No on both counts.
In the aftermath of the racial unpleasantness of 1967-68, the NSC undertook a study of what would constitute a race war, i.e., a subset of civil war, and how the federal government would react to it. From this, the Johnson Administration issued an executive order laying out the mechanism for a federal reaction, and this EO has been kept up to date by subsequent administrations. The eventual creation of FEMA was a part of this reaction mechanism.
The initial reaction to a rebellion situation would involve a declaration of emergency or even martial law, the deployment of National Guard troops, and perhaps even an Army or Marine supplement. At that point a 48 hour clock would start to tick. If there was organized resistance to federal military intervention, such as paramilitary squads attacking troops, or if it became impossible to quell the rebellion in general, then the next step would be the internment of the inhabitants of the affected area. All this would be directed by presidential order authorizing the military to take these steps.
We almost came to that in 1992 during the Rodney King affair in South-Central Los Angeles. Fortunately, the appearance of National Guard, Army and Marines caused the inhabitants of that neighborhood to put on their halos. The 48 hour clock never got very far.
What you want is for the military to come out of the barracks, execute a coup and overthrow the civilian government. The optics of that would be horrendous.
The military can only take over in a civil strife situation only when the president authorizes it, or a nuclear war situation where the civilian government has been decapitated or obliterated entirely. I suspect we’re only a few months away from the latter.
Good information and well written. Thanks
You say only the President can authorize the military to fight back in the civil war.
That’s very convenient for the enemy that has stolen the office.
You are wrong and the military is wrong.
If we play by those rules the enemy has already won and we have surrendered.