[118263] in Cypherpunks
Knock Knock It's The Army
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Thu Sep 23 03:10:41 1999
Date: 23 Sep 1999 05:50:02 -0000
From: Anonymous <nobody@foebud.org>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message-ID: <ea1ab617269169248e2a2318a8348162@foebud.org>
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@foebud.org>
>Even as Congress and an independent counsel are set to reinvestigate the
>military's
>role at Waco, Texas, Congress is moving to further expand the armed
>forces' role in
>civil law enforcement.
>
>Tucked inside the pending fiscal 2000 defense authorization bill is
>language that
>would authorize the defense secretary to dispatch troops and weapons to
>police
>agencies to help them deal with threats or acts of terrorism.
>
>"Special capabilities and expertise of the Department of Defense are
>necessary and
>critical to respond to the act of terrorism or the threat of an act of
>terrorism,"
>the legislation says.
>
>In keeping with federal restrictions in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878,
>the bill
>says the military may not "directly participate in a search, seizure,
>arrest or
>other similar activity."
>
>But the new authority has drawn protests from the American Civil Liberties
>Union.
>
>"The defense authorization bill promises more military involvement in
>civilian law
>enforcement at virtually the same time Congress is investigating the role
>of the
>military units at Waco," said Gregory Nojeim, legislative counsel for the
>ACLU's
>Washington office. "We're particularly concerned that the bill effectively
>removes
>any requirement that military units be relied on only in an emergency. In
>addition,
>the fact that military assistance could be provided to a civilian law
>enforcement
>agency on a cost-free basis to that agency promises that requests for such
>assistance will become more commonplace."
>
>The legislation calls for local law enforcers to reimburse the Pentagon,
>but the
>defense secretary may waive any fees. Yearly expenses are capped at $10
>million.
>
>Senate Armed Services Chairman John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, told us
>yesterday, "There is no Posse Comitatus exception contained in this
>provision. The
>fact is this provision specifically prohibits military personnel from
>engaging in
>'search, seizure, arrest or similar activity.' "
>
>The Washington Times reported last week that military training and materiel
>assistance for local police have increased dramatically over the last 20
>years.
>Congress and succeeding administrations have systematically amended Posse
>Comitatus,
>primarily by getting the military involved in the domestic war on drugs. Some
>criminal-justice experts raise concerns that expanded military involvement
>is, in
>part, responsible for increasingly militarized local cops.
>
>In the 1993 Branch Davidian siege at Waco, Special Forces trained the
>federal agents
>who initially raided the compound, then equipped and advised the FBI
>during the
>51-day standoff.
>
>The House passed the defense bill this week, while the Senate could take
>it up at
>any time.
>
>Defense Secretary William S. Cohen told the Senate Armed Services
>Committee in
>February that Americans may have to give up some civil liberties in the fight
>against domestic terrorism.
>
>"We need greater intelligence and that means not only foreign-gathered
>intelligence
>but here at home," he said. "That is going to put us on a collision course
>with
>rights of privacy. And it's something that democracies have got to come to
>grips
>with - how much are we going to demand of our intelligence agencies and
>how much are
>we willing to give up in the way of intrusion into our lives? That is a
>tradeoff
>that is going to have to come."
