FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS, PRESIDENT TRUMP IS A DANGEROUS AUTHORITARIAN

 

         …President Trump at his “photo op” in front of St John’s Episcopal Church

 

Thanks for the National Guard “whistleblower,” Major DeMarco

 

I think that under this US president, we need to be concerned that he will use some of the worst “crowd control” weapons in the nation’s arsenal.  In fact, we now have a National Guard whistleblower that is confirming this idea about that man in the White House.

D.C. National Guard Major Adam DeMarco told lawmakers that defense officials were searching for serious crowd control technology deemed too unpredictable to even use in war zones.  In addition, they authorized the transfer of 7,000 rounds of ammunition to the D.C. Armory, as protests against police use of force and racial injustice rose in Washington D.C..

In sworn testimony, shared last week with The Washington Post, DeMarco provided his account as part of an ongoing investigation into law enforcement and military officers’ use of force against the D.C. protesters.

President Trump had used the National Guard when he visited the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Hours before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square, this was amid protests over the police killing of George Floyd.  Federal officials then began to stockpile ammunition and seek devices that could emit deafening sounds and make anyone within range feel like their skin was on fire.  This is according to the Army National Guard major who was there in the square.

During the protest, federal forces pushed protesters from the park across from the White House, blanketing the street with clouds of tear gas, firing stun grenades, setting off smoke bombs and shoving demonstrators with shields and batons.  This obviously elicited criticism that the response was too extreme.  The Trump administration has argued that officers were responding to violent protesters, but there were no examples shown of that violence coming from the protesters.

DeMarco’s account contradicts the administration’s claims that protesters were violent.  His testimony also offers a glimpse into the equipment and weaponry federal forces had.  

DeMarco, who provided his account as a whistleblower, was the senior-most D.C. National Guard officer on the ground that day, and he served as a liaison between the National Guard and US Park Police.

The Defense Department, U.S. Army and D.C. National Guard did not respond to specific questions about munitions and their intended use.

The chaos that erupted on that evening played out before millions of viewers on split-screen television broadcasts as President Trump strode through the emptied park toward St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he delivered remarks and posed for photos with a bible.

U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan has testified that protesters were given clear warnings to disperse via a Long Range Acoustic Device.  However, DeMarco has told lawmakers, that is impossible because there was no such device on the scene at that time.

Just before noon on June 1, the Defense Department’s top military police officer in the Washington region sent an email to officers in the D.C. National Guard. It asked whether the unit had a Long Range Acoustic Device, also known as an LRAD, or a microwave-like weapon called the Active Denial System (ADS), which was designed by the military to make people feel like their skin is burning when in range of its invisible rays.

The ADS technology, also called a “heat ray,” was developed to disperse large crowds in the early 2000s, but it was shelved amid concerns about its effectiveness, safety and the ethics of using it on human beings.

Pentagon officials were reluctant to use the device in Iraq. In late 2018, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had considered using the device on migrants at the US-Mexico border.  However, that was an idea shot down by the then, Homeland Security secretary, citing the obvious humanitarian concerns.

But in the email, on which DeMarco was copied, the lead military police officer in the National Capital Region wrote the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) “can provide our troops a capacity they currently do not have, the ability to reach out and engage potential adversaries at distances well beyond small arms range, and in a safe, effective, and nonlethal manner.”

The email continued: “The device can immediately compel an individual to cease threatening behavior or depart through application of a directed energy beam that provides a sensation of intense heat on the surface of the skin. The effect is overwhelming, causing an immediate repel response by the targeted individual.”

Federal police ultimately were unable to obtain that heat ray device during those early days of protests in D.C., according to a Defense Department official.

DeMarco said without the heat ray device, which can also be used to make booming announcements to large crowds, Park Police officers instead issued dispersal orders to the crowd using a handheld red-and-white megaphone.

US Laws and court rulings require police to give demonstrators repeated, clear warnings of officers’ intentions to escalate and to allow people adequate time and avenues to disperse peacefully.

DeMarco told lawmakers he was standing about 30 yards from the announcer but could barely make out the order. The chanting crowd, which was even farther from the officer with the megaphone, did not appear to hear the warnings, DeMarco said.

Protesters, journalists and humanitarian aid volunteers who were there that day have repeatedly said they never heard a warning before police began to move on the crowd. Advancing on foot and horseback, the officials pushed protesters back as explosions sent clouds of smoke and chemicals into the air, and officers fired rubber pellets into packs of retreating protesters.

Members of Congress were told that Park Police had followed protocol in issuing three warnings “utilizing a Long Range Acoustic Device,” although DeMarco’s testimony indicates no such device was in use.

US Park Police did not respond to a request for further comment.

DeMarco first appeared before lawmakers on the House Natural Resources Committee with more specific answers to legislators’ questions about munitions and equipment used by law enforcement. His answers, submitted in written form, were shared with The Post this week by congressional staff of the same Natural Resources Committee.

He told lawmakers he felt compelled to come forward as a witness because he found the events at Lafayette Square “deeply disturbing.” His attorney, David Laufman, said DeMarco hopes lawmakers will continue to investigate the federal response.

“That anyone in the Department of Defense referred to American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights as ‘potential adversaries’ and even contemplated the use of an ADS system on the streets of our nation’s capital is deeply disturbing and calls for further investigation,” Laufman said.

DeMarco also testified that a stash of M4 carbine assault rifles was transferred from Fort Belvoir to the D.C. Armory and that transfers of ammunition from states such as Missouri and Tennessee arrived in subsequent days.

By mid-June, about 7,000 rounds of 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm live ammunition rounds had been transferred to the D.C. Armory, DeMarco said.

He did not specify what the ammunition was for, and the D.C. National Guard did not respond to questions about the weapons transfers.

In late June, Congress opened an investigation into tactics used by federal law enforcement officers to clear protesters near Lafayette Square.

Police Chief Monahan and DeMarco testified on the same day, at which time Monahan said the area around Lafayette Square had been cleared so construction crews could erect a taller fence than the temporary barricades that had closed off the area. I

DeMarco told legislators that, having served in a combat zone where he spent time assessing various threats, he did not feel threatened at any point by protesters near the White House “or assessed them to be violent.”

“From my observation, these demonstrators, our fellow American citizens, were engaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights,” he said. “Yet they were subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force.”

With the current man in the White House, thank God for the nation’s “whistleblowers”.

Copyright G. Ater 2020