Beginning with the Whisky Rebellion when President Washington led federalized militia into Western Pennsylvania we have used the military in a wide variety of situations domestically. In 1878, as part of the agreements ending Reconstruction (the occupation of the South) Congress passed the posse comitatus act making it a crime for the Army to serve in a domestic law enforcement role - with very limited exceptions, many honored in the breach over the years. (The act really was enabling legislation for domestic terrorist like the Ku Klux Klan.) Recently, Congress has loosened the strings a bit particulary with regard to CD and CT ops. The Air Force is bound by posse comitatus as it was created from the Army while the Navy and USMC are not - DOD has applied it to them by policy but it is not the law. These are the ground rules under which the discussion needs to take place.

Which brings us to NORTHCOM: 1. NORTHCOM's AOR is North America and adjacent waters - it includes Mexico and Canada. 2. As a unified command, it should have a SOF organization as does any other unified command. 3. JTF 6 has long operated with SOF components. 4. 19th and 20th SFG are National Guard units that can be used in either Title 32 or Title 10 status. (How to tie Title 32 NG units into a NORTHCOM controlled domestic op is an interesting but, I submit, not insoluble question.)