No, a new Defense Department directive does not authorize lethal force against American civilians

Former President Donald Trump this month referenced for Democrats as “enemy from within“and said the National Guard may have to step in if Democrats cause chaos after the presidential election.

But some conservative social media users say the administration of Vice President Kamala Harris plans to use military force against civilians, pointing to a recently reissued directive from the US Defense Department.

“The Department of Defense, with the stroke of a pen, has quietly codified its right to use lethal force against its own citizens,” an Oct. 15 statement said. Posts on Instagram the legend said. “This is not an exercise – the reissue of Directive 5240.01 is a statement of intent.”

The Instagram post included a screenshot of the Department of Defense Directive 5240.01which was reissued on September 27, 2024. That directive outlines policy guidance for the agency’s intelligence-related activities and is titled “DoD Intelligence and Intelligence-Related Activities and Defense Intelligence Component Assistance to Agency for Law and Other Civil Authorities.”

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat fake news and misinformation in its news feed. (Read more about our partnership with Metawhich owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The statements are inaccurate. The updated version of Directive 5240.01 gives no new power to the Department of Defense and does not give the military legal authority to use lethal force on civilians, the department and experts told us. Updates to the guidelines are frequent.

Claims and rumors about the directive and its timing, close to the Nov. 5 presidential election, began to spread rapidly online in mid-October, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. he wrote in an Oct. 18 report.

Many posters based their claims on section 3.3 of the directive, which includes language about lethal force. But the Defense Department and defense experts told PolitiFact that the directive does not create a new policy.

PolitiFact found numerous posts on X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok who falsely claim the updated directive authorized the military to use deadly force against Americans protesting the government. Former US Representative Ron Paul said in a YouTube video that the directive opens the door to the “reckless” and “lawful” use of military force against civilians.

Former presidential candidate and now Trump supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X to counter Harris, who said Trump wants generals like those Adolf Hitler had and would use the army against citizens.

Kennedy repeated the statement on the hour October 23 Trump rally in Georgia. “Under this directive, it will become legal for the US military to shoot and kill Americans who engage in political protests because they disagree with White House policies,” he said.

The directive was also topic of MANY ware on conservative websites.

“The use of the terms ‘lethal force’ in a Department of Defense directive without any other context can raise alarm bells. But the context here is both critical and readily available,” Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice. Freedom and National Security Program, said. “As a full reading of this directive and (another directive) makes clear, the new language merely reiterates the existing policy, established in a more general directive, regarding the level of approval necessary to exercise existing legal authorities.”

What is Directive 5240.01?

The directive is one of hundreds the Defense Department issues that sets policy on a variety of issues, Goitein said.

The directive published on September 27 is not new and updates an earlier directive issue in 2007, Goitein said. Last update to that directive was March 22, 2019, Defense Department spokeswoman Sue Gough said.

The updated directive provides specific policy guidance for situations where Defense intelligence agencies — such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency — assist civilian authorities, including law enforcement agencies, Goitein said.

“Updates to the Department of Defense directives are common to ensure that the directives capture current policy,” Goitein said.

What does the updated directive say about lethal force?

Social media users cite language in a section titled “Levels of Authority” detailing who is authorized to approve Defense intelligence agencies assisting federal, state or local law enforcement agencies when lives are in danger if assistance is requested .

Many of the social media posts highlighted the following paragraph, which falls under articles requiring the approval of the defense secretary:

(c) Assist in responding with lethal-potential goods or any situation where it is reasonably foreseeable that the provision of the requested assistance may involve the use of force that could result in lethal force, including death or serious bodily injury. It also includes all support to civilian law enforcement officials in situations where a confrontation between civilian law enforcement forces and civilian individuals or groups is reasonably anticipated. Such use of force must be in accordance with DoDD 5210.56, possibly further restricted depending on the specifics of the support requested.

Goitein said the paragraph simply means that for situations where existing law allows for military law enforcement assistance and such assistance could involve the use of lethal force, the defense secretary must personally approve the assistance.

Goitein said the approval requirement is a “procedural safeguard, not a grant of power.”

