December 2, 2008 (LPAC)--The Defense Department plans to have three combat brigades assigned to homeland defense by 2011 for a total of about 20,000 troops, about 6,000 of which will be from National Guard and reserve units, reports the Washington Post, today.

The Post report, while simply expanding on earlier reports such as that in the Oct. 10 issue of Executive Intelligence Review, serves to underscore the increasing militarization of domestic security that Lyndon LaRouche warned against in 2002, when he characterized the creation of U.S. Northern Command as "crossing the Rubicon," and as "preparation to create a Caesarian military dictatorship."

LaRouche further warned in his Oct. 1, 2008 webcast that the Bush Administration was disposed to use the military inside the United States if it didn't get its bailout bill passed. LaRouche's warnings were subsequently confirmed by at least two members of Congress who publicly reported that the Administration had threatened martial law if Congress didn't capitulate on the bailout bill.

Northern Command, for the first time, received control of a U.S. Army brigade combat team on Oct. 1, which forms the nucleus of a consequence management force trained to respond to a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack on the U.S. At the time the brigade was assigned, Pentagon officials also stated their intention to create two more such response forces by 2011. The Army Times, on Sept. 29, reported that the brigade's training included learning how to deal with civil unrest and crowd control.

The Post notes that there are critics of this use of the military because it may possibly undermine the 130-year-old Posse Comitatus law, which proscribes the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. Anna Christenson of the ACLU's National Security project told the Post that domestic emergency military deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in Presidential and military authority," and Cato Institute vice president Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security that is "at odds with our long-standing tradition of being wary of the use of standing armies to keep the peace."