Deploying US Military inside US - WTF?

[1776 Rebel]

I can understand the current concern for security. I can understand an elevated state of awareness and preparation. But to be quite honest this stuff starts to really concern me. Its a long article so I clipped just the opening paragraphs. See the link below for the full article.

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security

By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 1, 2008; A01



The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217_pf.html

[Hazcat]

If it is National Guard called up at the governers request only or with state(s) approval I would feel much better about this.

As it reads right now though, I am opposed. Posse Comitatus and the 3rd Amendment come to mind as very possible casualties.

[nupe]

Yeah this will be great, couple this with Obama's "National Civil Security Force," and things may get very interesting in the future.

[ericire12]

Militarizing the nation...... hmmmmmm..... who else did that in history past?

[Hazcat]

Answering as the average US citizen my answer is "I have no idea" or "Bush/Reagan". 

[Sponsor]

[ericire12]

I was thinking more along the lines of Stalin or Hitler or Castro or Chavez or Hussein (not Obama, the other one) or......

[Hazcat]

I know, I was just letting you know how utterly lacking in historical knowledge the average citizen is.

[tombogan03884]

Works out to 400 troops per state. That's not much.
3rd amendment only forbids forcing citizens to take in soldiers stationed in their area.
According to posts in the past these are primarily "Specialist Troops" (Medical, NBC, Logistics etc) less than 5,000 are infantry, they are not even enough to provide security to the others.
This will give uniformity and better emergency response capability to to state and local agencies that have demonstrated a marked lack of professionalism in the past.

[ericire12]

I know, I was just letting you know how utterly lacking in historical knowledge the average citizen is.

Oh, your humor was lost on me.

[Hazcat]

Works out to 400 troops per state. That's not much.
3rd amendment only forbids forcing citizens to take in soldiers stationed in their area.
According to posts in the past these are primarily "Specialist Troops" (Medical, NBC, Logistics etc) less than 5,000 are infantry, they are not even enough to provide security to the others.
This will give uniformity and better emergency response capability to to state and local agencies that have demonstrated a marked lack of professionalism in the past.

And since when has any govt program not grown and been perverted?  This is a NO GO in my book.