Mike
12 October 2000, 13:17
here is something I found on the Web.
Joint Task Force 6 - Police Militarization
Posted tburghardt Sat Jan 6 11:46:10 1996
From: Tom Burghardt <tburghardt>
Subject: justice.polabuse: Police Militarization, JTF-6
Bob Witanek (bwitanek@igc.apc.org)
Sun, 07 Jan 1996 15:35:49 -0800 (PST)
***
MILITARIZING THE POLICE
Joint Task Force-6: An Analysis from the "Special
Forces Underground"
***
By Tom Burghardt
Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights
***
Several days ago I made mention of the far-right publication _The Resister_, published by the Special Forces Underground (SFU), a rightist outfit of U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets), based at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. SFU share the aims and goals of the so-called "Patriot" movement and their armed wing, the militias.
_The Resister_, is a publication of _state-sanctioned_ terrorists and highly-trained killers who implement imperialist foreign policy. Like other elite combat organizations, the Green Berets are responsible for perpetrating war crimes against civilian populations around the world. Does El Salvador come to mind? It should. As a component of U.S. _bipartisan_ initiatives in Central America during the
1980s (initiatives which continue today in Haiti, Columbia and Peru), Special Forces assets trained the notorious death-squad
linked Atlacatal Battalion. Naturally, this was accomplished in order to "strengthen" the "democratic center" -- currently
represented by the ARENA Party of World Anti-Communist League (WACL) leader, the late Roberto d'Aubuisson! I mention this in order to document the ideological links of
operatives involved in the SFU. While the information published in their journal on Joint Task Force-6 (JTF-6) and "Advanced
Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain" (AMOUT) is of interest, we must keep in mind that the agenda of the SFU does not even
remotely intersect those struggling to end violent abuse by police and their corporate overlords. A recent issue of _The Resister_ was highly-critical of U.S. intervention in Haiti. Needless to say, the SFU criticism was
_not_ of their counterparts in the Haitian police and military apparatus, but of the grass-roots organizations butchered by USG-
CIA "strategic assets" -- the Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti -- the FRAPH of Emmanuel "Toto"
Constant. SFU described this death-squad organization in glowing terms: The equivalent of FRAPH, in an American context, would be the VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars] and the American Legion forming a political party. The hated Attaches were in fact
nothing more than a community watch organization... An interesting analogy, to say the least! The excerpt below on JTF-6 deals with the militarization of the police and their close collaboration with their counterparts in the U.S armed forces fighting the phony "war on drugs -- a war being waged on communities of color; as such, it should be of interest to the
list. In a few days, I'll post their report on "Project Northstar," a similar training program on the U.S.-Canadian border.
Rightist organizations such as the SFU attempt to cover their reactionary contempt for civil rights by attacking democracy. Sharing the philosophy of far-rightists and Christian Reconstructionists (the clerical-fascist "Christian Republic" crowd), SFU attack democratic decision-making as an example of "mob rule" or "mobocracy." I am perhaps belaboring the point, but while the information is interesting, providing as it does an insiders' view of on-going police efforts towards militarization, we should have no illusions that far-rightists such as those involved in the SFU can in any way, shape or form be construed as "allies," however fleetingly.
[begin excerpt]
================================================== ===============
The RESISTER ------ The Official Publication of the Special Forces Underground
Volume I, Number 4. Spring 1995
================================================== ===============
Post Office Box 47095, Kansas City, Missouri, 64188 Copy xxxx
of 1250 Copies
================================================== ===============
(c) Copyright 1995 by The RESISTER. This publication is produced
in compliance with DA PAM 190-2, AR 210-10, AR 600-50, AR 360-5, 18 US Code s 2387, and Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Permission is granted for individuals to make WHITE duplicates of this publication.
