George Floyd protests: Trump raises security to near-wartime level in Washington DC, Dems call move autocratic
The Pentagon ordered forces and bases in the Washington DC area to "Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Charlie" owing to the ongoing protests and riots in the country. According to the US Army: "FPCON Charlie applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely." It is the second-highest level of security condition. The Pentagon raised the condition Bravo to Charlie because of concerns over civil unrest and vandalism. According to Newsweek, the state of high alert was ordered around 7.30 am on Tuesday, June 2, for the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. The alarming move comes in the wake of President Donald Trump threatening to use military force to restore order across the US after protests against the killing of George Floyd engulfed the cities, causing loot, arson and deaths.
Trump has taken a strong stand on the raging protests and even walked out of the White House to visit a church where peaceful protesters were forcefully dispersed. He has threatened states with federal intervention and appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army General Mark Milley as the commander of the federal forces, which is itself a legally questionable order, the Newsweek report added. The chairman serves as the principal military adviser to the president and is not a military commander.
"The role of the US military in domestic US law enforcement is limited by law," Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Democratic representative from Washington, said in a statement on Tuesday, June 2. "It must not be used in violation of those limits and I see little evidence that President Trump understands this fundamental premise." He said he is "gravely concerned" about Trump’s "seemingly autocratic rule and how it affects the judgment" of America’s military leadership.
Trump on Monday, June 1, federalized the DC National Guard without attracting much attention. It became the first National Guard troops that were federalized in response to the outbreak of nationwide protests following Floyd’s brutal death at the hands of Minneapolis cops on May 25. The DC-area troops come under the lesser-known Joint Task Force National Capital Region, which was activated in March to ensure secret continuity of government and other emergency plans to deal with the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 106,000 lives in the US so far, according to John Hopkin's tracker. Besides federalizing the DC National Guard, additional Guard troops were brought in from adjoining states and West Virginia into the capital region on Monday, June 1, also under federal instructions.
Transport aircraft start mobilizing forces
Soon after midnight on Tuesday, June 2, transport planes arrived from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Riley, Kansas, at Andrews Air Force Base in southern Maryland to bring active military police and infantry soldiers to defend federal buildings and bases, the report said. It added that some 250 active-duty military police from North Carolina’s Fort Bragg have already been stationed at military bases inside the district. According to the DC Guard: "Hundreds of Soldiers and Airmen are supporting US Park Police, federal police and the Metro Police Department to maintain order during protests in the vicinity of the White House and federal monuments."
On June 1, Trump announced that he was mobilizing "all available federal resources, civilian and military" referring to the huge military and civilian forces that he has under his command. The same night, law enforcement officials of 10 federal agencies took positions in the DC area — most around the White House and Capitol building and federal offices and monuments. They included the FBI, ATF, Drug Enforcement Administration, ICE, the Secret Service and Coast Guard of the Department of Homeland Security among others.