by Nate Cain, America Outloud:
As the Biden-Harris Administration nears the end of its first term, Americans are facing an unsettling reality: the federal government is quietly expanding its power in ways that threaten the very freedoms upon which this country was founded. On September 27, 2024, the Department of Defense issued Directive 5240.01, a document that, on its face, appears to be an administrative update. However, buried within its provisions are dangerous expansions of federal authority that threaten to undermine the Constitution, particularly the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. More than just an innocuous policy adjustment, this directive could transform the military and intelligence agencies into tools for domestic surveillance and control, raising serious questions about the true intentions of the Biden-Harris administration.
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This directive must be scrutinized in light of past abuses by federal agencies like the FBI and DOJ. Both institutions have demonstrated their willingness to exceed their mandates and violate the rights of U.S. citizens. Directive 5240.01 could very well exacerbate these trends, particularly given its vague language and the unprecedented powers it grants to military and intelligence agencies on U.S. soil.
Expanding Military Power Over Domestic Law Enforcement
One of the most alarming aspects of the directive is Section 3.2, which authorizes Defense Intelligence Components to provide intelligence and operational assistance to law enforcement agencies. While some of this assistance appears justified for national security purposes, much of the language is dangerously broad, allowing intelligence to be shared with law enforcement under murky conditions. The directive allows intelligence components to share information with law enforcement to “protect U.S. intelligence community personnel, property, and information” while also investigating “international terrorist activities or international narcotics activities” (Department of Defense [DoD], 2024, p. 12).
The vague nature of these authorizations is a recipe for abuse. With such a wide mandate, intelligence agencies could share data on U.S. citizens with law enforcement without probable cause, violating the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The FBI’s abuse of the FISA process to surveil Trump campaign staffers offers a troubling precedent for how these powers could be misused (Durden, 2023). This provision, under the guise of national security, grants law enforcement the ability to circumvent traditional checks on surveillance, placing Americans’ privacy in jeopardy.
Warrantless Surveillance Under Exigent Circumstances
Section 3.5 outlines the circumstances under which Defense Intelligence Components can bypass standard approval processes in cases of “exigent circumstances.” These circumstances are defined as situations where a person’s “life or physical safety is reasonably believed to be in imminent danger” (DoD, 2024, p. 15). While the military must report the details to higher authorities within 72 hours, this provision opens the door for warrantless surveillance and intelligence gathering without the necessary oversight.
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