Taking Back Our Stolen History
Posse Comitatus
Posse Comitatus

Posse Comitatus

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law  signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction, and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.

The Act only specifically applies to the U.S. Army and, as amended in 1956, the U.S. Air Force. While the Act does not explicitly mention the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, due to their being naval services, the Navy has prescribed regulations that are generally construed to give the Act force with respect to those services as well. The Act does not apply to the Army and Air National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor. The U.S. Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act either, primarily because although the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission.

Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for a sitting president to impose martial law in response to a terrorist “incident.” It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of “public order” — whatever that means.

It took only a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened those restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the United States without the express permission of Congress. (This act was passed after the depredations of the U.S. military throughout the Southern states during Reconstruction.) But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act. The Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus Act aim to deter dictatorship while permitting a narrow window for the president to temporarily use the military at home. But the 2006 reforms basically threw any concern about dictatorial abuses out the window.Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from “Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list of pretexts to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition” — and such a “condition” is not defined or limited.

The new law was put in place in response to the debacle of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. There was no evidence that permitting a president far more power would avoid future debacles, but such a law provides a comfort blanket to politicians. The risk of tyranny is irrelevant compared with the reduction of risk of embarrassment to politicians.

According to Washington, the correct response to Katrina is not to recognize the failure of relying on federal agencies a thousand miles away but rather to vastly increase the power of the president to dictate a solution, regardless of whether he knows what he is doing and regardless of whether local and state rights are trampled.

The new law also empowers the president to commandeer the National Guard of one state to send to another state for as many as 365 days. The president could send the South Carolina National Guard to suppress anti-war protests in New Haven. Or send the Massachusetts National Guard to disarm the residents of Wyoming, if they resisted a federal law that prohibited private ownership of semi-automatic weapons. Governors’ control of the National Guard can be trumped with a simple presidential declaration.

Section 1076 had bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, including support from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Since the law would give the feds more power, it was very popular inside the Beltway.

On the other hand, every governor in the country opposed the changes. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on September 19, 2006, that “we certainly do not need to make it easier for presidents to declare martial law.” Leahy’s alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record, “Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy.”

Chronological History of Events Regarding Posse Comitatus

Attorney General William P. Barr Announces Launch of Operation Legend

Attorney General William P. Barr Announces Launch of Operation Legend

Attorney General William P. Barr announced the launch of Operation Legend, a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight the sudden surge of violent crime, beginning in Kansas City, MO.  Operation Legend was created as a result of President Trump’s promise to assist America’s cities that are plagued ...
Operation Maple Resolve (Canada) / 133 Target Stores Close Abruptly

Operation Maple Resolve (Canada) / 133 Target Stores Close Abruptly

May 23- June 6, 2015 - Coinciding with Operation Jade Helm and 5 Super Walmart store abrupt closures in the US, many speculate the abrupt Target store closures and Canadian military Operation Maple Leaf are part of the preparation drill for martial law and are being prepared to be processing and distribution centers when martial law is instituted. According to one source, the significance of the closing ...
A Document Originating from Halliburton subsidiary KBR Provides Details on a Push to Outfit FEMA and U.S. Army Camps around the United States.

A Document Originating from Halliburton subsidiary KBR Provides Details on a Push to Outfit FEMA and U.S. Army Camps around the United States.

Infowars.com received a document originating from Halliburton subsidiary KBR that provides details on a push to outfit FEMA and U.S. Army camps around the United States. Entitled “Project Overview and Anticipated Project Requirements,” the document describes services KBR is looking to farm out to subcontractors. The document was passed on to us by a state government employee who wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Services ...
Leaked US Army Document Details Plan for Re-Education FEMA Camps in America

Leaked US Army Document Details Plan for Re-Education FEMA Camps in America

A leaked U.S. Army document (May 2012) prepared for the Department of Defense contains shocking plans for “political activists” to be pacified by “PSYOP officers” into developing an “appreciation of U.S. policies” while detained in prison camps inside the United States. The document, entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF) was originally released on a restricted basis to the DoD on February 12, 2010, but has now ...
HR-5122 Expands the President's Power to Declare Martial Law Under Revisions to the Insurrection Act

HR-5122 Expands the President’s Power to Declare Martial Law Under Revisions to the Insurrection Act

H.R. 5122, also known as the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 was a bill passed in the US Congress and signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006 becoming Public Law 109-364. H.R. 5122 includes expansion of the President's power to declare martial law under revisions to the Insurrection Act, and take charge of US National Guard troops without state governor authorization when public order has been lost and the state and its constituted ...
The Department of Homeland Security is Established

The Department of Homeland Security is Established

In 1998, Bill Clinton tasked former Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman to chair the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. The commission panel has been described as "a cross-section of the military-industrial-media complex". Its members included Leslie Gelb, editor of the New York Times, Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed-Martin and US Army General John Galvin. The panel's report in January 2001 declared that it ...
Waco: 95 Innocent Branch Davidians (Including women and children) vs. Delta Force, CIA, FBI, ATF, and British SAS. Guess Who Wins?

Waco: 95 Innocent Branch Davidians (Including women and children) vs. Delta Force, CIA, FBI, ATF, and British SAS. Guess Who Wins?

David Koresh, who had become the leader of a religious community that was well liked by their neighbors and had been at the 'compound' for 60 years, became a target of the FBI in February of 1993. A few years previous, Marc Breault, a self proclaimed prophet from Honolulu, had joined the Branch Davidians at Mt. Carmel and tried to take leadership from Koresh, who then ...
Bonus Marchers Evicted by U.S. Army Under President Hoover's Order

Bonus Marchers Evicted by U.S. Army Under President Hoover’s Order

In 1924, six years after the end of World War I, Congress voted to give a bonus to veterans – $1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in the States. The catch was that payment would not be made until 1945. The roaring twenties was a prosperous time, so the veterans found the delay acceptable. However, the onslaught of the Great Depression ...
The Posse Comitatus Act of the U.S. is Signed into Law by Rutherford B. Hayes

The Posse Comitatus Act of the U.S. is Signed into Law by Rutherford B. Hayes

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation ...