Reports from residents out of Big Spring, Texas have cited helicopters and tanks being brought in and manuvering around the town’s airport ahead of Jade Helm 15, the massive military drill being conducted across 9 states from July 15th to August 15th.
One anonymous resident stated: “I saw a train carrying all sorts of military equipment heading into Big Spring, There were also about 14 helicopters flying over the [Big Spring McMahon-Wrinkle] Airport last night and a tank getting driven through that open field [near the airport]. It’s scary seeing that and not knowing what in the world is going on.”
KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |
Better prepare TX and all other states. What ever happened to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, USC 1385.
invade texas please
Posse Comitatus
(Act of 1878, The Power of the County)
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
The name Posse Comitatus means, “the Power of the County”, bringing to mind colorful images of the old west county sheriff swearing in a posse to pursue fleeing criminals.
The Act was born out of the extensive use of federal troops for law enforcement in the South following the Civil War. Congress, recognizing that the long-term use of the Army to enforce civilian laws posed a potential danger to the military’s subordination to civilian control, p$#%&!@*ed the Act.
The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act made it a crime for anyone to use the Army to enforce federal, state, or local civil laws.
The prohibitions of the Act are directed at preventing the military from becoming a national police force or Guardia Civil. Accordingly, the Act prohibits anyone from using the military to “execute the laws”. Execution of the laws includes the arrest or detention of criminal suspects, search and seizure activities, restriction of civilian movement through the use of blockades or checkpoints, gathering of evidence, and certain uses of military personnel as undercover narcotics officers.
In essence, the closer the role of the military personnel comes to that of a police officer on the beat, the greater the likelihood that the Act is being violated.
Military Involvement During National Emergencies
The frequency with which the military has become involved in civilian law matters has varied throughout our history, typically reaching high points during times of national emergency. The difference in the 1990’s; however, has been to increase the routine use of the military in domestic law enforcement activities during a period of relative national calm and security.
Statutes and regulations enacted in the past decade permit the use of military personnel in drug interdiction, and immigration enforcement.
Although such involvement is supposed to be “indirect” under those statutes, the reality is that armed active duty military personnel are carrying out an enforcement activity that brings them into direct contact with criminal suspects.
The fact is that the political interest in stopping drug and alien smuggling is currently greater than the concern as to whether the military is being injected into a traditional civilian law enforcement role contrary to the principles upon which the Posse Comitatus Act was founded.
The military possesses unique training and equipment advantages in this arena that cannot be duplicated by civilian law enforcement. The fact that the National Guard is not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act while in its state status also provides a great deal of flexibility to planners for homeland defense.
National Guard Troops May Be Employed in Law Enforcement
National Guard troops may be actively employed in law enforcement activities in addition to their military specialty. While to the untrained eye the distinction between a BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) clad Army Reservist and a BDU clad National Guardsman may be nonexistent, the legal distinction between them is significant.
During a natural disaster Army reservists or Guardsman may both provide logistical aid such as water purification, medical $#%&!@*istance, and communications; however, due to the Posse Comitatus Act, it is only the Guardsman in his/her State status that can take an active role in suppressing looting and in providing general security for an area that has lost effective law enforcement control.
Cons$#%&!@*utional Authority of the President Allows Utilization of Military to Preserve Civilian Laws
By virtue of the several statutory exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act in the past decade, coupled with the general Cons$#%&!@*utional authority of the President to preserve order, there are few areas of domestic law enforcement activity where the military is precluded from participating in times of national emergency or disaster.
While the Posse Comitatus Act still serves a valuable function in deterring a lower level commander or politician from engaging in unauthorized “police” activity using military forces, the Act today provides little hindrance to the National Command Authority in executing civilian laws in times of emergency through military personnel.
Through proper, legal declarations of Presidential emergency authority and/or through the use of National Guard $#%&!@*ets in state status, it is increasingly likely that the military will play a significant enforcement role in response to domestic terrorism and other disasters for the foreseeable future.
—Compiled from information located in the following sources:
The Free Dictionary, Posse Comitatus Act ;
The Free Dictionary, Posse Comitatus (disambiguation);
Wikipedia, Posse Comitatus Act;
Wikipedia, Posse Comitatus, Common Law;
Encyclopedia Britannica; William Benton, Publisher;
Chicago; 1968; page 305.
