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Attorneys: Obama’s ‘secret’ cyber security law may allow ‘military deployment within the U.S.’
Attorneys: Obama’s ‘secret’ cyber security law may allow ‘military deployment within the U.S.’
By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The White House on Wednesday receieved a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (PDF link) from two attorneys with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), demanding that President Barack Obama release the text of what they called a “secret” new cyber security law that appears to enable “military deployment within the United States.”
The FOIA was filed in response to an article that appeared in The Washington Post this week, claiming that Obama issued a secret directive shortly before the elections that empowers the military to “vet any operations outside government and defense networks” for cyber security purposes.
However, because the exact text of the directive remains a secret, nobody can really say exactly what it does. That was somewhat disconcerting to American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Michelle Richardson, who told Raw Story on Wednesday that without the text, “it’s hard to see what they mean.”
Posse Comitatus Act
The Posse Comitatus Act is the United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385
, original at 20 Stat. 152) that was passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction. Its intent (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) was to limit the powers of local governments and law enforcement agencies in using federal military personnel to enforce the laws of the land. Contrary to popular belief, the Act does not prohibit members of the Army from exercising state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order“; it simply requires that any authority to do so must exist with the United States Constitution or Act of Congress.[citation needed] In this way, most use of the Army and the Air Force at the direction of the President does not offend the statute, even though it may be problematic for political reasons.more
Now imagine this for a moment and let it sink in. The entire notion of this ridiculous and intrusive practice of the Federal government sounds perfectly normal and fine with Obama supporters. Are they the most dangerous people on the planet or what?