Over the past few months, we've been hearing lots of 'chatter' suggesting that the US military is moving beyond policy paper, doomsday planning scenarios forecasting civil unrest and has started to implement troop movements based on these apocalyptic scenarios. In August, the website Public Intelligence posted documents referring to the ultra-secret "CONPLAN 3502," the US military's guide to responding to "civil unrest." While the document itself is secret, among the references to its contents available publicly is the Domestic Operational Handbook for Judge Advocates. Public Intelligence describes the operational handbook as

“a resource for operational lawyers involved in domestic support operations” that helps them understand “the legal issues inherent in such operations”.  The Domestic Operational Handbook for 2010 includes many references to CONPLAN 3502, including notes that indicate that the plan contains information on the formation of detention facilities for imprisoning U.S. citizens during Civil Disturbance Operations (CDO). 

Visit their website to learn more about this document, and what it means for the rule of law in the United States.

Also this summer, the Russian, English-language media channel Russia Today picked up on a scoop largely untouched in the US media. According to RT, the US military has transferred 20,000 active duty military people to the United States, where they will be stationed indefinitely, ready to engage the 'homefront' in the event of another large scale terrorist attack or, more ominously, an episode of 'civil unrest'. 

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As Public Intelligence notes, the US military has been deployed a number of times in order to put down 'civil unrest' at home. The National Guard has been deployed throughout US history to quell labor movements. As recently as February 2011, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin threatened to order the Guard to do the same.