school that does teach proper police procedures, investigations, detention and arrest procedures and the Miranda law. Trainers and instructors from this school could easily form mobile training teams to go to major installations and set up satellite schools for soldiers. Reserve training units (many of which have many civilian police officers as personnel) could also participate in training active duty selectees for this mission.
Since 9-11, we have discovered that Islamic terrorists/jihadists have come across the Mexican border and infiltrated this country. This is an invasion by a foreign enemy, and the federal government is tasked by the Constitution to respond to such action. After all , was it not federal troops that responded under Pershing to stop the border incursions of Mexican bandit Pancho Villa? Plainly stated, our civilian law enforcement community is currently overwhelmed and is not capable of stopping the border invasion that is occurring at this time.
I do not think National Guardsmen or Reservists should be activated to secure the border due to the impact it has on home communities and civilian economy when they leave their jobs--many of which are critical to our infrastructure--and the fact that if they are on the border, they would not be able to respond to their domestic mission of assisting with disaster relief efforts and emergency situations in their home states. But US Army infantry, armored cavalry and air cavalry units would be perfectly at home patrolling the southwestern desert border areas, and it would also be a real-life mission and something they could appreciate (unlike a routine training exercise at home base). The military should be given a 10 or 20 mile corridor along the border as their area of responsibility and jurisdiction, not to include cities and towns which should be handled by their indigineous civilian law enforcement. (As an example, our military is now patrolling the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and doing a fine job of it).
Other than that, the article is very good and we should do all we can to make sure US troops do not patrol the nation's streets, or participate in law enforcement activities involving US citizens.
Craig Roberts