It does not create any new authority and reiterates existing policy, she said.

Defense Department spokesman Gough said the directive’s provisions are not new and “do not authorize the Secretary of Defense to use lethal force against American citizens, contrary to rumors and rhetoric circulating on social media.”

Gough said that while the paragraph cited in the social media posts is newly added, “It does not represent any change in DoD policy regarding the use of lethal force.” She said the use of lethal force is addressed in a separate directive, 5210.56published in November 2016 entitled “Arming and the Use of Force”.

This directive outlines when lethal force may be used, including in self-defense, defense of others, and “protection of assets vital to national security.”

“The revised 5240.01 simply describes how this longstanding policy applies to the DoD intelligence community,” Gough said.

John Pike, director of the nonprofit think tank GlobalSecurity.org, said social media claims of lethal force are not true.

The Defense Department “can’t blow people up if they feel like it,” Pike said. “Participation in domestic enforcement requires prior high-level approval.”

Goitein said this directive specifically targets Defense intelligence agencies, but another directive, 3025.18last updated in 2018, governs all support provided by any component of Defense to civil authorities. That directive includes language similar to language recently added to 5240.01, she said.

The 2018 Directive states:

() Only the Secretary of Defense may approve requests from civilian authorities or entities eligible for Federal military support for … (a) assistance in responding with lethality assets. This support includes arms loans; ships or aircraft; or ammunition. Also includes assistance under section 282 of (Title 10) and section 831 of title 18, USC; all support for counter-terrorism operations; and all support provided to civilian law enforcement authorities in situations where a confrontation between civilian law enforcement forces and civilian individuals or groups is reasonably anticipated.

“The amendment to Directive 5240.01 may well have been intended simply to harmonize these directives,” Goitein said.

Congress is responsible for the laws that dictate the limits of federal troop actions, not the Defense Department, Goitein said.

“The authority to deploy troops domestically and the limits of that authority are set forth in laws passed by Congress,” she said. “As a policy statement, Directive 5240.01 cannot — and is not intended to — alter that authority in any way.”

Can US troops be used as law enforcement?

Federal armed forces are generally prohibited under s Posse Comitatus Act to participate in civil law enforcement, except as authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. National Guard troops, however, are not subject to these restrictions and can be used for law enforcement because they report to state governors. There is one National Guard exception: The District of Columbia National Guard is only under federal control. The The US Coast Guard, too has the legal authority to enforce the law.

A president in some cases it can also be federalized take control of a state’s National Guard, but rarely happens without the governor’s approval. When the National Guard is federalized, its troops will be subject to the same restrictions as federal troops.

An exception to the Posse Comitatus Act is Act of Insurrectionpassed in 1807. A president can use federal troops to restore civil order under the Insurrection Act. It was last used during the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of white police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, The New York Times reported.

The updated defense directive “remains consistent with DoD’s adherence to the Posse Comitatus Act, commitment to civil rights and support of other existing safeguards for the protection of the American people,” Gough said.

Directive 5240.01 states in a section entitled “General Principles” that intelligence components must comply with the Posse Comitatus Act.

Goitein said when there is an exception and troops are deployed domestically for law enforcement, they are subject to the control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Standing rules for the use of force. Those rules allow deadly force as a last resort and in certain circumstances, including self-defense, defense of others or theft or sabotage of “property that is vital to national security,” she said.

What about the timing of the directive?

Gough said the release was “in no way timed around the election or any other event” and was part of the department’s normal procedure to periodically update guidance and policy.

Pike said “the directives that were updated and replaced were a little bit older,” noting that they were from 2007 and 1982.

Our decision

Social media posts allege that Defense Department Directive 5240.01 allowed the military to use lethal force against American civilians.

The directive does not do that. It does not give the department new authority to use lethal force, experts and a department spokesman said. It took a directive that was last updated in 2019 and updated it with a policy that already exists.

Federal troops — with the exception of the National Guard, which reports to state governors — are generally barred from law enforcement activities on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act, though the rarely used Insurrection Act is an exception.

We evaluate false claims.