U.S. Military Provides New Security Measures For Recruiting Centers
[guest post by Dana]
Adm. Bill Gortney, head of the U.S. Northern Command, which oversees security for military facilities in America, issued a directive Sunday night that calls on centers nationwide to implement modest new security measures while the Defense Department considers more substantive steps to address threats to the facilities, officials said.
The steps don’t authorize recruiters to carry weapons in their centers, something that would require higher-level action. Instead, they direct hundreds of recruiting centers, reserve centers and ROTC facilities to increase surveillance and take basic steps such as closing blinds at the offices, officials said.
They might as well have shouted from the rooftops that our troops are sitting ducks. Oh. Wait.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 7/20/2015 @ 1:59 pmIn combination with the fact that Obama has collaborated with Iran and other five powers at the UNSC against the United States, I could not in good conscience serve this country at this time.
If I weren’t already retired I would resign. Or at least not take any new orders upon completion of my current assignment.
I never thought I’d see the day when a CinC would advance a sworn enemy of the United States over this country’s interests, but that day has arrived.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:04 pmGreetings:
What with this site being interested in matters of a legal bent (and our legal matters certainly seem bent these benighted days), how’s about someone comes up with a “depraved indifference” analysis.
Alternatively, let’s hope that our military rulers have the good but day-late sense to take down those “Gun-free Zone” signs in hope that there are a pocket or two of the umma where the word hasn’t yet reached.
11B40 (0f96be) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:09 pmrape whistles all around
we have to take back the night
happyfeet (a037ad) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:21 pmIn combination with the fact that Obama has collaborated with Iran and other five powers at the UNSC against the United States, I could not in good conscience serve this country at this time.
yes yes
i could not agree more with this sentiment
happyfeet (a037ad) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:22 pmYes.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:34 pm0bama countdown clock to embed on your site:
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Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/20/2015 @ 2:43 pmsrc=”http://free.timeanddate.com/countdown/i4crxztx/n179/cf12/cm0/cu4/ct0/cs0/ca0/co0/cr0/ss0/cacfffdd0/cpcfffdd0/pct/tcfff/fs100/szw320/szh135/iso2017-01-20T12:00:00″
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There are so many angles this could be criticized on,
starting with the idea that people who run the centers are so stupid they need to be told to “be careful” without any other meaningful instructions.
Agreed Steve57. I would not encourage anyone I know to go into the service at this time.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:06 pmArmed citizens stand ready to help protect the United States military. And how sad is that.
Dana (86e864) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:11 pmIronic. But perhaps in keeping with the
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:20 pmspirit of posse comitatus. In a civilian situation, perhaps the military should depend on civilians to protect them. That doesn’t address the insane rule preventing soldiers from being armed on military bases.
A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, the armed helicopter top cover for other helos carrying troops was forbidden from suppressing the tree line of landing zones unless fired upon first. The crews of the top cover choppers became very creative in working around this direct order, including putting armed grenades in empty bottles and surreptitiously tossing them out the cargo doors. When the glass hit the trees, the bottles broke. The resulting explosions almost always generated enemy fire.
The soldiers who are in harms way in this current war need to start thinking along similar lines. Maybe getting the word out on the street that return fire won’t necessarily be coming from the direction of the recruitment centers, or that there are rapid-strike force “civilians” in vehicles fully prepared to chase down any jihadi foolish enough to fire on an installation. The idea that such places are no longer soft targets needs to be sent, if not from our gutless leaders, then by the perceived targets themselves.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:27 pmIn the meantime—
…. in the wake of the Chattanooga shooting spree, Chicago’s top cop has ordered police officers be stationed outside every military recruiting center in the city, until further notice.
“The measures are being taken out of an abundance of caution. CPD has been in regular contact with our federal partners and there is no active terror threat or intelligence affecting the city of Chicago and no direct link to the incident occurring in Tennessee,” McCarthy said in a statement early Friday.
“Here are these military people, standing, and recruiting, and getting like kind to defend our country, and they’re not defended themselves,” former FBI assistant director Bill Gavin said. “To continue to have them expose themselves to that kind of danger from a maniacal evil person is hard for most of us to swallow.”
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/07/17/chicago-cops-to-secure-military-recruitment-sites-after-deadly-chattanooga-shooting/
Are other cities doing this that we are aware of?
elissa (8a891b) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:57 pm“The Russians are attacking!” shouted the orderly.
“Close the blinds.” ordered the admiral.
The USA is so fucked.
