ABSTRACT
Beginning with Definitions There is nothing intuitive about the application of the U .S . military within the United States . Most of our history, especially in the last century, led us to thinking of defense as being something that takes place well beyond our nation’s borders . The employment of the military in civil functions, especially anything having to do with law enforcement, is frequently viewed as somewhere between inadvisable to antithetical in the American ethos . This is not meant to imply that utilizing the tremendous capabilities and capacities of the military should be entirely restricted to the business of fighting and winning our nation’s wars . But it does point to a tradition that has carefully prescribed a role to the military that safely secures its status as a servant
to our society, never its overseer . Realizing the balance that this implies (and which the authors of this text will insist must always be maintained), we may be well served in beginning our studies of homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities by examining the definitions that will serve as the foundation of the military’s domestic employment .
