Big Dogs Weblog

Maryland Guard Takes DHS Rightwing Report To Heart

by Big Dog on Apr 17, 2009 at 05:54 Military, Political

On April 9^th the Maryland National Guard put out an FPCON (Force Protection Condition) Advisory regarding the upcoming Tea Party Protests. The Advisory came out just about the same time as the DHS report on rightwing extremism and from the sounds of the Maryland Guard report, the same people wrote them.

HEADQUARTERS, MARYLAND ARMY NATIONAL GUARD
13620 Meuse Argonne Circle
Camp Fretterd Military Reservation
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136

JFHQ-MDARNG-G3 9 April 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION

SUBJECT: Planned TEA Party Protests (FPCON Advisory 09-004)

1. (U) This Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG) Force Protection advisory is in response to a nationwide planned protest activities scheduled for April 15, 2009. Although there is no known direct threat to MDNG facilities and MDNG members, they may become a target of opportunity during plan protest activities throughout Maryland.

2. (U) FORCE PROTECTION CONDITIONS.

a. (U) USNORTHCOM FPCON baseline for the continental United States, Alaska, and Canada remains unchanged at ALPHA.

b. (U) MDARNG is not recommending a FPCON baseline change at this time.

3. (U//FOUO) SITUATION: Numerous entities have formed recently to express displeasure/anger over recent federal/state government actions: more taxes, increased spending, higher deficits, a surge of borrowing to pay for it all, bailout of the financial institutions, and etc. This movement can be identified by different variations of “TEA Party” or “Tea Party.” Past “TEA Party” events have been peaceful. There was a “Tea party” event at Solomons, Maryland, on March 22, 2009. “TEA” stands for “Taxed Enough Already.”

4. (U) KNOWN LOCATIONS AND EVENTS: According various websites and open source information, planned protest locations and time on April 15 in Maryland are:

*Annapolis, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Campbell Park (Dock/Boardwalk), Annapolis Harbor

*Baltimore, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, The Inner Harbor

*Bel Air, 12:00 pm, Bel Air Courthouse Plaza on Main Street

*Cecil County, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Elkton Christian Academy, 144 Appleton Road

*Frederick, 3:00 pm, City Hall then march to Winchester Hall

*Cumberland, 12:00 pm, Baltimore and Mechanic Streets

*Havre de Grace, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Tydings Park Gazebo

*Salisbury, 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Downtown Salisbury

*Westminster, 6:30 pm, Legends Cafe off of Route 140 in Westminster

*Washington DC, 12:00pm-2:00pm, US Treasury Department – National Stage; 11:00am-3:00pm Lafayette Park – Grassroots Stage (not MD)

5. (U) FORCE PROTECTION RECOMMENDATIONS:

a. (U) Full-time personnel (i.e. armories) and recruiters need to be aware their surroundings. Contact local law enforcement when feel threaten by protesters or protesters trespass into MDNG property.

b. (U//FOUO) Commanders at all levels should establish relationship with local police in order to understand the local threats. Keep family members informed. Talk to other service personnel to share information. Practice OPSEC. Don’t provide personal information to anyone you don’t know. Avoid high risk areas.

c. (U//FOUO) Commanders are encouraged to update alert rosters and review emergency evacuation plans/rally points. Ensure all facilities have emergency phone lists posted (i.e. FBI, FIRE, POLICE, HOSPITALS, EMS, ETC…). Be aware of and avoid local protests. Report all potential protest activities to your next higher headquarters.

d. (U//FOUO) Continue implementation of RAM and a review of policies and procedures, especially in regards to cooperation or assistance with local emergency responders.

5. POC is Antiterrorism Program Coordinator, –[redacted- at (410) 702-[redacted] or by e-mail [redacted]@us.army.mil
[Redacted LTC author’s name]

DISTRIBUTION:
ATOs
MSCs CDRs
[Source: Southern Maryland Online]

I spent 24 years in the Army and 14 of those were with the Maryland Guard. In all that time I cannot ever remember seeing this kind of message regarding citizens and protests. The old timers certainly knew about the violence of protests because they served during the Vietnam War when those screaming for peace ran around blowing things up and attacking people.

I certainly understand the need to be prepared but I can’t help feeling that citizens were targeted as terrorists because they wanted to protest. The report talks about military members and armories becoming targets of the crowds. The crowds were mostly right wing people who do not attack armories or military members. Still, I realize the importance of being prepared.

However, hundreds of thousands of people protested peacefully. No reports of violence, no reports of arrests and no reports of vandalism.

But still, the military must be prepared. Unfortunately, these guys were not this prepared during and after 9/11. I never saw these kinds of orders for any other protests like when ILLEGALS all marched around on May 1^st and became violent. Never saw an FPCON Advisory warning about military members and armories being targets from the illegal immigration protest crowd.

But still, they need to be prepared.

For civil disturbance you jackasses. You have decided to treat Americans who are exercising their First Amendment right as terrorists. The Point of Contact for the Advisory is the ANTITERRORISM coordinator. If you did not think of the protesters as terrorists then why would you have the antiterrorism coordinator as the POC?

I served as a First Sergeant in two units in Maryland and I have to give some advice to these folks. You encourage units to update recall rosters and make sure that other contingent items are in place. All well and good but this should be at a high level of readiness at all times. If your recall roster is not up to date you are not doing your job. If any of the other stuff is not up to snuff then you are not doing your job. This stuff should be in a high state of readiness at all times. Armories have full time guard members so there is no reason for it to be out of date. If this stuff is not up to par then the First Sergeant needs to have his rear end kicked.

A piece of advice from an old soldier to the new:

It is easier to stay ready than to get ready.

I don’t know the names that were redacted but I bet I know the people. They should know better. Even if the antiterrorism coordinator handles all of this stuff as part of his duties, it is not smart to use that title when discussing who should handle citizens exercising their rights.

The cited article indicates that Col. Kohler of the MD Guard Public Affairs Office confirmed the memo. Sir, how about you guys get your heads out of the warm smelly place you are storing them (rectal cranial inversion) and realize that we are not the bad guys. We are not terrorists.

You would do well to discard that DHS memo and use some common sense.

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Tags: maryland guard, memo, tea party, terrorists