H1N1 Pandemic: Pentagon Planning Deployment of Troops in Support of Nationwide Vaccination

Military Confirms States Deciding Mandatory Vaccination

August 14, 2009

Colorado Change - While asking questions with the CDC Pentagon representative, We Are Change Colorado was able to get a video confirmation that States will be deciding on the issue of mandatory vaccinations, not the Federal government.



We Are Change Colorado attended a CDC meeting held in Denver, Colorado, to advise on a vaccination program. They educated everyone at the event on vaccinations and the reality of what we are faced with right now. The Military representative from the pentagon who was there was so frustrated with our objections and questions that he left before the meeting was even done...

Vaccine Awareness has never been more important. We are also considering starting a Pledge similar to Oathkeepers to have nurses and doctors pledge that in a mass forced vaccination program implemented, if ever, they will not give it if the person refuses.

Feds Plan Nationwide Campaign to Erase Public Fears About Vaccine Dangers

August 26, 2009

San Francisco Chronicle — Federal authorities plan to initiate a nationwide campaign in the coming weeks to persuade Americans to get the swine flu vaccine and to erase any public skepticism about the flu’s danger and the safety of immunizations.

Even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has manufacturers working overtime to produce a vaccine for the swine flu by mid-October, government officials are concerned that demand for immunization will not be high. In particular, parents participating in focus groups this summer expressed concern that ramping up vaccine production would make it less safe than the seasonal flu vaccine.

Only about 1 in 3 Americans gets the seasonal flu shot, but some of the groups with the lowest rates of immunization have the highest risk of becoming infected with the swine flu. Less than 25 percent of children under age 2 get the seasonal flu vaccine, for example, and rates are even lower for school-aged children

“Many parents (in focus groups) expressed a lot of concerns about 2009 H1N1 vaccine. Those concerns were centered around the fact that it was new and it was being developed quickly,” said Kris Sheedy, a communications director with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, during a meeting with reporters Tuesday at the CDC. “There were comments such as ‘this is new and I don’t want my child to be a guinea pig.’”

She added that people in focus groups mostly viewed the swine flu as a “mild disease,” which might make them reluctant to be vaccinated.

Since it first emerged last spring, the swine flu, a form of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1, has been no more dangerous than seasonal influenza. But most people have no natural immunity to the virus, and federal public health officials worry about the consequences if it is allowed to spread unchecked.

On Monday, federal officials estimated that the swine flu could infect 60 million to 120 million people in the United States this fall and winter, and result in up to 1.8 million people being hospitalized and as many as 90,000 dying.

In their campaign to raise awareness, public health officials on the local and national levels will focus on high-risk populations – including children, pregnant women and adults with underlying health problems. Regional health departments will set up clinics at schools and other public places to distribute the vaccine.

The federal government will spend about $16 million on outreach to convince people of the need to get the swine flu vaccine.

CDC officials are expecting about 45 million doses of vaccine to be available by mid-October, with another 20 million doses delivered every week through the rest of the year. That’s not nearly enough to cover the entire U.S. population, but officials said that won’t be necessary; the real battle probably will be convincing people in the high-risk groups to get the vaccine.

The swine flu vaccine should be just as safe as the seasonal flu shot, CDC officials said. The new vaccine is being manufactured using the same process as the seasonal vaccine, but with a different strain of influenza – which is what happens every year when a new vaccine is made in accordance with whatever strain is expected to be circulating in the coming flu season.

So far, clinical trials have shown the swine flu vaccine to be safe, but the CDC will be monitoring immunizations throughout the season. If there are side effects, CDC officials said, they’ll probably be rare and won’t show up until hundreds of thousands of people have been vaccinated. If serious side effects appear during clinical trials, the vaccine program will be halted immediately.

“We certainly feel that, from everything we’ve seen, the risks associated with the illness are much higher than the risk associated with the vaccine,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “If there are rare, severe adverse events, it will only be after wide-scale use that we’ll see them.”

