While the Art of Deception is played out on the boob tube, Don the Con signed Presidential Executive Order Amending Executive Order 13223 late Friday with no fanfare. That should send a chill down the spine of every service member. Not just active duty, but also ready reserve and retired military.
EXECUTIVE ORDER
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AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 13223
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and in furtherance of the objectives of Proclamation 7463 of September 14, 2001 (Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks), which declared a national emergency by reason of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York and Pennsylvania and against the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States, and in order to provide the Secretary of Defense additional authority to manage personnel requirements in a manner consistent with the authorization provided in Executive Order 13223 of September 14, 2001 (Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Amendment to Executive Order 13223. Section 1 of Executive Order 13223 is amended by adding at the end: "The authorities available for use during a national emergency under sections 688 and 690 of title 10, United States Code, are also invoked and made available, according to their terms, to the Secretary concerned, subject in the case of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to the direction of the Secretary of Defense."
What this means is simple:
Section 1 of EO 13223 allows the president to order any ready reserve into active duty for up to 24 months.
Sections 3 and 5 of EO 13223 provides a mechanism to, among other things, “recall any regular officer or enlisted member on the retired list to active duty and to detain any enlisted member beyond the term of his or her enlistment.”
That EO, signed by Bush while the World Trade Center was still smoking, has never been rescinded. The Authorization to Use Military Force, which Obama repeatedly asked Congress to review, revise or rescind, continues to remain in force.
The consequence of this is the ammendment to 13223 signed into law by Trump, extends the state of national emergency and allows the federal government to recall into service any “retired member of the Regular Army, Regular Navy, Regular Air Force, or Regular Marine Corps.”
Section 690, US Code 10 (which is now being overridden) limits the number of retired officers who can be pressed in to service. This EO amendment does away with that. The law states explicitly the enumerated limitations do not apply in time of war or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President.
Section 688, US Code 10 (which is now being overridden) stipulates the authority to order retired service members to active duty. This removes the limits on time people can be pressed in to service. The law states explicitly the enumerated limitations do not apply in time of war or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President.
Unlike Bush, whose executive order forced service extensions on soldiers already serving when 9/11 happened, Trump is giving himself expanded power to recall people who have served in the military in the past, provided they are younger than 60 years old. For these reasons, some people (myself included) are interpreting the text of this EO as evidence Trump wants to go to war and wants to make sure no military personnel who has retired, or who intend on soon leaving can leave.
The man is preparing for a war with massive casualties.
Saturday, Oct 21, 2017 · 2:19:49 PM +00:00 · Victor Klemperer Respawned
The amended EO is, in part, designed to press into service 1,000 retired pilots. Gee, what could you possibly do with 1,000 additional pilots?
"We anticipate that the Secretary of Defense will delegate the authority to the Secretary of the Air Force to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for up to three years," Navy Cdr. Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.
This is clearly beyond the 24 months stipulated in the law. But that limitation is waived in times of national emergency. This is not the end of it. The article notes,
the executive order itself is not specific to the Air Force, and could conceivably be used in the future to call up more officers and in other branches.
If this was just a nothing burger about getting more pilots, or retaining more pilots, why extend the authority to every branch of the service? That is ominous. The guy has demonstrated — repeatedly and consistently — that he will always exceed our expectation for insane behavior. Downplaying the significance of this latest action requires one to ignore the history of behavior we have all witnessed. Pretending this is “business as usual” is foolish.