alienation news

The General Nobody Knows

It’s a blistering day on the plains of Colorado, and Gen. Ed Eberhart strides into his brand-new “situational awareness center” at Northern Command. Eberhart may be the most powerful man in America nobody has really heard of: he’s in charge of military deployments against domestic terror.
How should American soldiers behave when deployed among Americans?
Eberhart’s mantra is that Northcom doesn’t move until asked by local, state or federal civilian authorities -- but he knows Northcom has “a different mission set” than the other four U.S. regional commands around the globe.
Mainly, Eberhart is keen to show he’s sensitive to the deepest of American fears, that the military might wrest control from civilians. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bars U.S. troops from enforcing U.S. laws.
But, Harman adds, the Posse Comitatus ban “is not absolute. It’s like the First Amendment. You can’t cry fire in a crowded theater and you can’t always block the U.S. military on U.S. soil.”