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My only confusion is that I believed that they surely must have had a domestic counterterrorism unit previously? I mean if they didn't, what are we paying them

My only confusion is that I believed that they surely must have had a domestic counterterrorism unit previously? I mean if they didn't, what are we paying them for? No wonder Walmarts, schools and places of worship are getting shot up. I guess it's good they created one now, but if they didn't have a unit with dedicated resources on the domestic terrorism problem previously, it really does demonstrate a lack of military sense.

BitwiseFool 5y ago
I'm certain the US government had more than one of these units prior to this announcement. I sense this is probably more of an organizational realignment more than anything else, kind of like how "The Space Force" was created by carving out elements from the other branches, mainly the Air Force, and calling it something new.
- skissane 5y ago
  DOJ has a National Security Division, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Within the DOJ National Security Division, there is a Counter-Terrorism Section, headed by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counter-Terrorism. The Counter-Terrorism Section deals with all cases of terrorism, whether international or domestic. My interpretation of this story, is they are creating a dedicated team of people within the Counter-Terrorism Section to handle "domestic" terrorism, rather than having the same team(s) handle a mixture of "international" and "domestic" cases. It really is a nothing story. It is nothing like the Space Force – that involved a major legal change in the high-level military structure, changing reporting lines for senior officials (the Air Force's space head was elevated to membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), this seems to just involve a change in the internal team structure of an existing government office (a section of a division of a department). They just want to make it sound like they are doing something. How do you decide what is "international" and what is "domestic" terrorism anyway? If someone is recruited by Islamic State to commit a terrorist attack, that's international. But if some lone wolf radicalises themselves by spending hours a day watching Islamic State propaganda videos, and that inspires them to commit a terrorist attack – is that "international" or "domestic"? And how is that different from if the lone wolf had spent hours a day watching QAnon videos instead?
redisman 5y ago
The DoJ maybe didn’t but homeland security, FBI, CIA, NSA etc certainly did
_jal 5y ago
> it really does demonstrate a lack of military sense. The US military is forbidden from domestic enforcement action, except in certain circumstances. Google "posse commitatus" for details.
- bilbo0s 5y ago
  Military sense is a general term. A homeowner can use military sense in setting up his home security for instance. Intelligence and nation state level security organizations can also have military sense. The term scales. There are many, many lessons learned in the service that have application to the civilian world. If those lessons will be received by the learners.
- rascul 5y ago
  > The US military is forbidden from domestic enforcement action, except in certain circumstances. Google "posse commitatus" for details. Kind of. The Posse Comitatus Act doesn't apply to the Navy. However, the DoD and/or the DoN has regulations that align with the Posse Comitatus Act. So it's not the military as a whole which is forbidden, just part of it, and the other part can change their own rules to allow it. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/posse-comitatus-act-and-related-matters-a-sketch.html https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
  - _jal 5y ago
    Wow, thanks, I appreciate the correction. Very much not my area, but I had no idea.

BitwiseFool 5y ago

I'm certain the US government had more than one of these units prior to this announcement. I sense this is probably more of an organizational realignment more than anything else, kind of like how "The Space Force" was created by carving out elements from the other branches, mainly the Air Force, and calling it something new.

skissane 5y ago
DOJ has a National Security Division, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Within the DOJ National Security Division, there is a Counter-Terrorism Section, headed by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counter-Terrorism. The Counter-Terrorism Section deals with all cases of terrorism, whether international or domestic. My interpretation of this story, is they are creating a dedicated team of people within the Counter-Terrorism Section to handle "domestic" terrorism, rather than having the same team(s) handle a mixture of "international" and "domestic" cases. It really is a nothing story. It is nothing like the Space Force – that involved a major legal change in the high-level military structure, changing reporting lines for senior officials (the Air Force's space head was elevated to membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), this seems to just involve a change in the internal team structure of an existing government office (a section of a division of a department). They just want to make it sound like they are doing something. How do you decide what is "international" and what is "domestic" terrorism anyway? If someone is recruited by Islamic State to commit a terrorist attack, that's international. But if some lone wolf radicalises themselves by spending hours a day watching Islamic State propaganda videos, and that inspires them to commit a terrorist attack – is that "international" or "domestic"? And how is that different from if the lone wolf had spent hours a day watching QAnon videos instead?

redisman 5y ago

The DoJ maybe didn’t but homeland security, FBI, CIA, NSA etc certainly did

_jal 5y ago

> it really does demonstrate a lack of military sense. The US military is forbidden from domestic enforcement action, except in certain circumstances. Google "posse commitatus" for details.

bilbo0s 5y ago
Military sense is a general term. A homeowner can use military sense in setting up his home security for instance. Intelligence and nation state level security organizations can also have military sense. The term scales. There are many, many lessons learned in the service that have application to the civilian world. If those lessons will be received by the learners.
rascul 5y ago
> The US military is forbidden from domestic enforcement action, except in certain circumstances. Google "posse commitatus" for details. Kind of. The Posse Comitatus Act doesn't apply to the Navy. However, the DoD and/or the DoN has regulations that align with the Posse Comitatus Act. So it's not the military as a whole which is forbidden, just part of it, and the other part can change their own rules to allow it. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/posse-comitatus-act-and-related-matters-a-sketch.html https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
- _jal 5y ago
  Wow, thanks, I appreciate the correction. Very much not my area, but I had no idea.