================================================== ===============
JOINT TASK FORCE - 6
Subversion of the Third Amendment
-by- William Sheppard
The Third Amendment to the Constitution is usually ignored during constitutional debates about the federal government's
unchecked abrogation of the rights of individuals. The tendency to overlook the Third Amendment is due, largely, to its wording. The Third Amendment states:
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. On the surface, the prohibition against quartering troops in houses seems firmly anchored in the 18th century, and apparently involves none of the fundamental issues of individual liberty inherent in the other amendments. In fact, the philosophical premise of the Third Amendment was firmly grounded in the founders' recognition that government is institutionalized force; that a government's instrument of force is a standing army, and
that unless government is bound by strict, well defined constitutional constraints, a standing army becomes an instrument of domestic tyranny, rather than one of national defense. Patrick Henry affirmed antifederalist reservations about unchecked federal control of both standing and militia forces under Article I, section 8, of the proposed constitution, when he stated:
To me this appears a very alarming power, when unlimitted [sic]. They are not only to raise, but to support armies; and this support is to go to the utmost abilities of the United States. If Congress shall say, that the general welfare requires it, they may keep armies continually on foot. There is nocontroul [sic] on Congress in raising and stationing them. They may billet them on the people at pleasure. This unlimitted authority is a most dangerous power: Its principles are despotic. If it be unbounded, it must lead to despotism. For the power of the people in a free Government, is supposed to be paramount to the existing power.
Virginia Convention, 1788
Particularly significant is the fact that, during the constitution ratification debates in the state legislatures, proposed bills of rights universally juxtaposed the individual
right to bear arms; the militia as the armed forces of the state and posse comitatus; the prohibition of federal quartering, and
declarations that standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty. These declarations were not arbitrarily derived. They were based on the fact that, at the time, standing armies were used domestically to enforce unpopular laws and keep the
population subjugated to the dictates of the central government. In context, therefore, the premise underpinning the Third
Amendment dealt with the unalienable right to be free from the exerise [sic] of arbitrary, capricious and despotic compulsion by armed forces under the exclusive control of the federal
government. The quartering of troops was simply the expression of
that premise.
The Reconstruction Acts imposed on the rebel states after
the Civil War, and their martial law enforcement, amply
demonstrated earlier antifederalist fears of unchecked federal
use armed forces to enforce arbitrary law. Only the passage of
the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878 ended these outrages. The Posse
Comitatus Act stated, in part:
From and after the passage of this act it shall not be
lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States
as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of
executing the laws, except in such cases and under such
circumstances as such employment of said force may be
expressly authorized by the Constitution or by an act of
Congress...
The Posse Comitatus Act was, in fact, a reflection of the
intent of the founders. It is noteworthy that, for over 100
years, this act served to constrain federal government use of its
armed forces in law enforcement. Also noteworthy is that, as the
forces of statism and socialism spread within the federal
government following the Civil War, so did the establishment,
multiplication and expansion of inherently unconstitutional
federal law enforcement, regulatory, and social agencies.
Today, the increasing militarization of federal, state, and
local law enforcement agencies, aided by the duplicity of the
Department of Defense, has created the very beast feared by the
founders generally, and the antifederalists specifically; an
armed force under the exclusive control of the executive branch
of the federal government. These federal agencies have no purpose
other than enforcement of arbitrary, undefined, whim-based
federal "laws." These militarized federal agencies now constitute
the functional equivalent of a standing army in time of peace the
founders warned against as dangerous to liberty, which the Second
and Third Amendments were intended to prevent.
In the early 1980's, president Reagan announced the "War on
Drugs." (How war can be declared and waged on inanimate objects
has yet to be determined; but it is typical socialist rhetoric.)
Debate on the use of federal armed forces in this "war" and the
assistance they could provide to law enforcement began soon
thereafter. Significantly, there was opposition in the Department
of Defense, particularly within the Army, to the obvious
implications of using active duty forces to enforce drug laws.
The prevailing arguments were twofold. First, the involvement of
federal armed forces in law enforcement violated the letter and
intent of the Posse Comitatus Act. Second, placing federal armed
forces in close proximity to the drug trade, because of its
proposed enforcement duties, would ultimately lead to corruption
within the military. Both objections to military involvement in
law enforcement have since proven true.
During the mid 1980's, while Operation Alliance was being
organized, a compromise was reached. If, during the execution of
normal training, a member of the armed forces witnessed
activities that could be reasonably construed to indicate
activities involving drugs, or drug trafficking, it was his duty
to report it through his chain of command, for forwarding to the
appropriate law enforcement agencies. On face value, this
compromise was neither unreasonable nor onerous. The consequences
of this compromise were.
