Let me get right to the money quote:
The U.S. military "is not a Swiss Army knife," ready to fight the Taliban one week, respond to a hurricane the next and put down a major political protest the third week, Healy said.
Since when is it national policy to "put down" political protests, major or otherwise??
Questions abound. First of all, Healy is "Gene Healy, a vice president of the conservative think-tank Cato Institute." I didn't know this, but on looking it up, the Cato Institute looks to be more Libertarian than conservative -- at least as pertains the issue of "militarization of the home front." So Healy would seem not to favor this, for good reason.
Second, the "put down a protest" wording is not a direct quote, so perhaps the writer, a "CNN Producer," whatever that is, paraphrased lazily.
But most of all, why aren't we getting real, direct, journalistic comment from senior administration officials? The Pentagon does some things on their own, but someone ordered this. This was a plan X sitting on some shelf, and someone said, yes, do this now. Who?
I think the people deserve to know exactly what they're thinking, and exactly the rules of engagement. Combat troops under military command are singularly unsuited for domestic operations of most sorts -- though I suppose I would be grateful for their expertise in the case of a terrorist incident involving bio or nuke.
The trickle-down, press-release tone of the information here is NOT reassuring.