Obama Team Mulls New Quarantine Regulations

August 8, 2009

Politico - The Obama administration is quietly dusting off an effort to impose new federal quarantine regulations, which were vigorously resisted by civil liberties organizations and the airline industry when the rules were first proposed by the Bush administration nearly four years ago.

White House officials aren’t saying what their rules might ultimately require. But the previous administration proposed giving the federal government the authority to order a “provisional quarantine” of three business days — or up to six calendar days — for those suspected of having swine flu or other illnesses listed in a presidential executive order.

The Bush-era proposal would also have required airlines and cruise lines to store more information about domestic and international passengers, such as e-mail addresses, traveling companions and return flight information. The information would be subject to review by federal officials in a health emergency, though it would be voluntary for passengers to provide the data.

Opponents of the Bush administration’s efforts to enforce the new guidelines insist that they still are a mistake.

“It’s not really going to help,” said Wendy Mariner, a professor of law and public health at Boston University. “The proposals to limit liberty represent a dangerous precedent to constitutional theory, particularly when there’s almost no evidence it will matter. ... It wouldn’t surprise me if they try to sneak this past in August, when people are away.”

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has set a September target date to complete the first major overhaul of the quarantine regulations in about three decades. That would have at least some of the rules in place if swine flu returns with a vengeance later this year, though officials are reluctant to make that link publicly.

“It’s important to public health to move forward with the regulations,” said Christine Pearson, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We need to update our quarantine regulations, and this final rule is an important step.”

Pearson said CDC had made “changes where appropriate” to the 2005 proposals, but she did not specify those adjustments. An OMB spokesman, Tom Gavin, confirmed the rules submitted by the CDC in June were in “an interagency review process.”

Civil liberties groups and some public health experts question the value of the effort and not just on privacy grounds — they also contend that mandatory quarantine is unlikely to be an effective tool to contain swine flu or other diseases in the modern era.

“It doesn’t surprise me that when swine flu or any other epidemic is featured prominently in the news, we see a return to quarantine and other public health regulations,” said Christopher Calabrese of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sharply criticized the Bush-era proposal as too heavy-handed. “The enemy here isn’t the American people or sick people. It’s an illness. ... Police officers with guns cannot make people obey a quarantine. In order for this to work, it has to be collaborative. They have to trust the government”...

Maine TV Station Airs Report on National Guard and Flu Pandemic Riots

August 14, 2009

Infowars - WMTW, a television station in Portland, Maine, owned by Hearst, has produced a slick propaganda piece as part of an emerging effort to stampede people into submitting to a toxic and cancer virus flu vaccine this autumn.



On Thursday, Paul Joseph Watson reported on a National Guard “riot scenario” exercise conducted at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, Maine. The school was chosen as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine by state officials.

“The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot,” the Sun Journal reported on August 13.

Sgt. Skip Mowatt of the Paris Police Department told WMTW 8 desperate citizens — arriving without proper ID or living outside the designated area — may overwhelm local police and engage in violence in an effort to get their soft kill vaccination. In such a situation, the television station reports, the police in Paris would team up with the National Guard to baton, pepper spray, and tase rioters.

In late July, the Pentagon said it will establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a pandemic. The plan calls for all branches of the military to team up with FEMA. CNN reported on July 29 that the proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart. The Pentagon, however, often announces plans after it has already moved to implement them. “Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall,” CNN reported.

“Much of the groundwork for the intervention of the military has already been established,” writes Michel Chossudovsky, who notes that “regional teams” have already been established under NORTHCOM, which has been involved in preparedness training and planning in the case of a flu pandemic. “The pandemic is being presented to public opinion as an issue of National Security, with a view to triggering the militarization of civilian institutions in blatant violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” Chossudovsky noted in an earlier article ("Martial Law and the Avian Flu Pandemic").

As Infowars reported on August 6 and investigative journalist Wayne Madsen confirmed on the Alex Jones Show earlier this week, an international conference on the coming flu pandemic will be held in Washington next week. Breakout sessions detailed in a brochure for the conference include discussions on mass fatality planning, business continuity planning, and COOP or Continuity of Operations and Continuity of Government Planning. Additional sessions cover enforced quarantines, mass vaccinations, and how to “control and diffuse social unrest and public disorder.” In short, how best to implement martial law...