Operation Alliance was organized in 1986 under Vice
President George Bush as head of the National Narcotics Border
Interdiction System and Attorney General Edwin Meese III, the
Chairman of the National Drug Policy Board. Joint Task Force-6
was established by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 15
September 1989, at Fort Bliss Texas.
Operation Alliance responds to requests for operational
support from all law enforcement agencies in the Southwest border
region. Its principal focus is securing military support from its
coordination center located on Fort Bliss, Texas, adjacent to
JTF-6 which is located on Biggs Army Airfield. A significant
development in the relationship between Operation Alliance and
JTF-6 is that, prior to 1993, the JTF-6 mission was to provide
direct support to only "Drug Law Enforcement Agencies." Since
January 1993 the word "drug" has been dropped from the "Law
Enforcement Agencies" to be supported. Operation Alliance's
primary function is to bring together state and local law
enforcement agencies, and their supporting Active, Reserve, and
National Guard forces, with federal agencies to provide
coordinated support to counterdrug operations along the U.S.
southwest border. Alliance operates under the policy guidance of
the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The ONDCP
manages both the international and domestic counterdrug functions
of all executive agencies. The Chairman of ONDCP answers to the
National Security Council.
Operation Alliance operates under the policy guidance of the
ONDCP Southwest Border Committee and the Operation Alliance Joint
Command Group (OAJCG), which is under the directions of the
Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA)
coordinator, who is also the Director of Operation Alliance. The
OAJCG functions under the Director, Operation Alliance as a
coordinating and planning group. Its members include over 20
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Group meetings
are chaired by the Senior Tactical Coordinator, which is a
position which rotates among representatives of the DEA, the
Border Patrol, and the Customs Service.
JTF-6 serves as the planning, coordinating, and operational
headquarters providing Department of Defense support to federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies along the southwest
border. The stated objective of this support is to assist law
enforcement agencies in their mission to detect, deter, and
disrupt drug trafficking. JTF-6 supports Operation Alliance by
planning and coordination all requested DOD (Title 10) support.
National Guard (Title 32) support to Operation Alliance is
coordinated directly between Operation Alliance and the
respective state National Guard organizations.
JTF-6 provides both operational and intelligence support to
Operation Alliance. Operational support is provided using "total
force" support packages drawn from a variety of military sources
and guided by priorities established by Operation Alliance. All
military operations in the Operation Alliance area of
responsibility are conducted in support of a lead law enforcement
agency. This results in joint active duty military - law
enforcement operations. For the duration of the operation, active
duty military forces are placed under operational control (OPCON)
of the supported law enforcement agency.
JTF-6 routinely provides four types of operational support
to Operation Alliance. The first is reconnaissance support.
Ground reconnaissance support includes sensors, listening posts,
observation posts, ground surveillance radar, and ground patrols.
Aerial reconnaissance support includes Forward Looking Infrared
(FLIR), Side-looking Airborne Radar (SLAR), photographic imagery,
and Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs).
The second type of operational support is training. Training
support includes patrolling, helicopter insertions and
extractions, sniping, operations and intelligence, and Advanced
Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (AMOUT). (AMOUT cannot
be functionally differentiated from Close Quarter Combat (CQC)
regardless of nit-picking official attempts to do so. Officially,
CQC deals with linear targets--planes, trains, busses. The
training and operational techniques of AMOUT and CQC are
identical. BORTAC is specifically authorized to receive CQC
training.).
The third type of operational support is logistics.
Logistical support includes engineer projects and air and ground
transportation. Engineer projects include barrier erection, road
repair, and range construction. Air transportation includes MH-60
and CH-47 helicopters, as well as the provision for fire support
from helicopter gun-ships. Ground transportation support includes
loans of military vehicles, and the use of tactical vehicles
(such as Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles--BIFVs), upon
application. Logistical support also includes loans of
surveillance equipment; primarily passive and thermal night
observation devices, and day optics.
The fourth type of operational support is Research.
Development and Acquisition (RDA). This involves identifying and
demonstrating technologies appropriate to combining military and
law enforcement capabilities and operations.
