Marines, Police Prep for Mock Zombie Invasion

Marines, police prep for mock zombie invasion

The Associated Press

Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 | 11:29 a.m. 

Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.
"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume parry," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with."
Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their emergency response training.
In the scenario, a VIP and his personal detail are trapped in a village, surrounded by zombies when a bomb explodes. The VIP is wounded and his team must move through the town while dodging bullets and shooting back at the invading zombies. At one point, some members of the team are bit by zombies and must be taken to a field medical facility for decontamination and treatment.
"No one knows what the zombies will do in our scenario, but quite frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do," Barker said. "If a law enforcement officer sees a zombie and says, `Freeze, get your hands in the air!' What's the zombie going to do? He's going to moan at you. If someone on PCP or some other psychotic drug is told that, the truth is he's not going to react to you."
The keynote speaker beforehand will be a retired top spook _ former CIA Director Michael Hayden.
"No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it's going to be a federal incident, so we're making it happen," Barker said. Since word got out about the exercise, they've had calls from "every whack job in the world" about whether the U.S. government is really preparing for a zombie event.
Called "Zombie Apocalypse," the exercise follows the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's campaign launched last year that urged Americans to get ready for a zombie apocalypse, as part of a catchy, public health message about the importance of emergency preparedness.
The Homeland Security Department jumped on board last month, telling citizens if they're prepared for a zombie attack, they'll be ready for real-life disasters like a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake or terrorist attack. A few suggestions were similar to a few of the 33 rules for dealing with zombies popularized in the 2009 movie "Zombieland," which included "always carry a change of underwear" and "when in doubt, know your way out."
San Diego-based Halo Corp. founded by former military special ops and intelligence personnel has been hosting the annual counterterrorism summit since 2006.
The five-day Halo counterterrorism summit is an approved training event by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provide funds to pay for the coursework on everything from the battleground tactics to combat wounds to cybersecurity. The summit has a $1,000 registration fee and runs Oct. 29-Nov 2.
Conferences attended by government officials have come under heightened scrutiny following an inspector general's report on waste and abuse at a lavish 2010 Las Vegas conference that led to the resignation of General Services Administrator Martha Johnson. The Las Vegas conference featured a clown, a mind-reader and a rap video by an employee who made fun of the spending.
Joe Newman, spokesman of the watchdog organization Project on Government Oversight, said he does not see the zombie exercise as frivolous.
"We obviously are concerned about any expenditure that might seem frivolous or a waste of money but if they tie things together, there is a lesson there," Newman said. "Obviously we're not expecting a zombie apocalypse in the near future, but the effects of what might happen in a zombie apocalypse are probably similar to the type of things that happen in natural disasters and manmade disasters. They're just having fun with it. We don't have any problems with it as a teaching point."
Defense analyst Loren Thompson agreed.
"The defining characteristics of zombies are that they're unpredictable and resilient. That may be a good way to prepare for what the Pentagon calls asymmetric warfare," Thompson said.
Organizers can also avoid the pitfalls of using a mock enemy who cannot be identified by nationality, race or culture, potentially offending someone.
"I can think of a couple of countries where the local leaders are somewhat zombie-like," he joked. "But nobody is going to take this personally."

Monster Man by the Suburbs
M Jackson  Thriller

NDAA Gathers Up the Posse

New Fed Law Lets Reservists respond to disaster

The Associated Press

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012 | 3:18 p.m.

As hurricane season arrives, governors have a new resource to call upon in the event of a major disaster: military reservists.
Historically, there's been no mechanism under federal law to order reservists to duty in response to a domestic emergency. But the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act has changed that.
It gives governors the ability to request the help of the nation's 380,000 reservists in a natural or manmade disaster. Governors already can mobilize National Guard troops.
Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Luis Visot (Viz-OTT') told a disaster preparedness conference in Washington state on Thursday that the goal is to have reservists ready to respond within three days of such a request.
Hurricane Isaac in Louisiana didn't require such a response, so the new authority has yet to be used.

From Law Enforcement to Protection FROM the Military

 Posse Comitatus Act
 In 1878 the use of a posse comitatus was limited by the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This act, passed in response to the use of federal troops to enforce reconstruction policies in the southern states, prohibited the use of the U.S. Army to enforce laws unless the Constitution or an act of Congress explicitly authorized such use. This act was amended five times in the 1980s, largely to allow for the use of military resources to combat trafficking in illicit narcotics. Posse Comitatus Act

Today, the Posse Comitatus Act has taken on a very different meaning from the one that it had in 1878. No longer associated with Reconstruction, it is a useful way to prevent the U.S. armed forces from directing their efforts against U.S. dissident groups. Public sentiment in favor of the Posse Comitatus Act is so strong that a 2006 law permitting an exception to the Act in cases of public disasters (in response to Hurricane Katrina) was repealed a year later The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 


Indeed, to quote the AP article "But the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act has changed that"
Major Cities like Seattle and Oakland have had their police departments "federalized" and State's rights issues like voting rules or legalized marijuana have all come under attack by the Federal Government. Clear 10 th amendment violations and realms of the State. Why give the State government access to the military all the while subverting their Constitutional authority with Global initiatives and Federal mandates?
The conduct of the Government appears curious and questionable. Preparing or provoking? Service or sinister.  The powers to build a domestic army should help the blogosphere make sense of some of the previous news. Is this point hollow, too?