National Guard Takes Over Maine High School in Swine Flu 'Vaccine Riot' Drill

August 13, 2009

Infowars.net - A High School in Maine is to be taken over by the National Guard today for the purposes of a drill that will see Guardsmen deal with unruly citizens begging for swine flu vaccines.

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, ME, has been chosen as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine by state officials.

Today’s drill will enact a riot scenario after Gov. John Baldacci and Gen. John Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, agreed that measures should be in place to deal with a possible public rush for inoculations against swine flu.

“On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum.” reports the Maine Sun Journal.

“The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot.” The article continues.

Local police will also liaise with the National Guard on the school grounds. The school itself will remain open, according to the report.

Center for Disease Control figures state that there are 323 confirmed cases of H1N1 in Maine. One man has died from the disease, though he was said to have “underlying health conditions” that were worsened by the flu...

Chief Medical Officer Reveals Swine Flu Vaccination Plans

August 13, 2009

The Guardian (London) - People with health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease will be the first to receive the swine flu vaccine in October, the government said today.

The vaccination programme, which will give priority to those aged between six months and 65 years old whose health problems could be aggravated by the flu, will begin two months later than the government previously stated.

Next in line for the vaccine after at-risk groups will be all pregnant women, subject to licensing arrangements on the most suitable trimester to give the jab, people living in households with patients with suppressed immune systems, such as cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or those with HIV, and people over 65 with health problems aggravated by flu...

Government Prepares for “Unwillingness to Follow Government Orders”

August 11, 2009

LRC Blog - The International Swine Flu Conference is being held in Washington, D.C., next week, just two weeks after the conference on weight control that I wrote about last week. Here’s a summary of it:

Top leaders and key decision-makers of major companies representing a broad range of industries will meet with distinguished scientists, public health officials, law enforcers, first responders, and other experts to discuss pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at the 1st International Swine Flu Summit.

Read the agenda for the breakout sessions, especially the session on “psychological issues” (Session #2) and the topic heading: “Unwillingness to follow government orders.” Also note session #6, which includes “Control and diffuse social unrest & public disorder” and “Isolate prisons and other facilities”...

Swine Flu Scare: It’s All About the Adjuvant!

August 7, 2009

NBC Channel 4, Washington, D.C. - "If the outbreak spreads even before schools open, officials might deliver the vaccine before testing is complete."



August 5, 2009

YourSpine - The U. S. government has paid pharmaceutical companies $7.9 billion* since 2004 to develop the capacity to mass vaccine the entire U.S. population by 2011. Under the perceived threat of H1N1, these plans have been accelerated to include the use of a non FDA approved chemical adjuvant suspected of causing Gulf War Syndrome, circumventing the FDA approval process for this potentially life threatening chemical.

In 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a plan with two specific goals that relate to vaccines. The first goal was to have in place by 2011 domestic production capacity sufficient to supply vaccine to the entire U.S. population within six months of the onset of a pandemic. The second goal was to stockpile enough doses of vaccine to inoculate 20 million people as soon as possible after the onset of a pandemic.

As of September 15, 2008, HHS had yet to determine how best to build and develop the capacity to create the hundreds of millions of doses necessary for such an ambitious undertaking. Three options were identified which could possibly achieve the stated goal by 2011:

Continue to fund and expand funding for the egg-based vaccine antigen production currently utilized in the production of seasonal flu vaccine (viruses are grown in hens’ eggs). Toward this end, HHS has budgeted $600 million to offer capital subsidies to manufacturers to build egg-based production facilities in addition to $176 million already awarded.

Continue to fund and expand funding for cell-based vaccine antigen production (for example, viruses grown in the kidneys of dogs) widely used to manufacture vaccine against polio, chicken pox, measles, mumps, and rubella. To date, HHS has obligated $1.3 billion to promote the development of new cell-based influenza vaccines.

