What Posse Comitatus Act 1878 - 18 USC 1385 Military in Civilian Law Enforcement requires
Section 1385 of title 18 of the United States Code, the Posse Comitatus Act originally enacted in 1878 and amended subsequently to cover all uniformed services, makes it a federal crime for any person to willfully use any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress. Penalties include a fine under title 18 or imprisonment of not more than two years, or both. The express constitutional and statutory exceptions include the Insurrection Act (10 USC 251-255), the use of the National Guard under Title 32 status under state control, Department of Defense support to civilian law enforcement under 10 USC chapter 18 within the limits established by Department of Defense Directive 5525.5 and DoD Instruction 3025.21, the Coast Guard's law-enforcement authority under 14 USC 522, and specific statutory exceptions for counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, immigration enforcement, and major disasters. The Posse Comitatus Act framework governs how AI-supported defense systems may be lent to civilian law enforcement (data-sharing limits, surveillance constraints, force-employment prohibitions) and is centrally relevant to homeland security, border security, and disaster response planning involving Department of Defense assets.
Pillar: Aviation, Defense & Quantum · Authority: United States Congress (Office of the Law Revision Counsel) · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1385
SHA-256 integrity: 051d802be0888a74fa7650b7aa9126fa9affdc2da69b3a0a1b6e5b7c0ab18531
Primary Citations — 8 traced to source
- 18 USC 1385 (Use of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force as posse comitatus) https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1385
- Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, originally enacted 18 June 1878, as part of the Army Appropriations Act
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