New Department of Defense Directive: A License To Kill American Citizens?

I was a West Point cadet on May 4, 1970, the day Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War and U.S. incursions into Cambodia. Four demonstrators were killed and nine wounded in the incident. Like the rest of America, my fellow cadets and I were appalled.

That admonition has more relevance today than at any time in my life. Our most basic, unalienable human rights—freedom of speech and religion, self-defense, due process, equal treatment under the law, parental responsibility for our children, free and fair elections—are under attack, not by foreign powers but by our very own government.

The FBI, our intelligence agencies, the IRS, Bureau of Land Management, Department of State, Department of Justice, and even our military have been weaponized against half the U.S. population and their choice for President of the United States. “America’s Mayor” Rudi Giuliani, 80, has been disbarred, sued for $148 million, and destroyed for daring to challenge the highly suspicious and abnormal 2020 election. Former President Donald J. Trump has survived two assassination attempts made possible by woefully—many believe intentionally—inadequate Secret Service protection and highly inflamed rhetoric by Democrat politicians. Rogue state officials have prosecuted Trump on baseless charges and attempted to keep him off the ballot. Attorney General Merrick Garland and his minions raided the former president’s home, issuing shoot-to-kill orders to the FBI.

Catholics, concerned parents and White males whose only “crime” was to join our military, have been vilified as “White supremacists” and “domestic terrorists” and threatened by the FBI, Department of Defense, and other federal agencies without a shred of evidence. A military-wide stand-down to reflect on “White supremacists” essentially found none.

In contravention to U.S. law, government officials have thrown open our borders to some 20 million illegal aliens, including criminals, drug dealers, rapists, murderers, and military-age men from America’s foreign adversaries, including terrorist nations.

And now, just in time for the election, the Department of Defense has issued directive 5240.01. This unprecedented decree broadens U.S. military intelligence-sharing and cooperation with domestic law enforcement, empowers lower-level officials to act independently for up to 72 hours without obtaining approval from the Secretary of Defense, and permits our military to employ lethal force against American citizens “when lives are in danger” during undefined “national security threats.”

The directive authorizes “Assistance in responding with assets with potential for lethality, or any situation in which it is reasonably foreseeable that providing the requested assistance may involve the use of force that is likely to result in lethal force, including death or serious bodily injury. It also includes all support to civilian law enforcement officials in situations where a confrontation between civilian law enforcement and civilian individuals or groups is reasonably anticipated.”¹

The directive appears on its face to be a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878 and expanded in 1956, 1981 and 2021. The law prohibits federal military forces from enforcing domestic policies within the United States. The Department of Defense has absolutely no authority to overrule a law passed by Congress and signed by the President. What’s next, violating the Third Amendment to the Constitution with forced quartering of soldiers in people’s homes?

With so many norms and Constitutional protections being turned upside down in America these days, this directive raises the specter of sanctioned government murder. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Tony Lentini is a West Point graduate who served five years in the Army, attaining the rank of Captain. He then pursued a career in energy, first with an electric utility and then in the independent oil and gas exploration and production sector, where he served as vice president of public and international affairs for two companies.

¹DoD Directive 5240.1.3.3.a.(2)(c), page 13