Fred Z (5db617) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:57 pmObviously, the gun-free zone signs are too small. Terrorists keep missing them on the way in. Better make them poster size. That should fix the problem.
edoc118 (096287) — 7/20/2015 @ 3:58 pmAccording to this, “the Department of Defense (DoD) directive that limits the carrying of weapons absolutely allows commanders the discretion to arm their troops.”:
Dana (86e864) — 7/20/2015 @ 4:20 pmGreetings:
I heard that our military had entered into a consent degree with Eric Holder’s version of a Department of Justice that sidearms would not be issued because soldierettes (females and other who enjoy sex with males) had filed an EEO complaint of disparate impact because the sidearms made them look fat.
11B40 (0f96be) — 7/20/2015 @ 5:39 pmand take basic steps such as closing blinds at the offices, officials said.
They should be doing that, anyway, if they’re going to be interviewing trannies.
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2015 @ 5:39 pmI would not encourage anyone I know to go into the service at this time.
I disagree. I examine recruits every week, including tomorrow in El Segundo. I am proud of these kids. Not all are “unemployed” but some are and a lot are high school kids. The youngest kids are usually joining the Marines. Being Los Angeles, about 40 to 50% are Latino, quite a few are Asian, usually Korean and Chinese. Whites are about 15 to 20%. I’ve had a Afghan and a few Africans. Real Africans. I had a long talk with one a few months ago. He was from east African, maybe Uganda, and wanted to join the army, then go to college and then go to medical school. That’s how my partner did it back in the 60s.
These kids are the cream. They have very low levels of drug use and of trouble in school, like suspensions. Even the guys with marijuana use are often OK. I had a guy who had done 7 years in the Marine Corps, then got out and started college. He smoked dope every day for two years, then decided to go to law school and quit just like that. Now he is going into the reserves while he goes to school to get into law school. I approved him. I’m sure he will be OK.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 7/20/2015 @ 5:48 pmthis is not a country worth dying for
think of all those guys what died in Iraq only for their commander in chief to hand the whole country over to Iran and ISIS
nonono
this is not a country worth dying for
happyfeet (831175) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:01 pmHappyfeet, your country may not be worth dying for, but the one that I love certainly is. However, the important battles must be fought here, on American Soil. They must be fought on many levels, they must be fought by everyone who loves Liberty, and they must be fought NOW.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:20 pmyes yes yes but you take care of you and yours
that’s where we are now i think
happyfeet (831175) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:23 pmAsk not what you can do for your country; ask if Planned Parenthood is harvesting unborn babies’ livers for organ transplantation experiments in rats. Something like that?
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:32 pmMike K.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:33 pmWhat we are saying is that we are a lot prouder of these kids than of their CIC and the senior officers who work for the CIC. It is a noble thing to come here and want to serve the country, but they deserve better. Serving the needs of the country is one thing, serving the arrogant and narcissistic political aspirations of the current resident in the White House is something else.
This reminds me of when Obama’s big idea to save the planet was to properly inflate the tires in your car.
JD (3b5483) — 7/20/2015 @ 6:48 pmHappyfeet, if you only take care of you and yours without regard for your neighbors and our fundamental ideals, you and yours will end up like Pastor Friedrich Niemoller.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 7:05 pmIn combination with the fact that Obama has collaborated with Iran and other five powers at the UNSC against the United States, I could not in good conscience serve this country at this time.
That’s just the tip of the soiled, fetid iceberg.
Keep in mind that President “Goddamn America” over the past 7 years has placed a variety of liberal-loon underlings of his throughout the US military, thereby furthering the entrenchment of things like a politically-correct tolerance of threats posed by the Nidal Hassans of America, an embrace of the GLBT agenda — “hey, we got your back, Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner!” — and, as I posted the other day, an ethos that has resulted in lower-level enlistees being told to wear and parade around in women’s high-heel shoes on college campuses in order to show solidarity with women’s rights, or whatever.
People of America, your decisionmaking skills in 2008 and 2012 were really brilliant!
Mark (8126aa) — 7/20/2015 @ 7:21 pmFor Mr. Obama, world history started in 1961. He is unaware of how the U.S. military was woefully unprepared to fight World War II. How a prolonged peacetime environment placed many administrative types in command positions, and how this resulted in many, many casualties due to incompetence following the commencement of hostilities.
Fast forward to 2015, where we do not have the luxury of getting up to speed to fight the next war. It will be in our laps before you can say “peace in our time”. The U.S. military is slated to reach pre-WWII T/O levels later this year, funding is at rock bottom, and troop morale is dropping.
