At Trump request, Pentagon puts military
police on alert to go to Minneapolis
By James Laporta | Associated Press
FILE
- In this March 18, 2020, file photo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan
Vucci, File)
As unrest spread across dozens of
American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took
the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty U.S. military
police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis,
where the police killing of George Floyd sparked
the widespread protests.
Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum
in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if
called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers
in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be
ready within 24 hours. The people did not want their names used because they
were not authorized to discuss the preparations.
The get-ready orders were sent verbally on Friday, after
President Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper for military options
to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis after protests descended into looting
and arson in some parts of the city.
Trump made the request on a phone call from the Oval
Office on Thursday night that included Esper, National Security Adviser Robert
O’ Brien and several others. The president asked Esper for rapid deployment
options if the Minneapolis protests continued to spiral out of control,
according to one of the people, a senior Pentagon official who was on the call.
”When the White House asks for options, someone opens the
drawer and pulls them out so to speak.” the official said.
The person said the military units would be deployed
under the Insurrection Act of 1807, which was last used in 1992 during the
riots in Los Angeles that followed the Rodney King trial.
“If this is where the president is headed response-wise,
it would represent a significant escalation and a determination that the
various state and local authorities are not up to the task of responding to the
growing unrest," said Brad Moss, a Washington D.C.-based attorney, who
specializes in national security.
Members of the police units were on a 30-minute recall
alert early Saturday, meaning they would have to return to their bases inside
that time limit in preparation for deployment to Minneapolis inside of four
hours. Units at Fort Drum are slated to head to Minneapolis first, according to
the three people, including two Defense Department officials. Roughly 800 U.S.
soldiers would deploy to the city if called.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis this week after video
emerged showing a police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck. Floyd later died of
his injuries and the officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with
third-degree murder and manslaughter on Friday.
The protests turned violent and on Thursday rioters
torched the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct near where Floyd was arrested.
Mayor Jacob Frey ordered a citywide curfew at 8 p.m. local time, beginning on
Friday. In that city, peaceful protests picked up steam as darkness fell, with
thousands of people ignoring the curfew to walk streets in the southern part of
the city. Some cars were set on fire in scattered neighborhoods, business
break-ins began and eventually there were larger fires.
The unrest has since spread across the country, with
protests, some violent, erupting in cities including Washington DC, Atlanta,
Phoenix, Denver and Los Angeles.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered 500 of his National
Guard troops into Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding communities.
But a Pentagon spokesman said Walz did not ask for the
Army to be deployed to his state.
“The Department has been in touch with the Governor and
there is no request for Title 10 forces to support the Minnesota National Guard
or state law enforcement," the spokesman said, Title 10 is the U.S. law
that governs the armed forces, and would authorize active duty military to
operate within the U.S.
Alyssa Farah, the White House director of strategic
communications, said the deployment of active-duty military police is untrue.
“False: off the record - title 10 not under discussion,”
said Farah in an email response. No off-record agreement was negotiated with
The Associated Press.
The 16th Military Police Brigade forwarded the AP's
questions to the Defense Department.
The three officials with direct knowledge of the
potential deployment say the orders are on a classified system, known as the
Secret Internet Protocol Router or SIPR for short.
Active-duty forces are normally prohibited from acting as
a domestic law enforcement agency. But the Insurrection Act offers an exception.
The Act would allow the military to take up a policing
authority it otherwise would not be allowed to do, enforcing state and federal
laws, said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor who
specializes in constitutional and national security law.
The statute “is deliberately vague” when it comes to the
instances in which the Insurrection Act could be used, he said. The state’s
governor could ask President Donald Trump to take action or Trump could act on
his own authority if he’s determined that the local authorities are so
overwhelmed that they can’t adequately enforce the law, Vladeck said.
“It is a very, very broad grant of authority for the
president,” he added.
Associated Press reporters Lolita Baldor,
Michael Balsamo, and Zeke Miller contributed to this story.
