"The duty imposed upon [the president] to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people." --Justice Joseph Story
A few months back, the commander in chief of our Armed Forces, that erstwhile community organizer Barack Hussein Obama1, denigrated a large cross section of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement -- those who advocate for Essential Liberty2 and Rule of Law.
Obama identified them as malcontents, "waving their little tea bags."
Since then, the Obama administration and their Leftmedia sycophants3 have endeavored to characterize Tea Party attendees as rude, radical, racist, redneck, enemies of the state. They have attempted to tie high-profile acts of violence against the government to the Tea Party, including the pilot who crashed his plane into a Texas IRS headquarters. (Turns out, he was a Leftwing nut.)
In fact, Americans who attend Tea Party rallies are from all walks of life, as noted in the Patriot Declaration4, Patriots who are peacefully and constitutionally petitioning their government for redress.
As I noted in my tax-day essay5, Tea Parties are "not a call for revolution but for restoration -- a call to undertake whatever measures are dictated by prudence and necessity to restore constitutional Rule of Law."
However, Obama's words do have consequences.
This week, I was contacted by a number of civilian and military personnel (enlisted and officer ranks) who expressed concern about a military exercise proposed for Ft. Knox, the U.S. Bullion Depository. (For the record, I called Ft. Knox security for an official comment and received the standard reply: "We are not authorized to discuss this exercise." The exercise in question may have been one of several proposed security exercise scenarios.)
As with most such exercises, the Ft. Knox scenario outline occurred in stages, as if real time intelligence was being provided at various intervals. The first intel advisory6 was issued on Friday, 23 April 2010, and identifies the terrorist threat adversaries as "Local Militia Groups / Anti-Government Protesters / TEA Party."
You read that right: "TEA Party"!
The alert states that plans for the demonstration may have been interrupted by "Federal and local law enforcement" raids on a "White Supremacists Organization," but "TEA Party organizers have stated that they will protest at the Gold Vault at a future date."
Further, the intel advisory states, "Anti-Government - Health Care Protesters have stated that they would join the TEA Party as a sign of solidarity."
In accordance with the exercise proposal, Ft. Knox post security is placed on high alert because, "these groups are armed, have combative training and some are former Military Snipers. Some may have explosives training / experience," and "a rally at their compound / training area is scheduled."
Another intel update6 was issued on Monday, 26 April 2010, noting that the "rally at the Militia compound occurred," and "Viable threats ... have been made." The intel on the rally notes, "Many members were extremely agitated at what they referred to as Government intervention and over taxation in their lives. Alcohol use 'fanned the flames.' Many military grade firearms were openly carried. An ad hoc 'shoot the government agent' event was held with prizes (alcohol) given for the best shot placement."
The report states further, "Components of bomb making are reported to have been on the site. Some members have criminal records relating to explosive and weapons violations."
In response to the "immediate threat," the exercise stipulates, "local detention centers are being made ready for mass arrests." Both the "QRF I and QRF II" are placed on two hour recall, and the "5-15 CAV" was ordered to "draw weapons from holder and store in most available arms room," and "coordinate with MASA for immediate ammunition draw; have equipment readied for immediate use, i.e. vehicles staged and loaded IAW 5-15 CAV SOP; LMR's charged."
QRF refers to Quick Reaction Force. QRF I is the 16th Cavalry Regiment7. QRF II is the 194th Armored Brigade8.
The 26 April order gives specific instructions for the 5-15 CAV (a 16th Cavalry battalion) to have weapons, ammo, vehicles and communications at ready, and it places the other 2,200 members of the units on two-hour recall. In other words, these orders are to gear up for defending Ft. Knox against Tea Party folks and their co-conspirators who oppose nationalization of our health care sector.
Now, for almost 30 years I have participated in the development and implementation of small and large scale military exercises within the U.S. and around the world.
Such exercises are critical to the readiness of our forces, and the standard for the real time intel reports in these drills requires thinly veiled references to assets of existing or collateral threat vectors such as communist regimes such as China and real terrorist networks such as al-Qa'ida, etc.
Perhaps the writers of such exercises today should focus on response plans for, say, an Islamic terrorist who attacks a post. (See Ft. Hood / Major Nidal Malik Hasan.)
While the Ft. Knox exercise scenario is amateurish in its construct (meaning it was probably composed by a civilian bureaucrat), it still sets an ominous political precedent.
The military officers and enlisted personnel with whom I spoke are all dedicated uniformed Patriots who are loyal, first and foremost, to their oath to "support and defend9" our Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Their concerns about this exercise mirrored my own. As one put it, the exercise "misrepresents freedom loving Americans as drunken, violent racists -- the opponents of Obama's policies have been made the enemy of the U.S. Army."

Originally posted by Ex_MislTech
All they need is another Agent Provocateur to perform an act
of minor violence and that makes it look like self defense at that point.

Agent Provocateur

It has been used for a long time by most governments.

Pretty good odds this rally and many others to come will have
an AP there to cross the line which will allow them to shut it
down and make the protesters look bad at the same time.