At some point, the bill for all this “smart diplomacy” and “sensible policies” is going to come due. It will be difficult to place the blame on others, but no doubt Mr. Obama will rise to the occasion. He always has.
navyvet (c33501) — 7/20/2015 @ 7:43 pm. . . in the wake of the Chattanooga shooting spree, Chicago’s top cop has ordered police officers be stationed outside every military recruiting center in the city, until further notice.
Elissa, Based on their sterling record of standing up for Constitutional rights, confronting crime, and combating corruption in the cesspool called Chitcago, would you trust a Windy City cop to protect you by “offending a muslim” when the shooting started?
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 7:47 pmin the cesspool called Chitcago
I kind of like the other nickname of “Chicongo,” since that’s in keeping with this nation in general becoming the United States of Banana Republic.
Mark (8126aa) — 7/20/2015 @ 7:51 pm“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 8:17 pmYou can both lick my butt. Where do you live?
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2015 @ 8:52 pmYou can try 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I understand the resident there is into that sort of thing.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 9:22 pmBut serving now is not protecting your neighbors or your ideals, it’s just throwing your life away for nothing. The good news is that if you volunteer some time next year you may not get out of training until there’s a new CinC.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/20/2015 @ 10:04 pmIn this instance I’m not talking about joining the military. I’m referring to each individual citizen’s ability to do everything that can be done to extinguish the liberal, fascist, muslim takeover of America that has occurred over the past seven decades. With family, friends, and colleagues working toward the same goal no individual need to worry about finding himself alone, in the dark, reciting Niemoller.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/20/2015 @ 10:29 pmliberal, fascist, muslim takeover of America
It’s the Gay Islamic-Christian Communazi Satan-Worship Pirates of the Confederate States of Israel who worry me. They’re a thing, alright, here’s their flag: http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff119/Wall_Ninja/GayIslamic-ChristianCommunaziSatan-.jpg
nk (dbc370) — 7/20/2015 @ 10:52 pmFrom Marcus Luttrell (Lone Survivor): “I have to tell y’all I laughed out loud, if anyone thinks for one second a Marine is gonna take his uniform off because he cares about his safety or is scared of some sh–bag walking in off the street and trying this again (WRONG), that’s not gonna happen, that’s not how we respond in the military when we get hit, we don’t take off our uniforms drop our weps [sic] and run,” Luttrell wrote. “Also, you can outfit every recruiting station w/ firearms, grenades or a F..?!ing tank, this goes down again and there is a good chance you’ll find a the person beaten to death by the water cooler or stapler.”
“Oh one more thing, lower the FLAG!!!!!!!! Sir,” Luttrell wrote.”
Dana (86e864) — 7/20/2015 @ 11:27 pmDownload Amazing Black Boobs Movies Free Today # FDZ418383974677 !
Donaldsa (4fa04b) — 7/21/2015 @ 3:25 amHave a nice day !
It’s the Gay Islamic-Christian Communazi Satan-Worship Pirates . . .
That too.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/21/2015 @ 6:07 amSo,the White House orders flags to half-mast several hours after the House & Senate order theirs lowered. He can’t even be consistently disrespectful. Chattanooga Texas Roadhouse, very well done.
htom (5cbacd) — 7/21/2015 @ 3:03 pmLiberals and progressives (and a fair number of RINOs) like to think this about hunting for food. But with the feckless indifference of the current administration, the rot reaching fairly deep into the uniformed ranks at the DoD, we can now see that the need for a militia is as true today as it was 228 years ago. The following story documents the response in Spanaway:
http://q13fox.com/2015/07/21/armed-civilians-decide-to-stand-guard-outside-military-recruiting-office-in-spanaway/
These men have credentials to bear their weapons, so the “well regulated” clause is honored. Now we need another million or two, spread out over every state less MI, NY, NJ, and CA, and we can isolate the infection of jihadism to those who evidently welcome the consequences.
bobathome (d0d4f6) — 7/22/2015 @ 9:27 amAnd isn’t it curious that at the same time the DoD wants its recruiting stations to maintain their status as supersoft targets, it has 1500 special ops troops training in Jade Helm in seven western states, including Texas, which has been designated as “hostile” for the purposes of the exercise.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if these special ops guys got to watch their comrades in a shopping mall get mowed down by a depressed jihadi. And what about Carter’s concerns about unleashing armed troops in shopping malls? Or are the participant in Jade Helm also soft targets?
We live in interesting times.
bobathome (d0d4f6) — 7/22/2015 @ 10:48 am38. So,the White House orders flags to half-mast several hours after the House & Senate order theirs lowered. He can’t even be consistently disrespectful.