JTF-6 also provides extensive intelligence support to
Operation Alliance. JTF-6 provides fused and analyzed data from
DOD and law enforcement sources to DOD forces deployed in support
of law enforcement agencies operating in Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, and California. Intelligence support to law enforcement
agencies consists of providing the techniques, systems and
procedures that facilitate the analysis, fusion, and sharing of
drug related intelligence in response to specific requests from
law enforcement agencies. Intelligence support is provided by
seconding DOD intelligence personnel to law enforcement
agencies--specifically to the FBI and DEA, by aerial imagery,
intelligence instructors, and translators.
This "fusion" of military intelligence support to law
enforcement agencies is reflected in the operations of the DEA
established El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC). EPIC provides
operational and tactical intelligence to the law enforcement
community. It has its own proprietary database, as well as access
to other proprietary intelligence databases. EPIC provides
information to authorized DOD, federal and state law enforcement
agencies. EPIC is a full service intelligence operations center,
whose primary mission is to provide tactical intelligence support
to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with
information related to weapons, drugs and aliens. In addition to
DEA, eleven other federal agencies are members of EPIC.
In theory, Operation Alliance and JTF-6 were intended to
exercise the joint integration of the United States military and
federal law enforcement to fight the alleged "war on drugs." In
practice, this integration has been exploited by federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies to militarize the forces at
their disposal. Indeed, given the natural proclivities of the
myriad unconstitutional federal law enforcement agencies,
Operation Alliance, and JTF-6 support of this integration, the
armed, badge wielding thugs of the statist Department of Justice
have made themselves the de facto internal security army of the
United States.
There is no single atrocity that illustrates this obscenity
better than the BATF assault on the Seventh Day Adventist, Branch
Davidians, at Waco Texas, on 28 FEB, 1993. This operation was
directly supported by Company C, 3d Battalion, 3d Special Forces
Group (Airborne), then serving as the Rapid Support Unit for
JTF-6 at McGreggor Range Complex, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Message traffic indicates that the operational parameters of
this assault were known to the Special Forces unit involved as
early as December 1992. Operation Alliance, in an attempt to
secure DOD support and training prior to the raid, forwarded a
completely fictitious report through military channels that there
was a suspected methamphetamine lab at the Waco compound. This
was enough for JTF-6 to secure the commitment of Special Forces
ODA 381 (then attached to Co.C), to provide pre-mission training
to BATF forces dedicated to the attack. (See: Soldier of Fortune,
May 1994, and May 1995, for complete and accurate details).
The single most noteworthy result of active duty military
integration into the so-called "war on drugs," has been the
abject perversion of the once honorable Judge Advocate General
Corps (JAG). JTF-6 spared no expense to hire civilian lawyers who
specialize in law related to the Posse Comitatus Act. JAG
officers who object to specific missions parameters related to
the employment of federal troops in support of Operation Alliance
and JTF-6 are given notice by military liaison officers to OAJCG
that their objections are "...not career enhancing."
Prior to October 1989, counterdrug enforcement belonged
exclusively to law enforcement agencies. The Department of
Defense provided limited assistance to involved agencies but did
not become directly involved in police functions. As part of the
1989 National Defense Authorization Act, DOD was directed to
fully integrate its command, control, communications, and
intelligence functions with those of federal law enforcement
agencies.
This integration was a deliberate, willful violation of the
intent of the Third Amendment to the Constitution. Since the
establishment of Operation Alliance and JTF-6, law enforcement
agencies at all levels have used the increasingly insupportable
pretext of "drugs" to secure increasing levels of direct military
training and support. The result has been the increasingly
authoritative, abusive, and arbitrary enforcement of so-called
"laws" by an increasingly militarized "police." Stripped of its
window-dressing and obfuscating rhetoric, the law enforcement
agencies of today are no different than the standing armies of
the 18th century.
If the federal government was serious about the "threat to
national security" posed by the drug trade; if the federal
government was serious about "interdicting" the drug trade into
the United States; it would invaded, reduced to rubble, and
occupied as subject colonies, the drug trafficking states of
Mexico, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia.
