Libertarian Vegan

The Defense Department has officially announced the creation of a “Civilian Expeditionary Workforce,” which will include sending civilians overseas in support of military missions.

The new workforce comes as a result of Defense Department Directive 1404.10, signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon Brown on January 23, 2009.  Per this directive, civilian employees will be asked to volunteer to deploy in support of military missions for up to two years.  They will serve in support of humanitarian, reconstuction, and combat missions.

While it states that volunteers will be initially sought, later on in section 4, subsection (e) paragraph (2) it states:

whenever possible, the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce will be asked to serve expeditionary requirements voluntarily. Management retains the authority to direct and assign civilian employees, either voluntarily, involuntarily, or on an unexpected basis to accomplish the DoD mission.

This appears to say that the Department of Defense reserves the right to force any of their civilian employees to deploy overseas in combat-support missions.

Some critics have wondered if this is the first step in the creation of a civilian national security force.  While this may sound like silly conspiracy talk, Obama had this to say to an audience in Colorado Springs on July 2, 2008:

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

As far as I know he has not elaborated on this proposal. (If you have more information please let me know)  However, Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel did write the following in his 2006 book, “The Plan: Big Ideas for America” -

“It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.”

If these youth were simply “asked” to serve this time, how many really would?  It seems a plan like Mr. Emmanuel’s would ask for volunteers first, but if that did not suffice, then compulsory “volunteering” would carry the day - just like the new Civilian Expeditionary Force.

Sources - Department of Defense Directive 1404.10 January 23, 2009

 Infowars - Defense Department Announces Civilian Expeditionary Force January 30, 2009

World Net Daily - Obama’s ‘civilian national security force July 15, 2008