Our muslin-sypathizing CIC wasn’t being intentionally disrespectful. It just took some time for him to realize that he needed to honor the sacrifice of Mr. Abdulazeez.
PPs43 (6fdef4) — 7/22/2015 @ 12:53 pmFor the life of me I can’t understand all the hoopla about armed soldiers in shopping malls. Ten minutes after the shootings there were hundreds of armed cops in those shopping malls. What’s the difference?
Hoagie (f4eb27) — 7/22/2015 @ 12:59 pmPosse comitatus, perhaps?
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 1:02 pm41. ha!
42. Higher is afraid of negligent discharges. Politicians are afraid they won’t be in control. Citizens are afraid of terrorists. Everyone is afraid of other people with guns.
htom (4ca1fa) — 7/22/2015 @ 1:18 pmPosse comitatus simply means the troops can’t be used as federal law enforcement.
It doesn’t mean the US armed forces can’t be used to maintain public order.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=89
And it certainly doesn’t mean federal troops can’t be armed for the purposes of providing security of sensitive materials or for self-defense.
In fact, state and local laws that restrict types of weapons or places where people can carry weapons almost universally exempt military personnel along with law enforcement. For example, Kali still has an assault weapons ban, but military personnel are exempted. As long as they’re on duty, they can be armed with them on or off base.
So posse comitatus has nothing to do with it. It’s just a policy.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 1:38 pmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Consolidated_Brig,_Miramar
The Naval Consolidated Brig, MCAS Miramar is the “Pacific area regional confinement facility for the United States Department of Defense.”
When commands all over the region send personnel there for pretrial detention or to serve their sentence post-conviction, their escorts are armed. When a prisoner has to attend a legal proceeding or receive medical treatment, their escorts are armed.
Posse comitatus does not mean troops can’t be armed in public.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 1:48 pmSteve, what is the purpose of posse comitatus?
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 2:24 pmSee my first sentence @45.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 2:33 pmhttp://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/what-posse-comitatus
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 2:55 pmThat says what it is, not what its purpose is.
Exactly. And having soldiers standing guard in malls, airports and train stations and bus terminals, etc., or patrolling the streets, violates that purpose. It turns the USA into a militarized country like Europe, where they take that sort of thing for granted.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 3:25 pmAs the details of the Chattanooga shooting continue to emerge, it’s clear that had the marines at the recruiting center been armed they would have had time to react. One of the recruiters was texting his girlfriend and suddenly sent her the text, “ACTIVE SHOOTER.” The Gunnery Sergeant was out of the building when the shooting started but ran back in to check on his marines.
It appears that a Navy officer and a marine at the reserve center did in fact react with their strictly-forbidden personal weapons and may have in fact killed Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez themselves.
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/21/sources-navy-officer-marine-shot-chattanooga-gunman/30426817/
It’s perfectly clear why the were armed. Knowing DoD policy r.e. personal weapons they said, “F___ you” and armed themselves anyway.
This is going to put the Navy in an interesting position, especially if it turns out that one or both of these gentlemen shot and perhaps killed the perp.
What are they going to do to LCDR Timothy White, reprimand him?
LCDR White is an aviator. And in Naval aviation we have a saying. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I bet he gets both.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 3:37 pmMilhouse, arming recruiters and some personnel at other duty stations for personal protection is not the same thing as “having soldiers standing guard in malls, airports and train stations and bus terminals, etc., or patrolling the streets.”
Did LCDR White having a gun on him at the reserve center in Chattanooga turn America into an armed camp?
Since one thing is not like the other, the Army is considering letting its recruiters be armed.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/army-chief-nominee-arm/2015/07/21/id/658307/
And the Navy as well, which is why I said LCDR White may get both forgiveness and permission.
When I was in, Milhouse, for a brief few years we could bring our personal weapons onboard Naval Stations and Naval Air Stations, practice with them at the range when it wasn’t being used for official purposes, and even qualify with them as long as they were chambered for a round in the Navy supply system and had iron sights.
Then they changed their policy.
That’s all we are talking about; a policy. Whether or not service members besides military police or masters at arms will be allowed to carry weapons in defense of themselves and other while on federal property (owned or leased).
We are not talking about using the military to patrol the streets or guard malls or train stations or anything like that.
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 3:51 pmMilhouse has a strange perception of how a free people conduct themselves.
askeptic (efcf22) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:03 pmThe idiocy of the policy is reinforced by having volunteer civilians standing post outside recruiting offices armed with holstered pistols and low-ready AR-15’s.
askeptic (efcf22) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:09 pmI would venture to say that during the shootings in Chatanooga, there is a probable case to be made that passersby’s, completely unaware of the situation unfolding near them, legally possessed more weaponry than what was available to the service-members in the recruitment office, or the reserve center.
