Posted on 04/18/2002 4:23:16 AM PDT by serinde
Rumsfeld announced a series of changes to the military's command structure, the most important of which is the establishment in October of a Northern Command, probably with headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to centralize the military's role in defense of the United States.
The main impetus was the Sept. 11 attacks, which demonstrated that the military was not set up to deal with unconventional attacks from inside the country. Since the attacks, the military has flown daily air patrols and has placed more fighters on ground alert.
The creation of the Northern Command will not conflict with a 19th century law, called the Posse Comitatus Act, that was meant to prohibit the military from acting as a domestic police force, Rumsfeld said in announcing the changes.
"The creation of NorthCom means that we now have the command assigned to defend the American people where they live and work, and it will be functioning in a supporting role to civil authorities as occasions arise," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
If, for example, a federal, state or local law enforcement agency needed help in responding to a terrorist threat or attack in an American city, its request would go to the commander of Northern Command through the Defense Department.
2. ... the military was not set up to deal with unconventional attacks from inside the country ...
Of course not; that is what the (original) militia was supposed to do.
It's the 'military law' view of law; law isn't there to restrict power, it's there to focus it.
Or as Georges Clemenceau put it, "Military law is to law as military music is to music."
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