The Drug War In Your Backyard

by Monte Paulsen

For more than a century, stationing U.S. soldiers in American backyards was against the law. The Posse Comitatus Act, passed by Congress in 1878, made it a felony to deputize the armed services for domestic duty. Thus, since Reconstruction, state-run National Guard units, rather than federal troops, were called on to suppress labor strikes, race riots, student protests and other acts of civil disobedience. Though it no longer exists, this separation of military and police powers is still touted in high school civics textbooks as a hallmark of U.S. society and democratic ideals.

Congress began chipping away at Posse Comitatus in 1982 with a defense bill that allowed the military to loan equipment and facilities to civilian law enforcement agencies. A 1989 bill went further, allowing military personnel to work in the field. And a 1991 act authorized the services to conduct armed reconnaissance missions, like the one that killed Hernandez. The definition of these missions has been expanded in every defense bill since.

The loophole is that these troops may only be deployed within a HIDTA. All it takes to become a HIDTA is for one civilian law enforcement agency -- such as a police force, sheriff's office or federal agency -- to obtain the endorsement of other local law enforcement agencies, then submit a joint request to the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C. If all agencies agree there's evidence of drug trafficking, the national office designates the area as a HIDTA.

Any law enforcement agency with jurisdiction within a HIDTA may ask for federal anti-drug assistance. An El Paso-based agency called Operation Alliance decides whether the request is for actual anti-drug work, then forwards it to the appropriate federal agency. In some cases, the "anti-drug" pretext is thin. The tanks and other weapons used in the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, for example, were supplied by JTF-6 after the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms revised its Operation Alliance request to include suspicion of drug manufacturing equipment within the compound. The equipment was never found.

If Operation Alliance determines that the military can best fulfill the request, it is forwarded to Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6). Headquartered in a former Army stockade next door to Operation Alliance, JTF-6 was initially conceived of as a temporary operation, with duties confined to the U.S.-Mexican border. As it now approaches its 10th birthday, JTF-6 is one of the longest running task forces in U.S. military history. More than 72,000 service men and women have served in JTF-6 operations in 30 states.

Most JTF-6 missions do not involve combat troops. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, has built hundreds of miles of roads, fences and lighting along the U.S.-Mexico border. Also popular are training missions, many of which involve teaching interrogation and tactical combat skills to local law enforcement. Eighty-nine percent of police departments now have paramilitary "SWAT" teams.

The U.S. Border Patrol is JTF-6's main client. The two agencies have collaborated on an average of 157 missions a year. Most of those were armed reconnaissance missions, until they were temporarily suspended after last year's shooting.

The California-based 1st Marines most often fulfilled those armed missions. They participated in 119 missions before the Redford shooting. And like the Border Patrol, the 1st Marines were hooked on drug interdiction money. The division burned an extra $9.1 million worth of JTF-6 green during the last four years. Wrote one ranking general: "Unequivocally, my commanders depend on, and plan for, this annual infusion."