Operation Garden Plot
| Date | - 2001 |
|---|---|
| Perpetrators | US/Army, US/National Guard |
| Interests | 1992 Los Angeles Riots |
| Description | Plan to use US Army as civil disturbance task force, to counter the possibility that local police could be hesitant or sympathize with non-violent protesters. |
Operation Garden Plot was a plan to use US Army as civil disturbance task force, to counter the possibility that local police could be hesitant or sympathize with non-violent protesters. [1] The Garden Plot plan—drafted after the Watts, Newark, and Detroit riots—captures the acrimonious times when the document was drawn up. The "Plot" warns against "racial unrest," as well as "anti-draft" and "anti-Vietnam" elements."[2]
The Pentagon activated Garden Plot to restore order during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.[3]
Overview
Military Intelligence working with the FBI, local County and State Police Forces undertook and directed a massive intelligence gathering operation and training under the newly created Directorate of Civil Disturbance Planing and Operations in response to the riots following the MLK/Assassination in 1968.[4] Astroturf and agent provocateurs were used, too.
“The anti-war and civil right protests picked up momentum in 1968. On 20 May 1972, the 10th Transportation Battalion assumed a secondary mission and provided 650 for a civil disturbance task force. The task force conducted garden Plot exercise on 6 and 7 September 1972 and 1st US Army commended the Soldiers for their professionalism. It conducted another Garden Plot Exercise from 18 to 20 January 1973. In February 1973, the US and North Vietnamese sign the Peace Accords in Paris and the US agreed to withdraw ground units from Vietnam. With troops out of the war, the need for a civil disturbance task force diminished.”
globalsecurity.org [5]
The Pentagon activated Garden Plot to restore order during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. [6] Garden Plot was superseded by USNORTHCOM Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 2502 following the September 11, 2001 attacks. [7] [8]
Exposure
First exposed by The Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights in 1971, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin, under Homeland Security Act restructuring, it has been suggested that similar models be followed:
“Oversight of these homeland security missions should be provided by the National Guard Bureau based on the long-standing Garden Plot model in which National Guard units are trained and equipped to support civil authorities in crowd control and civil disturbance missions.”
Major General Richard C. Alexander, ARNGUS (Ret.), Executive Director, National Guard Association of the United States, Testimony in the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on Homeland Defense (April 11, 2002) [9]
In 1975 subprograms were exposed such as Cable Splicer and other COINTELPRO measures developed in Vietnam.
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Jonestown.pdf | essay | 1985 | John Judge | A seminal work on Jim Jones, leader of The People's Temple and the massacre at Johnstown Guyana. |
References
- ↑ https://unredacted.com/2011/08/12/document-friday-garden-plot-the-armys-emergency-plan-to-restore-law-and-order-to-america/
- ↑ http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/document-friday-garden-plot-the-armys-emergency-plan-to-restore-law-and-order-to-america/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121221113153/http://www.ng.mil/ngbGomo/library/bio/2484.htm
- ↑ Peter Dale Scott, The Road To 9-11, ch. 2
- ↑ https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/garden_plot.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121221113153/http://www.ng.mil/ngbGomo/library/bio/2484.htm
- ↑ https://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/garden-plot.pdf
- ↑ How the Army Runs: A Senior Leader Reference Handbook, 2011-2012. U.S. Army War College. 2011–2012. p. 515. ISBN 9781304052940. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ↑ http://appropriations.senate.gov/releases/record.cfm?id=182288
