CIA/DoD Violates Posse Comitatus w/ Drones?

The following is the actual wordage of the USC(United States Code) under Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedures that prohibit the government, Federal-State-Municipal, from using any and all elements of the United States Army, and/or the United States Airforce.

USC : Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 67 Section 1385

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

So having read the actual words that cover Posse Comitatus, ask yourself just who owns and operates the drones being used by the Obama Administration to spy on American citizens and to enforce Federal Laws within the borders of the United States of America? Is this a violation of the Posse Comitatus clause of the USC or not? Let take a look at the facts, officially only the Department of Defense and the CIA have in the past, and currently are, authorized to operate Drones. They have even lobbied for an offical rule book to be written on the use, authorization for kills, and the legality of operating the drones on various places in the world, and the USA.

So we know drones are being used here in America in conjunction with Intelligence gathering and Law Enforcement Operations. The Question is WHO is using them, the DOD or the CIA? Well lets look at the CIA part of the questions, hmm lets ask the CIA if they conduct Intelligence Operations inside the borders of United States. This is from the CIA website’s FAQ section, questions six :

6. Does the CIA spy on Americans? Does it keep a file on you?

By law, the CIA is specifically prohibited from collecting foreign intelligence concerning the domestic activities of US citizens. Its mission is to collect information related to foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence. By direction of the president in Executive Order 12333 of 1981 and in accordance with procedures approved by the Attorney General, the CIA is restricted in the collection of intelligence information directed against US citizens. Collection is allowed only for an authorized intelligence purpose; for example, if there is a reason to believe that an individual is involved in espionage or international terrorist activities. The CIA’s procedures require senior approval for any such collection that is allowed, and, depending on the collection technique employed, the sanction of the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General may be required. These restrictions on the CIA have been in effect since the 1970s.

Source Link

So we have it from their own mouth with material confirming there answer. They are prohibited from Operating with the borders of the United States of America, unless they have specific authoriaztion from the Dirctor of National Intelligence and the Attorney General. Of course they get their commands from the president, so we can safely say the CIA cannot Operate for any reason inside the Unided States without the authorization from the President. Ok so that answers question number one, now lets move on to question number two.

As we have read from the Posse Comitatus Section of the USC, the Army and the Airforce are prohibited from conducting Law Enforement Operations inside the U.S., but who actually inside the collective of the DOD actually operates the Drones? Lets take a look what type of drones are being used today.

The RQ-170 Sentinel has been used thru-out the Afghanistan War, and has even earned the nickname ‘The Beast of Kandahar”. It is operated by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron assigned to the 432d Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force.

RQ-4 Global Hawk has been used in both Afghanistan and Irag. It is operated by the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing of the U.S. Air force.

MQ-1 Predator is one of th emost widely used drones in the DOD arsenal. It has been used in several countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somolia, Iran, Bosnia, Yemen, Pakistan, Lybia, Egypt, Japan, and yes even the USA and Mexico. They are Operated by a wide range of operators, mainly by the Air Force for the CIA and in support of military operations over seas, as well as by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency along the US/Mexico border in conjunction with enforcing immigrantion and drug trafficing laws.

MQ-9 Reaper (formerly called Predator B) was developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, NASA, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. It has seen combat and intelligence operations in various countries including Afghanistan and the USA, as well as former Soviet Block Nations.

The U.S Army has many small short range drones and an experimental long range drone. They are currently nearly finished with operation testing of the “Grey Eagles” drone.

So now that we have identified several commonly used drones my the military and the CIA, I will tell you that many drones are used every day in America by commercial and local/state law enforement agency, lets see if there have been any operation by the CIA and/or Air Force with the United States.

The CIA has completely denied over and over again its use of drones domestically and in a lawsuit with the ACLU, they have denied operating and owning drones and the targeted killing of terrorists and civilians overseas. They however did request the government for more drones toadd to its fleet that they continue to deny under oath in court. Source Link

With the FBI using drones, local and state law enforment agencies using drones, commercial and private corperations using drones, state agencies and federal agencies using drones, as well as federal departments, there is logically no need for the CIA to conduct domestic drone operations within the U.S. because the PAtriot Act allows for the sharing of information. Also there is the privatization of our Inteligence operations which would free the governemtn, in particularly the CIA, from any criminal actions having to due with sying and violating Americans privacy. Of course that is another issue which I will not discuss in this article.

Now on to the military. Does the DOD make use of drones domestically? The answer is Yes! But there is no connection with any operation being conducted in conjunction with law enforcement. There are currently 64 authorized drone bases within the borders of the United States, they are for conducting training and testing of drones.

These are the official facts about the “Secret Drone Program” which dont back up the official version of the Conspiracy that has been floating around the internet. However, there is some concern about real Law Enforement and other government agencies, AKA DHS, NSA, FBI, and ATF, just to name a few who are and have been conducting survailance of American citizens without their knowledge. This of course is for another article as we were addressing the CIA and the U.S. Airforce’s envolvement with domestic Law Enforement as for as domestic drone usage is concerned. But we hold the fact at if any real abuse of the Posse Comitatus Clause is really ocurring with the use of unmanned aerial Drones we will never hear about it, not with the use of the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise. There are secrets that the government even keeps from itself.

John Doe w/ Investicon.blog.com