Defense Authorization Bill Would Move America Toward A Military State

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain are behind the Defense Authorization Bill, which would give the military too much power to detain American citizens, as Senator Mark Udall of Colorado points out.

…the provisions would require the military to dedicate a significant number of personnel to capturing and holding terrorism suspects — in some cases indefinitely — even those apprehended on U.S. soil. And they authorize the military to do so regardless of an accused terrorist’s citizenship, even if he or she is an American captured in a U.S. city…

Additionally, the requirement that the military — not civilian law enforcement — take suspected terrorists into custody threatens to undo much of the progress the FBI and state and local law enforcement have made to stop terrorists plotting in the United States and overseas. That could make it difficult or impossible to collaboratively gather intelligence on domestic terror cells at all.

Udall is offering an amendment to the bill that would eliminate the detention provisions.

My amendment would strike the detention provisions from the bill and require the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and State as well as the director of national intelligence to issue a joint report detailing the gaps in our detention policy. This report would be due within 90 days and would allow Congress to draft detention legislation that meets our national security needs and keeps faith with the guiding principles of our Constitution.

This is backed by the ACLU, which correctly states the danger of defining the entire world as a battlefield and anyone on that battlefield game for indefinite detention.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.