Indeed it is not. So long as it’s for personal protection, just as anybody else might carry for personal protection.
My point is while at first glance it seems ironic for civilians to protect soldiers, it’s actually in keeping with the spirit of posse comitatus. When soldiers are out there confronting our enemies it’s their job to protect us; when they are at home it’s our job to protect them.
Think of the reason why the UK police force, when Sir Robert Peel first instituted it, was unarmed, at a time when most gentlemen did go armed. If a policeman needed a weapon to pursue a criminal, he could borrow one from a bystander. This was a deliberate policy so people wouldn’t worry that the police were a new army getting ready to subjugate them for the government. Posse comitatus has much the same purpose.
But that is what they are doing, and have been since 2001. And while it reassures people, there’s something un-American about it.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:26 pmGood for them.
I don’t think they could get away with that.
That was Clinton’s doing, wasn’t it? And I agree it was insane. On a military base, soldiers should be armed as a matter of course.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:27 pmSee, that is what I was addressing. It’s not really idiotic, it’s in the spirit of posse comitatus. But the recruiters should still have sidearms, it’s just common sense really.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:29 pmNo, you said “…having soldiers standing guard in malls, airports and train stations and bus terminals…”.
Nowhere in your screed did you mention civilian volunteers protecting military members from attack by nutcases.
And, Posse Comitatus is a restriction upon the military enforcing civilian law against civilians.
You need to heed the sage advice of Abe Lincoln:
askeptic (efcf22) — 7/22/2015 @ 4:37 pm“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.“
Because that is what we have. Also, because my comment was a direct reply to Hoagie’s questioning the difference between “armed soldiers in shopping malls” and armed cops in those same malls. If you’d been paying attention you’d have known that.
I certainly did, way up at the beginning of the thread. Again, pay attention.
Already addressed more than once. What is the purpose of posse comitatus? See above for the answer. Now tell me how armed soldiers in shopping malls is in keeping with that purpose.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 5:10 pmArmed soldiers inside leased premises who are protecting themselves, the civilians who have stepped inside to learn about enlistment, and government property are not policing the mall.
The only reason they don’t do this is some REMFs would rather see the troops in harms way take a hit than take the chance that they might be embarrassed by some event that wasn’t covered in the troops training.
This has nothing to do with posse comitatas. The servicemen are not acting as part of a sheriff’s posse. They are engaged in their own business.
As Steve has pointed out.
Repeatedly.
bobathome (d0d4f6) — 7/22/2015 @ 5:32 pmIt’s common sense on so many different levels. Not only will it help keep your people alive, you can’t recruit if you look scared.
Recruiters appear to be afraid to wear their uniforms if they have to wear civvies. And they have to keep the blinds closed.
You can’t recruit people to defend the country when you can’t even defend yourself. When you need someone else to do it. And the only reason that someone else can do it is because they aren’t in the military.
If I were young again and thinking of joining up, and had to walk past armed civilians into a windowless recruiting office to talk to some guy in slacks and a polo shirt, every single detail I’d be taking in would be screaming at me, “Don’t make this mistake.”
Steve57 (7aa1f2) — 7/22/2015 @ 5:40 pmBut armed soldiers in the mall is precisely what I was replying to, and is therefore the topic of this thread. Armed soldiers inside their premises is a different topic.
Maybe. Or maybe because the president and is company despise soldiers, just as the Clintons did, and don’t think #soldierslivesmatter.
You’ve got the derivation backwards. A sheriff’s “posse” derives from “posse comitatus”, not the other way around. And having soldiers patrolling malls, bus terminals, etc. certainly violates the purpose of posse comitatus. So does militarizing police, as we have seen over the past few decades.
Of course.
Milhouse (a04cc3) — 7/22/2015 @ 6:14 pmThe distinction made is between the use of the military (or a part thereof, as a unit) as a part of the posse comitatus (not allowed, in general, with exceptions) by the government and the use by the local government of people who happen to be military members. Reaching back to Perpich v DoD, it depends on which hat the individual is wearing. Military hat, no posse. Civilian hat, posse. National guard hat, called up by feds, no posse. National guard hat, called up by state (or State guard called up by state) posse. General militia hat — don’t be silly, that is another name for the posse comitatus!
As Private Foo, you can’t be a member of the posse. As Mr. Foo, you must be, if asked.
htom (4ca1fa) — 7/22/2015 @ 9:32 pm