THE FIRST LIBERTY--LIFE:

ACLU questions Pentagon role in sniper probe (CNN, 10/17/02)

The American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday it was examining legal questions raised by the Pentagon's decision to deploy military personnel and equipment in the Washington area sniper shootings.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed an order Tuesday allowing Army RC7 and U21 surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to be used in the sniper hunt.

The all-weather aircraft -- spy planes, essentially -- are small fixed-wing airplanes packed with advanced technology, including sensors.

Troops will operate the planes and equipment and point out potential targets to local law enforcement authorities, which will request their use as needed.

The ACLU said it was examining whether the order might violate parts of the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law prohibiting the military from direct involvement in civilian law enforcement. [...]

Over the years, the Posse Comitatus law has been amended to

- Allow the military to lend equipment to federal, state and local authorities;

- Assist federal agencies in drug interdiction work;

- Protect national parks;

- Execute medical quarantines and certain health laws.

Eugene Fidell, a former Coast Guard lawyer who has practiced military law for 30 years and is affiliated with the Washington-based National Institute for Military Justice, said the provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act do not support the military involvement in the sniper shootings.

"How do you get there from here? They haven't persuaded me that this is valid," Fidell said. "You have to have a disruption of civil authority before the military can perform activities such as surveillance."

These civil libertarians have become diabolically stupid. Do they really imagine the American people want the military to protect trees but not people? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 18, 2002 3:00 PM