Late last week, when
we covered the various signs that "something big" may be coming, we discussed the one "
exercise that people have really been buzzing about"
- operation "Jade Helm", an “unconventional warfare exercise” during
which the states Texas and Utah will be designated as hostile territory.
As
previously profiled,
"Jade Helm is a challenging eight-week joint military and Interagency
(IA) Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise conducted throughout Texas,
New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado,” according
to an unclassified military document announcing the training drill,
which runs from July 15 through September 15.
Multiple branches of the US military, including Green Berets, Navy
Seals, and the 82nd Airborne Division, will participate in the 8-week
long exercise, which may result in “increased aircraft in the area at
night.”
Troops will be tasked with honing advanced skills in “large areas of
undeveloped land with low population densities,” and will work alongside
“civilians to gain their trust and an understanding of the issues.”
The exercise, in which some participants will be “wearing civilian
clothes and driving civilian vehicles,” lists Texas and Utah as
“hostile" territory.
The proposed theater of operations of Operation Jade Helm is shown on the map below:
So while there are still three months until Jade Helm officially
opens, various documented reports of substantial national guard drills
and troop exercises are starting to trickle in early. As
Paul Joseph Watson notes,
the first documented proof of National Guard drills comes from Ontario,
California where National Guard troops can be seen patrolling
residential streets and practicing traffic control.
In the video troops, followed by a humvee, are seen marching close to an elementary school and single family homes.
“I just watched it again and recognized the low block wall and the
elementary school! It was right there where my sister and her husband
live! OMG how frightening!” one YouTube commenter responded, while
others insisted the patrols were a routine occurrence.
However, another respondent insisted that the patrol was not normal.
“During the last few seconds I got a quick glimpse of my sister and
brother-in-laws house on Fuschia. Ave,” wrote the commenter.”That
motorcycle was parked almost in front of their house. They told me they
saw this procession going on from their front yard. They have lived in
that house for 30 or so yrs and this is the first time they have seen
this type of thing in their neighborhood. Might be a common thing to do
their training someplace else but not in that area.”
This is not the first such clip: a
disturbing video out
of Fort Lauderdale, Florida last month also showed military and law
enforcement practicing the internment of citizens during martial-law
style training.
Meanwhile on the eastern US easboard,
the PostStar reports that nearly 600 Army and Air National Guard forces from New Jersey and New York "are preparing for the worst."
They are participating in a homeland response force drill at New Jersey's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on Friday.
The troops specialize in rescue, security, decontamination and medical treatment.
The units will train to rapidly assess and identify a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident.
Of course, the bigger concern is that the real motive behind this
major national guard exercise is not a focus on a "defensive" drill from
an outside threat, but one dealing with a domestic threat.
How is that possible, some would say? Could the national guard really be preparing for a confrontation with the US population?
Unfortunately the answer is yes, as we reported last
August in "Under What Conditions Can The US Army Engage Citizens: The Army's "Civil Disturbances" Primer"
which lays out not only when the US Army (and national guard) can
engage the US population, but lays out clearly the protocol under which
the US army is specifically permitted to engage in "PSYOPs" against the
US population.
Here are the salient points, as
reported previously, from the primer which begins with the umbrella statement:
Civil unrest may range from simple, nonviolent protests that address
specific issues, to events that turn into full-scale riots. Gathering
in protest may be a recognized right of any person or group, regardless
of where U.S. forces may be operating. In the United States, this
fundamental right is protected under the Constitution of the United
States...
"Protected" it may be, but as usual, the interpretation of the
Constitution is in the eye of the beholder, or more appropriately,
gun holder. Because shortly thereafter we further read the following:
The Constitution of the United States, laws, regulations, policies, and other legal issues limit the use of federal military personnel in domestic support operations. Any Army involvement in civil disturbance operations involves many legal issues requiring comprehensive legal reviews. However, federal forces are authorized for use in civil disturbance operations under certain circumstances.
What circumstances? For the answer we turn to section, 2-8. To wit:
The Constitution of the United States provides two exceptions for
which the Posse Comitatus Act does not apply. These exceptions are based
upon the inherent right of the U.S. government to ensure the
preservation of public order and to carrying out governmental operations
within its territorial limits by force, if necessary. These two
exceptions are—
- Emergency authority. A sudden and unexpected
civil disturbance, disaster, or calamity may seriously endanger life and
property and disrupt normal governmental functions to such an extent
that local authorities cannot control the situation. At such times,
the federal government may use military force to prevent the loss of
life or wanton destruction of property and to restore government
functions and public order. In these circumstances, federal military
commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances
where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly
constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances (see DODD 3025.18).
- Protection of federal property and functions. When
the need for the protection of federal property or federal functions
exists, and duly constituted local authorities are unable to, or decline
to provide adequate protection, federal action, including the use of
military forces, is authorized.