It causes you wonder who is benefiting by not doing so. The
abrogation of individual rights resulting from the logarithmic
expansion of arbitrary legislation, and the integration of the
Department of Defense with the Department of Justice is justified
in the name of the "war on drugs." Or is it the War on the
Constitution?
Jeff Rambo
12 October 2000, 19:37
Yes, CJTF-6 is a real group. However hardly no one refers to it as CJTF-6, it is only normally referred to as JFT-6 (Joint Task Force Six), and if I'm not mistaken, the "C" stands for Counterdrug, this would also be the obvious meaning. I've seen the unit listed as CJFT-6 on many documents over the years, so it does indeed refer to JFT-6.
JFT-6 as you can probably tell by now, is a Counterdrug Joint Task Force based at Biggs AA in El Paso, TX. If I'm not mistaken, JTF-6 itself dates back to 88-89, as it was established by the CJCS. JTF-6 falls FORSCOM (US Army Forces Command) and USACOM (United States Atlantic Command) while its "sisters" are JITFE (Joint Interagency Task Force-East, or "JFT-4") and JFT-5 (West Coast).
And to go futher into the drug interdiction mission, you also have JTF-Bravo.
There is nothing "secret" about these units as far as their existence go, however anything else that relates to their operational methods and so forth is a different story.
Many Rangers, Special Forces Soldiers, and Marine Expeditionary Force Marines work with each of the JTFs.
And from personal accounts with the below mentioned, I can tell you that many Rangers have enjoyed working with JTF-6. However, like the problem with 7th GRP, many have disapproved of the DEA involement. But I won't go into that anymore.
And just to note, The Support Elements (Rapid Support Unit/RSU) are composed of Special Forces A Teams and Special Forces B Teams whom both provide support to the counterdrug operations of JTF-6.
You also will see Military Intelligence, Aviation, and Engineer units within the JTF-6 community so to speak.
Basically it is nothing more than just what the name says, a "Joint Task Force" of military units that are lending a hand in the war on drugs. They work closely with the USBP and USCS Counter-Narcotics Teams.
One of the most "notable apperances" by JTF-6 took place during the whole Branch Davidian/Waco, TX incident.
And just to note, as per what Tracy said, that article is faulty on many instances.
Hope this helps,
- Out
------------------
w/ Regards,
Jeff Rambo
------------------
I Want A Four Man Team On A Midnight Run ...
xcop
13 October 2000, 00:54
enfield;
In this country, to many, having the military train civilian police agencies is felt to be a threat to the separation of powers--read some US law enforcement history to see just how hard it was to estabish the FBI, and really just how limited they are in scope of investigation. There is also the consideration of methodology, while CAG and DEVGRU may be quite able to train civilian police in hostage rescue, the methods used would not be sanctioned in a great many jurisdictions. The military groups are trained to respond to terrorist incidents, while I can think of very, very few hostage taking in the US that would qualify as "terrorist" activity. Primarily they are robberies gone bad. The stronger emphasis in these cases is to get everyone (yeah, even the bad guy) out alive. Of course, if it does come to down to going dynamic, there is little real difference in the methods used to perform the takedown, it is more a question of attitude prior to, if that makes any sense.
A national police force has always been distrusted by large numbers of the US population, however, that opinion is changing as time goes on. I, personally do not know whether this is a good or bad thing.. I understand that this may be odd to you, as I believe Canada, like England, has always had a national force, but both governments are far closer to socialism than the US currently is. (IMHO)
Tracy-you must have not have been stationed at Bragg early/mid-nineties. The Special Forces Underground (SFU) was a group of SF'rs who had concerns about some of the mission tasking they were getting, and *some* legitimate questions about constitutional issues regarding these things. They published a newsletter, The Resister, which is quoted above. Steve Barry, the editor, has since left the military and is now publishing full time. The Resister started out asking some serious questions, but has since taken a turn to very ugly racist commentary. This has called into question the legitimacy of the entire "movement" and many of the folks who originally supported the ideas espoused have since disassociated themselves from it. There has been major media coverage involving SFU/The Resister, 60 Minutes did a story on it a few years ago, and the Fayetteville Observer's front page headline was dedicated to Steven Barry and the Resister a couple of Sundays ago. FYI.
xcop
vBulletin® v3.8.3, Copyright ©2000-2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.