Vol. 72/No. 27      July 7, 2008

The Marines Web site reported that the exercises included “entry control points, vehicle checkpoints, escalations of force, counterinsurgency operations, urban assault and forward operating base defensive operations.” The maneuvers were carried out under the direction of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

The exercise involved firing blank ammunition, conducting patrols, and landing helicopters.

To justify the presence of the troops, military spokespeople said the exercises were necessary to adequately train the Marines unit in an urban setting, even though Camp Lejeune, where the troops are based, is home to a training facility modeled after an Iraqi town.

In 2002 the Pentagon established the U.S. Northern Command (Northcom), charged with carrying out military operations within the United States. Prior to this, under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the U.S. armed forces had been barred from domestic operations, except in specific, limited circumstances. Northcom had been preceded by the Joint Task Force-Civil Support, established by the William Clinton administration in October 1999 as a “homeland defense command.”

In recent years, the U.S. government has used military units along with federal police agencies in an increasing number of “antiterror” drills in U.S. cities.

On June 16 and 17, several Blackhawk helicopters were seen flying low over parts of Denver, as part of a multiagency operation involving U.S. Special Forces units and the Denver police. None of the agencies involved informed the public or news agencies about the exercise. A special unit of the Department of Defense was also seen driving through downtown Denver in big sports utility vehicles carrying sophisticated communications equipment.

“It’s nothing more than Special Operations Command training with local authorities,” said Lt. Nathan Potter of Special Operations Command. He said similar exercises are being conducted in other cities.

In February of this year, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner of Toledo, Ohio, ordered a 200-member Marines unit to leave the city just before the beginning of an urban warfare training session it was scheduled to carry out in that city’s downtown. “The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people,” Finkbeiner’s spokesman said. “He did not want them practicing and drilling in a highly visible area.  
 
 
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