Fund next generation vaccine manufacturing, based on the use of recombinant-DNA technology. Recombinant vaccines are made by splicing antigen producing genes into the DNA of another organism (pigs, monkeys, birds, insects, etc.) The modified organisms then reproduce to provide bulk quantities of antigen. Recombinant techniques are already in use to make vaccines against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus.

All three scenarios had major drawbacks...

So where does the capacity to mass vaccinate the entire population stand after our $7.9 billion investment?

We currently have a stockpile of 22.5 million doses of the H5N1 antigen for the feared Avian flu pandemic that never materialized. The cost to maintain this stockpile for just two circulating strains of H5N1 is about $2.2 billion annually. Influenza vaccine typically expires after two years; 15 million doses have expired or will expire soon.

In addition, we have stockpiled 268 million doses of what appears to be the wildcard in the whole equation. This is what is known as an adjuvant. An adjuvant is a chemical that can be added to vaccines to reduce the amount of active ingredient (antigen) needed per dose of vaccine by “turbo-charging” the immune system response in the recipient. This could potentially stretch the supply, providing six times as many doses from the same quantity of antigen.

This would solve many, if not all of the issues regarding capacity to mass vaccinate the entire population. Instead of investing in building additional plants and hiring workers to produce antigen, the funds could be used to purchase proprietary, patented chemical adjuvants.

The only problem is: these chemicals are not FDA approved. They have not been FDA safety tested. We have no idea if they are safe and in fact have every reason to suspect that they are not.

Despite this fact, the U.S. has already purchased at least 312 million doses of two proprietary, patented adjuvants: MF59 from Novartis and ASO3 from GSK. These purchases took place despite the fact that neither chemical has been FDA approved for use in a vaccine. The manufacturers have not yet even obtained FDA approval for Phase I clinical trials in the U.S., the first step toward approval of any new drug, vaccine or adjuvant.

On average, it takes a little over a decade for a drug to move from preclinical development to the marketplace. Before a vaccine enters human testing, the developer conducts laboratory (in vitro) and laboratory animal (in vivo) testing to determine whether the product will be safe enough for researchers to proceed to clinical trials.

The developer must obtain the FDA’s approval to begin clinical trials through the submission of an investigational new drug, or IND, application. Clinical trials typically have three phases. Phase I focuses on the vaccine’s safety and generally involves fewer than 100 human subjects. The purpose of Phase II, which typically involves several hundred subjects, is to expand Phase I safety data and identify whether and at what dose the vaccine elicits a protective immune response. Phase III typically involves thousands of people and is used to document effectiveness and develop additional safety data (notably concerning the incidence and severity of side effects) required for licensing. Clinical trials generally last five to seven years. If all three phases of the clinical development are successful, the developer may submit a biologics license application, or BLA, to the FDA for review. If the FDA approves the application, the developer launches the new vaccine, a process that includes training its sales force and increasing production capabilities to meet the anticipated demand.



It appears that the U.S. is prepared to skip all of the normally required safety and efficacy procedures and allow for the massive testing of this novel adjuvant on at least 25% of the 12,000 Americans serving as paid clinical trial participants in tests of the new H1N1 vaccine, despite documented U.S. government warnings that adjuvanted vaccines can induce more pronounced side effects than ordinary vaccines, a definite downside because vaccines, unlike most other pharmaceuticals, are given to healthy people.

To date, the Food and Drug Administration has never approved an adjuvanted vaccine for influenza. Other adjuvanted vaccines currently licensed for use in the United States—against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B—are made with aluminum. But aluminum adjuvants do not reduce the amount of antigen needed by enough to substantially increase the amount of vaccine that would be available during a pandemic.

The FDA has not approved a human vaccine containing a new type of adjuvant in many years, as all other types of adjuvants have thus far produced too many side effects to meet the FDA’s standards...

New Wide-Ranging Powers to Quarantine, Force Medical Exams May Be Tested in Flu Outbreak

August 2, 2009

Canadian Press — A resurgence of swine flu anticipated this fall could test new provincial powers that include being able to place sick people under quarantine in their homes and shut down schools.

