October Surprise Anyone?

[shevabree]

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds. NOTE: Here is the link from the Army Times.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Comments

[shevabree.livejournal.com]

By the way.. this goes hand in hand with Presidential Directive 51

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;

6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies. The Continuity Policy Coordination Committee (CPCC), chaired by a Senior Director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, shall be the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination

[frostynorth.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that in most modern states, using the federal/national army for domestic matters simply wasn't done in the interest of separation of powers? Going hand-in-hand with the appointment of a serving military officer as head of the CIA, I guess this is what they really mean by "unitary executive".

Keep on keeping an eye on this, Sheva. And keep an eye on what the next president does with this. I've heard it said that rather than worrying about Bush becoming Mr. Teeth from "V", we should be worrying about what his successor does with it - whether he reverses many of these changes or allows them to stay on the books will be the deciding factor on what exactly it means to be the POTUS from now on.