2-9. Laws passed by the U.S. congress include four exceptions to the
Posse Comitatus Act. With the first three laws discussed below (10 USC
331–333) there is a prerequisite that the President must take personal
action, including the issuance of a proclamation calling upon
insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably within a limited time. The
four exceptions, based on law are—
- 10 USC 331. When a state is unable to control
domestic violence and they have requested federal assistance, the use of
the militia or Armed Forces is authorized.
- 10 USC 332. When ordinary enforcement means are
unworkable due to unlawful obstructions or rebellion against the
authority of the United States, use of the militia or Armed Forces is
authorized.
- 10 USC 333. When a state cannot or will not protect
the constitutional rights of the citizens, due to domestic violence or
conspiracy to hinder execution of State or Federal law, the use of the
militia or Armed Forces is authorized.
- House Joint Resolution 1292. This resolution
directs all departments of the U.S. government, upon request of the
Secret Service, to assist in carrying out its statutory duties to
protect government officials and major political candidates from
physical harm.
In other words, if and when the US Armed Forces decide that rioting
infringes upon any of these exclusions, then the constitution no longer
applies and the use of lethal force becomes a viable option against US
citizens.
It gets worse, because whereas one would expect that a
"Constitutional expert" such as the president, Barack Obama would be the
one tasked with interpreting if and when the Constitution no longer
applies, the primer is quite explicit in handing over responsibility to
"federal military commanders":
... federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where
prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly
constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbance.
So should Obama resume his vacation even as things in Missouri
escalate dramatically, and be "unreachable", it may well come to pass
that Obama's opinion will be irrelevant not only whether the National
Guard should be unleashed in Ferguson, but whether Posse Comitatus is
suddenly null and void.
The good news: the use of lethal force is not the only option the US
Army would have if and when it engages with the population. US citizens
may simply be herded into "
temporary internment camps"
for reindoctrination purposes under the supervision of PSYOP Officer
(no really, they used that word), as follows from the Army's FM3-39.40
"Internment and Resettlment Operations" manual:
Internment and Resettlement (I/R) operations facilitate the ability
to conduct rapid and decisive combat operations; deter, mitigate, and
defeat threats to populations that may result in conflict; reverse
conditions of human suffering; and build the capacity of a foreign
government to effectively care for and govern its population. This
includes capabilities to conduct shaping operations across the spectrum
of military operations to mitigate and defeat the underlying
conditions for conflict and counter the core motivations that result in
support to criminal, terrorist, insurgent, and other destabilizing
groups. I/R operations also include the daily incarceration of U.S.
military prisoners at facilities throughout the world.
An adaptive enemy will manipulate populations that are hostile to U.S. intent by instigating mass civil disobedience, directing criminal activity, masking their operations in urban and other complex terrain, maintaining an indistinguishable presence through cultural anonymity,
and actively seeking the traditional sanctuary of protected areas as
defined by the rules of land warfare. Such actions will facilitate the
dispersal of threat forces, negate technological overmatches, and
degrade targeting opportunities. Commanders will use technology and
conduct police intelligence operations to influence and control
populations, evacuate detainees and, conclusively, transition
rehabilitative and reconciliation operations to other functional
agencies. The combat identification of friend, foe, or neutral
is used to differentiate combatants from noncombatants and friendly
forces from threat forces.
Presenting army camps, hopefully not in a city near you:
Detainee facilities, an important planning consideration, are treated
in the same basic fashion as any base camps. The same basic planning
considerations are taken into account. Some detainee facilities will be
subordinate to a larger base camp but they may also be at a separate
location.
Of course, none of this will be needed if the Army's Psyops work as required:
The PSYOP officer in charge of supporting I/R operations serves as
the special staff officer responsible for PSYOP. The PSYOP officer
advises the military police commander on the psychological impact of
military police or MI actions to prevent misunderstandings and
disturbances by detainees and DCs. The supporting I/R PSYOP team has two
missions that reduce the need to divert military police assets to
maintain security in the I/R facility. The team—
- Assists the military police force in controlling detainees and DCs.
- Introduces detainees or DCs to U.S. and multinational policy.
- Develops PSYOP products that are designed to pacify and acclimate
detainees or DCs to accept U.S. I/R facility authority and regulations.
- Gains the cooperation of detainees or DCs to reduce the number of guards needed.
- Identifies malcontents, trained agitators, and political
leaders within the facility who may try to organize resistance or create
disturbances.
- Develops and executes indoctrination programs to reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes.
- Identifies political activists.
- Provides loudspeaker support (such as administrative announcements and facility instructions when necessary).
- Helps the military police commander control detainee and DC populations during emergencies.
- Plans and executes a PSYOP
In other words, if and when the time comes to "override" Posse
Comitatus, random US citizens may have two options: i) end up in the US
version of a Gulag or, worse, ii) be shot. For now, however, just keep
an eye on the various drill videos to get a sense of the US army's
preparedness in dealing with "civil disobedience."
