Funny how some things come full circle. I remember writing about a conversation I had during a poker game a few years ago, when one of the other players said, “wait until the militia comes”. I politely said what militia and tried to explain the whole National Guard and Active Military to the table. And look at that, a few years later our dear President is calling out the militia on his own people.
Before I get started, I ask anyone who has spent time in the military, National Guard, Active Duty or Reserve to correct me if I state something incorrectly. I know in most cases these are my opinions (and I usually preference them with “in my opinion”), but I also want to be as factual as possible.
Isn’t it funny how Donald Trump couldn’t call out the National Guard on Jan.6, 2020, but he finds it very easy to call out the National Guard now. It was Donald Trumps responsibility to call out the National Guard to protect Federal Property (The Capital) and Federal Employees (Congress) on Jan. 6th. He should have done it as fast as he is calling out the National Guard to protect ICE & Federal Properties in other States. In fact, I think it was his duty as President to do the same on Jan. 6th. Especially if he thought and proclaimed, that the rioters were Antifa. Please don’t make me explain what Antifa means again. It was not Nancy Pelosi’s responsibility to call out the National Guard that day. If it was, then why didn’t he ask the current speaker of the house to call out the National Guard in DC this time. Simply put, it was his responsibility then and it is his responsibility now. He just didn’t want to call out the National Guard on his own supporters.
The facts are the President commands all National Guard troops when and only when, they have been federalized. The only National Guard that the President commands on a daily basis is the DC National Guard. That is why it is ok for the President to use the DC National Guard in DC. He can Federalize any other National Guard and deploy them into a city. But they can only protect Federal Employees and Federal Property. Once they are Federalized, they cannot perform any police actions against any person. It is unauthorized by law. There is this law called “The Posse Comitatus Act” which restricts the use of the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement (making arrest, conducting searches, and seizing property). It was passed in 1878 in response to the use of federal troops to police the South during the Reconstruction era. It pertains to the Army, Air Force, Navy & Marines. You notice I did not say Coast Guard. I’ll get to that.
That being said, the governor of a state can utilize the Guard (when on State Active Duty) to perform police type actions/duties. The law does allow the Active, Reserve or federalized Guard to provide indirect support to the Guard. For example, the Active (federal) Military can come into a State and help in sharing intelligence, equipment, responding to natural disasters and other non-police actions, so the State’s Guard can do what they are legally authorized to do. The President can federalize troops and send them to another State if he chooses. The Governor of that State also needs to agree with it or request them. The Governor of a State does have the right (as I said in the past) to use his/her own State National Guard to stop federalized troops from stepping foot onto State sovereign land. The only reason some Governors are allowing the President to federalize their National Guard, is because they are Republican States. The last thing you want to do, is send in one States National Guard, into another State unless it is in support of a natural or man-made disaster.
There are times when the Guard (when federalized) can perform police actions.
- When authorized by Congress
- The Insurrection Act
I think I can tell you that Congress will not authorize the use of the military against its citizens. Things would have to be bad, really bad (maybe post nuclear fallout) for them to do that. I’m sure (in my opinion) that many in Congress who are cowards/supporters of the President, do not agree with deploying federal troops into States. They just aren’t saying it in public. That is why you hear the President always saying he will use the Insurrection Act and impose Martial Law to allow his use of the military against United States citizens. Now the only reason the President would need to implement the Insurrection Act is if citizens of this Country started a revolt against the government (similar to let’s say Jan 6th), or if all the folks in this country illegally, actually tried to overthrow the government. So in “my opinion” what you have is a President who is sending troops into cities, in hopes of inciting a riot against federal personnel, calling it an insurrection, so he can then impose the Insurrection Act and take complete control. As I said in the past, he creates problems, so he can do what he wants to circumvent the laws. Run around yelling fire, fire, fire, so you can burn the house down from behind and hose people down as they run out. Typical.
Oh, and the Coast Guard, they are the only federalized force that can perform police actions daily. That is their job responsibility codified by law. Their job is to protect the coastline (Coast Guard) of these great United States.
Back to troops in cities. Maybe it is helping reduce crime, I don’t think so. If there are troops on the ground in cities, then the criminals sit back and watch. Crime goes down further, even though it was already going down, and things seem like it was a good idea. At least to the person who implemented it. Then troops leave, criminals come out, and crime goes up, and the person who sent in the troops says, “I told you it was working”. What a great plan that is. I compare it to the US trying to build a nation. We send troops in, the terrorist go into hiding, we think everything is great. We reduce our forces, or hand over control to a local group, the terrorist come out and take things back over. There is no silver bullet solution.
The other problem, in my opinion, is someone is going to get hurt. A federalized soldier will be put into a situation, with no knowledge or training, and the end game won’t be good. The last thing we need in this Country is our own military mistakenly killing a citizen. But maybe, just maybe that is what the President wants. Then he can play his hand accordingly. Like that poker reference.
If you want to reduce crime and help these cities, then Call Off the Guard! Give the Governors & Mayors the resources to do so. Don’t create an issue and then think you are the only answer to it. I am the “Chief Law Enforcement Officer in this Country”. No you’re not! It is the Attorney General (unfortunately she is no better).