Many provinces have passed updated public health acts in recent years to give them the right to do whatever a medical health officer feels is necessary to curb the spread of a communicable disease.

None of the powers has been used so far in the new H1N1 outbreak, but that could change if the country is hit with another wave of the flu, says Manitoba’s top health official.

“We haven’t had to quarantine or limit restrictions in the community based on our current situation,” said Dr. Bunmi Fatoye, the province’s acting chief public health officer.

“Would we have to do that in the future? We may. It all depends on how the disease evolves in the fall. That would determine what measures to take, if we think that method of quarantine would limit the spread of the disease.”

Manitoba’s revamped public health act came into effect in April, just as the H1N1 virus was emerging. When the bill to amend the act was first introduced in 2005, the chief public health officer said it was needed to stop disease from spreading “particularly in the early stages of a pandemic.”

One way of curbing the spread of a deadly, uncontrollable disease is to prevent large numbers of people from gathering, Fatoye said. “Schools might be closed down. That’s one way of limiting it,” she said. “If you don’t have to go out, then don’t go out. But those are usually very, very severe measures. I’m not sure if we’re going to get there, but we can’t say until we see how the disease will play out in the fall.”

About five dozen people in Canada have died of swine flu and thousands more have fallen ill. Experts are concerned those numbers will rise when temperatures start to cool and the virus is transmitted more efficiently.

Arlene King, Ontario’s chief medical health officer, said Canada could be grappling with four different types of flu come fall. Up until now, it hasn’t been necessary to rely on the province’s public health legislation which was strengthened in 2007.

But if King believes people’s health is at risk, she has the power to “investigate the situation and take such action as he or she considers appropriate to prevent, eliminate or decrease the risk.” That could include closing schools, isolating the ill, and forcing others to undergo medical exams.
But just because she has new wide-ranging powers, that doesn’t mean she would jump at the chance to use them, she said. “We have to be very cautious in exercising these powers.”

Maureen Baikie, deputy chief medical health officer for Nova Scotia, said the province updated its public health act after SARS hit Canada in 2003. The top health official can now quarantine the ill, interview anyone who has been in contact with a sick person and do anything else that could help prevent the spread of a virus...

Flu Scare Is a Boom to Body-Bag Sales

August 1, 2009

Toronto Star - As concerns grow of a possible flu pandemic onslaught this autumn, alert authorities worldwide have been stockpiling emergency supplies. Masks, gloves and anti-viral medications are on the list. And body bags.

Demand for the latter is prompting a surge of interest in the wares of a small Toronto custom bag manufacturer named Trevor Owen Ltd. Inquiries about its pandemic body bags are pouring in from as far away as the Sultanate of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula.

Trevor Owen recently shipped several thousand of the thick plastic bags – sewn in its Scarborough factory and touted for their ability to "prevent leakage and seepage of bodily fluids" – to Alberta. It is bidding on a contract to supply Ohio with 12,500 of the white woven polyethylene pandemic bags.

"Some seniors' residences are starting to buy five, 10 or 15 at a time," said Trevor Owen president Pierre Barcik. "There are state and provincial governments that are starting to stockpile pandemic body bags ... It's a bad pun, but (the business) is growing."

The general fear is that the traditional fall flu season will this time bring a surge in H1N1 swine flu cases – and deaths. Microbiologist Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control for Mount Sinai Hospital, recently warned there would be more deaths and infections in the city as a result of the labour disruption at Toronto Public Health.

Trevor Owen Ltd. is not the only supplier thriving because of the fears. Richard Miller, owner of the U.S.-based web portal ToDieFor.Biz that sells a line of body bags, said demand has doubled this year.

Although the competition is considerable, Trevor Owen Ltd. appears to have found a niche with its pandemic body bag, which differs from the bag typically used to transport and temporarily store the dead. While morgues and hospitals mostly use bags made of light-duty plastic – glorified garbage bags with a zipper down the middle – the pandemic body bag's material is thicker and stronger, comparable to a light tarp. It is coated on both sides with polyurethane for imperviousness and can be outfitted with six carry handles, an option that allows for the possibility of inexperienced personnel hastily hauling bodies at a time of crisis.

