Political Quotes

On the recordOctober 9, 2025
back in 2021, in the NDAA, we had a clause that said Federal military police who were responding to a civil disturbance need to wear visible identification, including an individual identifier, which could, in fact, be a number or a name, and the name of the armed services, but there are three points of confusion that exist in this 2021 law. The first is, what is included in civil disturbance? So this amendment clarifies that it includes crowd and riot control and arrests at protests and demonstrations. Second of all, what about security contractors that serve the Federal police or Federal services? It says, yes, those are covered. Third, that when you are going to a civil disturbance in support of the Federal Government, it also includes whether you are going in support of local police, to clarify that distinction. That is all it is--three simple things--and it is so important to engender trust in America that we have this type of basic provision but clarified so we understand exactly when it applies.
Said by
Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon

Editor's note · Context

Discussing clarifications to the 2021 NDAA regarding federal military police and civil disturbances.

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