The Steady State
The Steady State | Charles A. Ray
Armed troops patrolling an American city is not a welcome sight. (Photo by Sean Lee on Unsplash)
President Donald Trump’s plan to flood Democratic-led cities with armed National Guard troops, and, according to some reports, even active duty forces, is a terrible idea on many fronts.
Forget the fact that the situation in the cities he’s targeting does not justify the employment of military forces in what is, for some, a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, or that, in the case of Portland, Oregon, his claim that the city is ‘on fire’ is based on news coverage of demonstrations that occurred in 2020. What he is doing, encouraged by Stephen Miller, his White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Adviser, and his warrior wannabe Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is actually making the situation worse by angering residents of the city and setting the stage for a potentially catastrophic incident, similar to Kent State in 1970. His actions are undermining the authority of state and local officials, who, in most cases, have categorically stated that they have no need for federal intervention, and worsening the already strained federal-local relationships.
Besides the purely domestic issues, though, these questionable and ill-advised deployments threaten to undermine national security in ways that could take decades to undo.
Military forces in combat gear and wearing dark glasses patrolling the streets of American cities will sow distrust in the military as an apolitical institution. Suppose there is an incident involving the military that results in the death of a civilian. In that case, we could be facing a civil-military crisis that makes the post-Vietnam situation look like a walk in the park. Furthermore, when citizens lack trust in the military, it hurts military recruiting. Qualified people with the character and discipline the services require will be hesitant to enlist.
There is also the direct impact on readiness. Trump’s suggestion that certain cities be used as ‘training grounds’ for the military is a non-starter. Even if demonstrations turn violent, there is no imaginable scenario that would justify using the full combat force of the military to counter them. Therefore, military units used as police auxiliaries, or even replacing the police, will lose valuable time that could be devoted to training for their primary mission: closing with and destroying the enemy. If Trump thinks that should be their mission on American streets, he is severely delusional and dangerous. Every soldier, airman, sailor, or marine patrolling American streets is one less available should a true security threat arise elsewhere. And, I’m not talking about the faux ‘emergency’ off the coast of Venezuela—which is another aberration in the use of the nation’s military might that Congress and the courts should take a closer look at.
The bottom line, though, is that this cosplay with armed troops flooding the streets of American cities is a tragedy waiting to happen. Heaven forbid we have a repeat of Kent State, but even if we don’t, just continuing this foolish mission will create problems that will take decades to undo.
One can only hope that our foreign adversaries don’t decide to take advantage of that weakness before we can realize the error of our ways.
Charles A. Ray spent 20 years in the U.S. Army with two tours in Vietnam. He retired as a senior US diplomat, serving 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, with assignments as ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Zimbabwe, and was the first American consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He also served in senior positions with the Department of Defense and is a member of The Steady State.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 290 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
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