Mary B. McCord lays out why existing statutes are outdated and opaque, how recent events exposed gaps, and what a single modern statute should do: set clear limits, require meaningful review, and prevent abuse.
Existing statutes that govern domestic military deployments are outdated, overlapping, and leave important questions unresolved.
The Posse Comitatus Act remains the primary statutory constraint but offers limited clarity on exceptions and scope.
Recent federal deployments and threats to invoke military authorities have increased urgency for a single modern statute with enforceable limits and judicial review.
McCord Published on September 28, 2026 Editor's Note This article is part of Just Security 's Series: Even before the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military domestically to quell protests, fight crime in so-called "crime dens" like New York City and Chicago, and police the border.
military can lawfully be used domestically, what sorts of activities they can engage in domestically, and what judicial review is permissible. Despite its history, the PCA is consistent with the fundamental principle embedded in the Constitution that the military should not engage in domestic law enforcement. It is understood that the consent of the governor is required for these missions under § 502(f), and indeed, it is not uncommon for governors to request that their units be deployed in Title 32 status after natural disasters or in other emergencies because the federal government foots the bill.
Supreme Court ruled against Trump's use of § 12406(3) in Trump v. military and National Guard forces domestically. Until now, the urgency to do so has not been present.
The Privacy Act is ill-equipped to address contemporary privacy risks, much less to constrain an executive branch determined to use the data in its possession for new purposes. The post Reinvention Blueprint No. 3: To Unmake the Surveillance State, Rethink the Privacy Act appeared first on Just Security .
The following is the Sept. 11, 2026, Congressional Research Service defense primer, Control and Command of the U.S. Military. From the Report Congress has exercised oversight and a measure of control over the U.S. military, including by, inter alia, legislating the chain of command, directing changes to military compon
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