Death of George Floyd. Donald Trump takes a risk by militarizing policing

By threatening to deploy thousands of heavily armed soldiers and police in Washington DC to end in riots and looting, Donald trump put the’Embarrassed American military institution. The Pentagon is clearly seeking to distance itself from the American president after the controversial remarks of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the deployment of military reinforcements around the White House.

A quarteron former military leaders: General Tony Thomas (patron of special forces), General Martin Dempsey (former Chief of the Defense Staff, CEMA), Lieutenant-General Mark Hertling and Admiral Mike Mullen (former CEMA ), vigorously denounced Trump’s comments and his decision to militarize policing.

Decryption.

Why a call to the active army?

Washington DC police, overwhelmed by protest and violence, are now supported by local National Guard personnel. This military force which reports directly to the President, a unique case in United States, because Washington DC has no governor, has only 3,400 soldiers, a fraction of which is deployable. It was therefore called upon National Guard contingents from Utah and South Carolina. A total of 2,800 Guards are deployed in the federal capital.

But to protect the innumerable official buildings and monuments of the capital, an even larger workforce is necessary. Government departments and agencies were therefore forced to hire their own specialized units. This is the case of the Department of Justice, which has its sites guarded by the intervention unit of the prison administration; the same is true of the FBI, whose anti-terrorist units stand guard in front of certain buildings. However, their numbers remain limited and therefore insufficient over time.

Hence the decision to call in the active forces.

What active forces?

According to a statement from the Defense Department (DoD) of Tuesday evening June 2, active troops made movement today and arrived in the National Capitol Region but they have not yet been deployed in the city itself.

These forces revolve around an infantry battalion baptized Task Force 504, from Fort Bragg (North Carolina); this unit is part of the Army Rapid Reaction Force (Army’s Immediate Response) which is supplied by the 82nd Airborne Division.

Two military police units are added: the General Staff and the command units of the 16th Military Police Brigade, from Fort Bragg (North Carolina), and the 91st Military Police Battalion from Fort Drum (New York State).

According to the Pentagon, these active forces are gathering 1,600 soldiers.

Growing reluctance

The legality of Donald Trump’s decision was soon questioned. Does he have the right to deploy such troops who are not intended to intervene on metropolitan territory ? Two texts and therefore interpretations oppose one another: a law of 1878, the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits resorting to the federal army for the maintenance of order, and theInsurrection Act from 1807 which allows it in certain circumstances.

Beyond the legal debate on the presidential recourse to active army units, it is the question of their tactical use in a context of maintaining order, facing civilians (peaceful demonstrators and rioters) which agitates the military and political staffs.

According to the DoD, forces arriving on June 2 in the federal capital region are not engaged in policing operations. But they could be, or even be forced, despite themselves, to have to resort to self-defense and open fire.

The question of equipment and training

A possible and tragic opening of fire will take place with the weapons provided to the active military forces and the National Guard. Their soldiers are mainly equipped with assault rifles. This endowment of weapons of war is absolutely not suited to policing. Only armored vehicles from the ground forces can be effective in the context of urban riots, while police patrol cars have shown their vulnerability in recent days.

This inadequacy of weaponry is one of the two arguments used by the military to convince their units not to be drawn into a potential quagmire. The other argument is that of the lack of skills of these units which are prepared for combat but who are not trained in crowd control and policing missions. Few, indeed, of the active American units have this competence. Only the Marine Corps (USMC) trains its men in such missions. The USMC thus trains soldiers each year at the National Gendarmerie Force Training Center (CNEFG) in Saint-Astier, in the Dordogne.

Towards a praetorian force?

Does Donald Trump fear for his safety? The determination of the protesters who approached the White House gardens and burnt down one of the guard posts testifies to the risks.

The agents of the Secret Service in charge of presidential security are largely insufficient to protect the site and its occupants. Hence this militarization of security. Hence the accusations made against Donald Trump and his administration of wanting to make the military a kind of Praetorian Guard responsible for protecting a President, 54.1% of Americans disapprove of conduct and politics.

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