The Department of Defense has upgraded the force protection level in the National Capitol Region.https://mobile.twitter.com/Global_Mil_Info/status/1267877540607209476Upgraded to Force Protection Condition “Charlie”
Force Protection Level I Antiterrorism Training defines FPCON Charlie as: FPCON Charlie applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action against personnel and installations is imminent.
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It was BullShit after 2001 and it's still BullShit. ... FUBAR
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1000s of Troops On the Move from Fort Bragghttps://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33802/military-helicopters-descend-on-washington-in-bizarre-very-low-altitude-show-of-force... There are also reports that the elements of the 82nd Airborne Division's Immediate Response Force, which last deployed to Iraq to bolster security there following an attack on the Embassy in Baghdad in December 2019, are arriving in D.C. from the unit's home base at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. This would be in line with Trump's earlier statement that thousands of troops were heading to the capital.
Units assigned to the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) have reportedly been put on alert, too. JSOC, which is the U.S. military's premier counter-terrorism force, has something of a nebulous mission in the greater D.C. area, also known as the National Capital Region, as part of a unit known as the Joint Interagency Task Force-National Capital Region (JIATF-NCR), also sometimes referred to as SOCOM-National Capital Region (SOCOM-NCR) or just the Interagency Task Force (IATF).
There have been other reports of C-17s and C-130Js flying in from other posts, as well, including Fort Drum in New York, home of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, and Fort Riley in Kansas, where the 1st Infantry Division is based.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AircraftSpots/status/1267674928729358336 https://mobile.twitter.com/vcdgf555/status/1267687291591356417https://mobile.twitter.com/vcdgf555/status/1267704576741789697... Other assets are involved in the overwatch missions beyond the usual police and agency helicopters, as well. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 turboprops, which are heavily modified with advanced sensors, are flying missions out of Reagan National Airport. A Cessna Citation registered to the National Aircraft Leasing Corporation, but linked to the FBI, is also now orbiting over the D.C. area. Other fixed-wing aircraft have been seen flying high overhead, as well, some of which do not have their transponders on—which is another highly peculiar move.
... Also, the airlift operations continue out of Andrews AFB
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National Guard deployment in California
https://mobile.twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1267888375140417540-------------------------------------
Pentagon Moves 1,600 Active Duty Troops Into the DC Area to Assist Civil Authoritieshttps://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protests-06-02-20/index.htmlThe Pentagon confirmed Tuesday night that about 1,600 active duty troops had been moved from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum to the Washington, DC area to assist civil authorities if needed.
No active duty forces have been deployed in DC as of now, but the “active duty elements are postured on military bases in the National Capitol Region,” said Pentagon Chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman in a statement, describing the movement as a "prudent planning measure."
The troops “are on heightened alert status but remain under Title X authority and are not participating in defense support to civil authority operations,” Hoffman said.
CNN previously reported that troops from Fort Bragg were being moved in the DC area on Monday night.
President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he is ready to deploy the military to enforce order inside the United States has led to discomfort among some in the Pentagon, defense officials have told CNN.
Some Pentagon officials have tried to make a strong case that the situation does not yet call for deploying active duty troops unless state governors make a clear argument that such forces are needed.
"There is an intense desire for local law enforcement to be in charge," a defense official said, alluding to the laws that forbid the military from performing law enforcement roles inside the US
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Defense Secretary Mark Esper defends military role in quelling civil disorder in memo... A former top policy official at the Pentagon, James Miller, resigned from his role on the Defense Advisory Board due to what he said was Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s visible support of the clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square Monday, an act Miller called a violation of Esper’s oath of office.
... “You recited that same oath on July 23, 2019, when you were sworn in as Secretary of Defense. On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath,” Miller wrote, referring to law enforcement officers clearing of peaceful protesters.
“You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it,” Miller added.
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I Cannot Remain Silenthttps://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/06/i-cannot-remain-silent/165853/Adm Mike Mullen, US Navy (ret) - Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.
There was little good in the stunt.
... We must, as citizens, address head-on the issue of police brutality and sustained injustices against the African American community. We must, as citizens, support and defend the right—indeed, the solemn obligation—to peacefully assemble and to be heard. These are not mutually exclusive pursuits.
And neither of these pursuits will be made easier or safer by an overly aggressive use of our military, active duty or National Guard. The United States has a long and, to be fair, sometimes troubled history of using the armed forces to enforce domestic laws. The issue for us today is not whether this authority exists, but whether it will be wisely administered.
I remain confident in the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. They will serve with skill and with compassion.
They will obey lawful orders. But I am less confident in the soundness of the orders they will be given by this commander in chief, and I am not convinced that the conditions on our streets, as bad as they are, have risen to the level that justifies a heavy reliance on military troops. Certainly, we have not crossed the threshold that would make it appropriate to invoke the provisions of the Insurrection Act.
Furthermore, I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes.Even in the midst of the carnage we are witnessing, we must endeavor to see American cities and towns as our homes and our neighborhoods.
They are not “battle spaces” to be dominated, and must never become so.
We must ensure that African Americans—indeed, all Americans—are given the same rights under the Constitution, the same justice under the law, and the same consideration we give to members of our own family.
Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so.Too many foreign and domestic policy choices have become militarized; too many military missions have become politicized.
This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership.
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Trump Has Normalised Mayhem and the US is Paying the Pricehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/02/donald-trump-coronavirus-george-floyd-normalizedThe sheer tumult of the Trump era, the unceasing torrent of events that were unthinkable even hours before, has left a nation constantly off balance, unable to find its bearing and grasp how far it has traveled.
The developments of the past 24 hours were a reminder of how slippery the downward slope has been.
More than a hundred thousand Americans are dead from a pandemic after the government’s botched response; there are armoured cars and troops outside Washington metro stations; men in combat gear carrying sniper rifles were seen perched in the open door of a helicopter flying low over the commercial district. A military chopper buzzed a crowd of demonstrators so close to the ground they were buffeted around by the wind from the rotor, a dispersal technique learned in counter-insurgencies abroad.
On Monday, an entirely peaceful protest was driven out of a city square in front of the White House with teargas, baton charges and mounted police, so Trump could pose in front of a church with a Bible.
A priest and a seminarian, who had been distributing water and hand sanitizer to protesters from the steps of St John’s Episcopal, were driven away by police with helmets and riot shields to create an uncluttered tableau. A Bible was procured for Trump from inside the church for him to hold aloft. Journalists asked if it was his Bible. “It’s a Bible,” he replied.
The rate of fresh affronts has often outpaced the capacity to digest – or even describe – them. Peaceful protesters, journalists, a young African American man pleading for mutual understanding, shop owners, residents are being targeted for arbitrary arrest or police beatings or both – especially if they are black.
Overnight the very language of governance has changed. The defence secretary has described US cities as the “battlespace” and the president has rejoiced in his administration’s “overwhelming force” and “domination” over the citizenry. ...
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Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.The Second Coming - William Butler Yeats