"It basically lets you handle bigger bodies with less care," said Barcik. "I don't suggest we should handle the dead with anything but the utmost care, but if you've got a couple of volunteers moving people around in a pandemic centre, it's a lot different than a morgue situation..."

H1N1 Pandemic: Pentagon Planning Deployment of Troops in Support of Nationwide Vaccination

July 31, 2009

Global Research - According to CNN, the Pentagon is “to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.”

“The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.” The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.

As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called “execution order” that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.” (CNN, Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak, July 2009)

The implications are far-reaching. The decision points towards the establishment of a police State. The Pentagon is already planning on the number of troops to be deployed in the case of a pandemic. A nationwide vaccination program is is already planned for the Fall. The pharmaceutical industry is slated to deliver 160 million vaccine doses by the Fall...

Military to Work with FEMA During Swine Flu Pandemic

July 29, 2009

Prison Planet - According to a CNN report, the military will assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant swine flu outbreak in the U.S. this fall, stoking fears that the pandemic, which has claimed relatively few lives so far, will be used as an excuse to implement martial law and a mandatory vaccination program.

“The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military,” states the report.

The proposal, which was drawn up by U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart, is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The first step would be to sign an “execution order” which would authorize the military to begin detailed planning on how to implement the proposal, before actual orders to deploy military personnel are given. The amount of troops required or whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces has not yet been determined.

NorthCom has been preparing for mass flu pandemics for years and, indeed, Gen. Victor Renuart spoke of the threat of a flu pandemic emerging out of Mexico just weeks before it actually happened.

Testifying back in March, Renuart said NorthCom would provide “assistance in support of civil authorities” during an epidemic, adding “when requested and approved by the Secretary of Defense or directed by the President, federal military forces will contribute to federal support.” However, Renuart then added, “USNorthCom does not wait for that call to action.”

“Because Mexico is our neighbor and disasters do not respect national boundaries, we are focused on developing and improving procedures to respond to potentially catastrophic events such as pandemic influenza outbreak, mass exposure to dangerous chemicals and materials, and natural disasters,” he testified.

NorthCom was only relatively recently assigned its own fighting unit, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which had been fighting in Iraq for five years before that. As we have previously reported, the Armed Forces Press Service has initiated a propaganda campaign designed to convince the American people that deploying the 3rd Infantry Division in the United States in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is a good thing, with images of soldiers from the brigade helping in “humanitarian” rescue missions, such as car wrecks. This is all designed to condition Americans to accept troops on the streets and highways as a part of everyday life.

The assignment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team to NorthCom alarmed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “This is a radical departure from separation of civilian law enforcement and military authority and could, quite possibly, represent a violation of law,” said Mike German, ACLU national security policy counsel.

The news that troops are being prepared to work with FEMA in the event of a swine flu pandemic will increase fears that the government is preparing to enforce a mandatory vaccination program – at gunpoint if necessary.

State health authorities have already confirmed that if the government were to announce a mandatory vaccination program, then there would be no exemptions whatsoever and the program could be carried out with the use of force if necessary.

As reported by CNS News earlier this month, a health-care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee called The Affordable Health Choices Act, will fund the creation of state “intervention” teams that will carry out home visits in order to check that both children and adults have been vaccinated and also provide “provision of immunizations.”

“Home visits? What exactly is the state going to do when it sends people to “implement interventions” in private homes designed “to improve immunization coverage of children”? asks the CNS report.

There can be little doubt that many Americans will call upon their second amendment rights and resort to using force to protect themselves and their children if the government attempts to forcibly impose a mass vaccination program. This is why the assistance of military personnel may be necessary to subdue potential resistors in the event of mandatory quarantines and inoculations.

The last time the the national guard and military worked with FEMA and local law enforcement on a large scale in the United States was during Hurricane Katrina, when they aided in the confiscation of privately owned firearms of citizens, even those who lived in the high and dry areas and were unaffected by the hurricane.