Revealed: Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’
Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump’s order on subduing civil unrest
A top US military official has ordered the national guards of all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories to form “quick reaction forces” trained in “riot control”, including use of batons, body shields, Tasers and pepper spray, according to an internal Pentagon directive reviewed by the Guardian.
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Janessa Goldbeck, a former US Marine Corps captain and chief executive of the Vet Voice Foundation, a non-profit advocacy group, said the order represented “an attempt by the president to normalize a national, militarized police force”.
She predicted that force would be used to send troops to states led by Democratic governors without their permission and could be used to suppress turnout and disrupt the fair operation of elections.
In a worst-case scenario, she said, “the president could declare a state of emergency and say that elections are rigged and use allegations of voter fraud to seize the ballots of secure voting centers”.
The Pentagon did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A spokesperson for the national guard bureau declined to comment on concerns that Trump is seeking to normalize a national militarized police force or could potentially use the force to seize ballot boxes
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theguardian.com |