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 Military Law Gets New Attention
Currently, America’s military is largely prohibited from acting as a domestic police force and while the presence of military “advisors” during the siege, brutality and slaughter at WACO Texas set ominous trends in motion, few thought in terms of its implications. That was before the terrorism of September 11, 2001, now glibly called “911.”
Legislation dating to the Civil War prohibits use of the U.S. military to enforce domestic law. As the White House, Congress and Pentagon consider a broader military role, conservatives and civil libertarians object.
As both local and federal officials $#%&!@*ess the problems that occurred in response to Hurricane Katrina, there is renewed discussion about the role the military should play in such disasters.
“Our way of life has forever changed,” wrote Sen. John Warner R-Va., in an October 2001 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “Should this law [Posse Comitatus Act] now be changed to enable our active-duty military to more fully join other domestic $#%&!@*ets in this war against terrorism?”
The law, was championed by far-sighted Southern lawmakers in 1878. They had experienced a fifteen year military occupation by the US Army in post-Civil War law enforcement. They understood the heel of a jackboot.
To summarize, this act bans the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines from participating in arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other police-type activity on U.S. soil. The Coast Guard and National Guard troops under the control of state governors are excluded from the act.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, agreed that it might be desirable to give federal troops more of a role in domestic policing to prevent terrorism. “In certain cases we can do more than anyone else in the country because of the special capabilities that we have”, he said.
Dennis Corrigan, a retired colonel who taught the law at the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s school, says legislators should resist the urge to change it. The military isn’t trained to be a police force, he says, so it should stick to the skills for which it is trained: surveillance, information gathering, and logistical support. All of these activities are allowable under Posse Comitatus. “I’m not sure, even with what’s going on today, that Congress wants the military arresting people.”
Michael Spak, former Army JAG colonel now teaching at Chicago-Kent College of Law had another spin. “It’s good for the law to tell the truth and for everybody to follow the law,” he said. “But is it necessary? No.”
—Compiled from an article $#%&!@*led
“1878 Military Law Gets New Attention” by T.A. Badger;
$#%&!@*ociated Press; November 24, 2001.
The military is good for your economy and safety, what’s the concern !
Open your eyes Texans. Get ready for the STHTF!!!!!
Wrong
Reposting this…
Wake up fast people ,get your heads out of Obamas $#%&!@* !!!
THIS IS ALL WRONG! OBAMA WANTS HIS MARIAL LAW!!
You had go and talk to your city leaders of Big Spring Texas because they invited the military to come in as per the meeting minutes from 10 March 2015.
Here is what your leaders said in the minutes. And here is the link from which those minutes came from.
http://www.mybigspring.com/03-10-15_Agenda.pdf
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BIG SPRING, TEXAS INVITING THE UNITED STATES ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND (USASOC) TO CONDUCT A LARGE SCALE MILITARY TRAINING EXERCISE CALLED “JADE HELM 15” IN BIG SPRING, HOWARD COUNTY, TEXAS FROM JULY 15,2015 THROUGH
SEPTEMBER 15,2015; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, The United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) from Fort Bragg, North Carolina is planning a large scale exercise, called JADE HELM 15 (JH15); and
WHEREAS, the JH15 is an eight-week joint military and interagency exercise to be conducted throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado featuring exercises on unconventional warfare and national security strategies; and
WHEREAS, Over 1,200 service members will participate in JH15, potentially supplying $150,000 to the local economy;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCL OF THE CITY OF BIG SPRING, TEXAS, THAT:
SECTION 1: The City of Big Spring City Council hereby invites the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) to conduct the JADE HELM 15 in Big Spring, Howard County, Texas from July 15,20 15 through September 15,20 15.
SECTION 2: This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage.
PASSED AND APPROVED on first reading at a regular meeting of the City Council on the – loth day of March, 2015, with all members present voting “aye” for the passage of the same.
PASSED AND APPROVED on second and final reading at regular meeting of the City Council on the 24th day of March, 2015, with all members present voting “aye” for the passage of same.
Larry McLellan, Mayor
ATTEST:
Tami Davis, Assistant City Secretary
Page 21 of 61 3-10-15 Agenda