‘Very dangerous’: Pentagon directive expands military’s use of lethal power to allow attacks on civilians
The Department of Defense amended a directive last month to allow the military to use lethal force against civilians while assisting law enforcement.
As noted by GreenMedInfo, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the military from enforcing domestic law. The US Armed Forces have since been forbidden from intervening in civilian affairs, with few exceptions. One of those exceptions is the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military to suppress a rebellion against a federal authority.
On September 27th, 39 days before the 2024 presidential election, the Department of Defense published Directive 5240.01. While previous versions of this directive dealt with the Pentagon’s intelligence activities — such as information collection — the updated version expressly allows the military to use lethal force against civilians in law enforcement scenarios.
The relevant part of Section 3.3a.(2)(c) of the directive reads (emphasis added):
Subject to Paragraph 3.1., Defense Intelligence Components may provide personnel to assist a Federal department or agency, including a Federal law enforcement agency or a State or local law enforcement agency, when lives are in danger, in response to a request for such assistance in accordance with the following approval authorities:
- Secretary of Defense Approval
- The Secretary of Defense may approve any type of requested permissible assistance described in Paragraph 3.2
- The decision to approve requests for these types of permissible assistance described in Paragraph 3.2 to law enforcement agencies and other civil authorities are reserved to the Secretary of Defense:
(a) Provision of personnel to support response efforts for civil disturbances, which may also require Presidential authorization.
(b) DoD response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive incidents.
(c) Assistance in responding with assets with potential for lethality or any situation in which it is reasonably foreseeable that providing the requested assistance may involve the use of force that is likely to result in lethal force, including death or serious bodily injury. It also includes all support to civilian law enforcement officials in situations where a confrontation between civilian law enforcement and civilian individuals or groups is reasonably anticipated.
Commenting on the directive, former US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said it is a “very dangerous” step toward a police state.
“‘Send in the troops, we need you to shoot a couple of these people,’” he said in an interview. “‘They’re opposing our policies! They’re demonstrating against COVID rules,’ or something they’ll come up with. So I think this is very, very dangerous.”
Some social media users are connecting the updated directive to November’s election, suggesting that it is a preparatory step for activities being planned by those in the Biden-Harris administration.
“They won’t hand over the White House on January 6th,” said retired firefighter Mike Bales.
“The government is preparing to wage civil war against the populace. I'm unaware of an alternate interpretation,” commented another netizen.
