Day: June 2, 2020
Stevenson’s army, June 2
– The US Constitution and existing laws place enormous limits on the federal government’s use of force. There is supposed to be civilian control, under the president. In the District of Columbia the president is in direct control of the national guard. That probably explains why guard forces aggressively dispersed protestors even before the DC Mayor’s 7pm curfew last night.
Earlier, in a call to governors, the president said CJCS General Milley was”in charge.” By law, of course, the Chairman is not in the chain of command over the armed forces, only over the Joint Staff. He cannot give combat orders. The White House press secretary said that there would be a “central command center” to deal with the riots nationwide. But the US military can’t be part of that without presidential invocation of the Insurrection Act. Contrary to the press secretary, the Justice Department told FP that it would be in charge, which is consistent with what Attorney General Barr told the governors, that the issue would be handled by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
BTW, his ignorance of the law also explains the president’s talk of declaring “antifa” a terrorist organization.
I’m troubled by several things: the president’s glorification of military force as the first response to civil protests; his disregard of the laws and norms by urging federal military intervention nationwide; the apparent complicity of the SecDef and CJCS in this situation. I agree with Kevin Baron of Defense One that “Trump now has the war he wanted.” And that’s bad for civilian control and order in law.
-How timely, Former SecDef Gates warns about the “overmilitarization” of American foreign policy.
-A Columbia prof confirms my concerns that US cyber programs are overwhelmingly focused on offense rather than defense and resilience.
– Time and the UN report the Taliban are colluding with al Qaeda again.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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No law, no order
President Trump is trying to claim the mantle of law and order: he has urged governors to crack down on demonstrators and threatened to mobilize military forces, not to mention boasting of the ferocity of his White House guards and their willingness to rough up a crowd. Just one little problem with all this: he is trying to impose order without respecting the law. Remember when he urged police not to be too gentle when arresting people? That’s essentially what he is urging now, on a grand scale.
The law does not allow the use of American military forces for domestic law enforcement, with the exception of the National Guard when mobilized not by the President but rather by governors. The law requires police to respect the right to life, not to suffocate a handcuffed prisoner with a knee on his neck. The law does not allow the President’s guards to mistreat demonstrators. Nor will doing any of those things bring order.
Of course his 40% of America understands that Trump’s crackdown will not be on them. The Trumpians are almost entirely white and mostly male. They will continue to carry their guns into state capitals to intimidate legislators. They will continue to act as agents provocateurs attracting demonstrators into violent acts. Trump’s targets will be his political opponents: Antifa is his convenient smear for them. And he has claimed, with no evidence whatsoever, that they are acting on behalf of his political opponent, Joe Biden.
This is not law and order. It is no law and no order. It is intended to provoke a violent reaction, which then helps to justify the escalation of the violent crackdown. Trump’s autocratic impulses have long been apparent. The current disorder in American cities provides him with the perfect excuse for acting on those impulses. The order he wants is a diktat: freedom for his supporters, imposed discipline for everyone else.
That is not the only reason the violence is unwise. It will also limit participation in the protests and lessen the political pressure to undertaken the difficult law enforcement reforms required. It is all too obvious that America’s police need retraining to “serve and protect.” Instead, police departments will feel justified in continuing to acquire the vast arsenal of military equipment the Federal government makes available to them. That, in turn, isolates the police from citizens and provokes hot heads to raise the ante with even more violence.
This kind of violent spiral is a losing proposition for both the protesters and the police. The protesters end up with less support. A lot of people aren’t going to join the protests if there is a risk of violence. The police have to use more and more violence to impose their will. That puts them at risk too. The best policing is community policing that is in close touch with the citizens. It requires dialogue and understanding, not tear gas and flash/bangs. Order prevails when communities feel the police are on the citizens’ side. That’s what we teach abroad. That’s what we should do at home.
Here is the no law and no order President posing awkwardly yesterday with a Bible he all too clearly finds an alien object in front a Church opposite the White House. He had peaceful protesters teargassed so he could do it, without asking the church’s permission:
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