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Military analyst reacts to Trump's plan to send troops to Portland · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: President Trump is once again using the military, this time
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  Speaker 1: aiming at Portland, Oregon. In a social media post yesterday,
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  Speaker 1: the president authorized what he described as a full force
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  Speaker 1: if necessary. Trump claims the city is war ravaged and
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  Speaker 1: that ice facilities there are under siege by Antifa and
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  Speaker 1: what he calls domestic terrorists. This is video from yesterday
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  Speaker 1: showing federal agents. They're already arriving in Portland Homeland Security.
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  Speaker 1: They're backing Trump, pointing to what it calls weeks of
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  Speaker 1: violent riots. But state and local leaders in Oregon they
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  Speaker 1: tell a very different story. They say Portland is not
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  Speaker 1: under threat, the city is calm, and that sending in
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  Speaker 1: troops will only stir up conflict. CNN military analyst Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Cedric Layton joins me, Now, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining us this morning. Will President Trump be good morning?
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  Speaker 1: And as we just talked about, he's sending troops to Portland.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what do you make of all of this?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it seems very similar to the deployment in Los
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  Speaker 2: Angeles that we had earlier this year, Veronica. And one
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  Speaker 2: of the things that is important to note here it
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  Speaker 2: depends really on how President Trump deploys these troops. And
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  Speaker 2: what kind of troops he is deploying. If it's active
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  Speaker 2: duty military, they're going to be under the Pasicomatatis Act,
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  Speaker 2: which means that they really cannot be used for law
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  Speaker 2: enforcement purposes, so it limits the scope of action that
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  Speaker 2: they would have. The other thing is if he nationalizes
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  Speaker 2: the National Guard, the Oregon National Guard or other national
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  Speaker 2: Guard elements from other states, that falls under a different
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  Speaker 2: set of rules, and those rules could allow them to
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  Speaker 2: be part of the law enforcement effort. It seems as
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  Speaker 2: if the deployment is based on the idea of protecting
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  Speaker 2: ICE facilities and ICE agents as they go about their duties.
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  Speaker 2: But it is definitely a slippery slope because local authorities,
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  Speaker 2: as you pointed out, are not requesting these troops. They
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  Speaker 2: don't see a need for them. And it happens to
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  Speaker 2: be the case that crime rates in Portland are actually
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  Speaker 2: decreasing during this period of last year or so. So
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  Speaker 2: it's questionable as to what the rationale really is for
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  Speaker 2: doing this.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what plays out there.
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  Speaker 1: Let's also talk about this surprise meeting that's coming up
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  Speaker 1: that Pete Hegseth ordered, calling in officers from all over
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  Speaker 1: the world. I'm really struck by what we're hearing from
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  Speaker 1: our sources who are telling CNN that this meeting will
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  Speaker 1: likely resemble like pep rally, and a defensive official even
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  Speaker 1: telling us that it's about getting the horses into the
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  Speaker 1: stable and whipping them into shape. I mean, what do
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  Speaker 1: you make of that? What do you think that the
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  Speaker 1: officers are feeling as they're heading into this meeting?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it can't be good. And this is one of
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  Speaker 2: those things where when they look at language like that,
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  Speaker 2: they have a lot of experience. These officers have served
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  Speaker 2: for twenty five to thirty some plus years, and they
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  Speaker 2: not only know units and they've had long experiences with
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  Speaker 2: war fighting in actual combat situations. In most cases, they
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  Speaker 2: also understand a lot about what is necessary from a
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  Speaker 2: strategic standpoint in terms of what we should be using
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  Speaker 2: the military for. So when it comes to this kind
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  Speaker 2: of this kind of a meeting, which is unprecedented in
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  Speaker 2: its scope and in the nature of this, they're looking
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  Speaker 2: at this and they're saying, Okay, what kind of surprises
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  Speaker 2: are going to be in store for us? How is
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  Speaker 2: the Secretary of Defense going to conduct this possible Pepper rally.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard and frankly for me to imagine a Pepper
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  Speaker 2: rally with a bunch of generals and admirals, but regardless,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be a situation where we have them
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  Speaker 2: listening to the Secretary of Defense, who will probably be
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  Speaker 2: giving a speech, possibly one of three speeches that he
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  Speaker 2: is going to be giving about the military and the
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  Speaker 2: state of affairs, and basically what he wants to do
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  Speaker 2: is apparently inculcate as war warrior ethos into the military,
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  Speaker 2: starting from the generals and admirals at the top. Those people,
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  Speaker 2: many of them have that warrior ethos. Those that do not,
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure determine whether or not he wants to keep them.
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  Speaker 2: But it is one of those areas where I think
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  Speaker 2: he is going to look at a way in which
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  Speaker 2: he can resize the military. And one other quick thing
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  Speaker 2: ronica that I want to mention, the National Defense Strategy
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  Speaker 2: is about to be released, and it's possible that he's
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  Speaker 2: going to try to recalibrate the military according to the
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  Speaker 2: lines of that new National Defense Strategy, which has a
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  Speaker 2: greater emphasis on the domestic side of things. So things
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  Speaker 2: like what we are going to possibly see in Portland,
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  Speaker 2: what we saw in Los Angeles. That kind of stuff
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  Speaker 2: might become much more common under this strategy if it's
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  Speaker 2: actually executed. And the other part of it is that
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  Speaker 2: it'd be more concentrated on the Western Hemisphere as opposed
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  Speaker 2: to say Europe or the Middle East or Asia. So
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  Speaker 2: that's going to be interesting, especially for those combatant commands
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  Speaker 2: that are focused on global missions in those parts of
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  Speaker 2: the world.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I also really wonder about security concerns here because
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  Speaker 1: some of these officers have been called out of conflict zones.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is that safe.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's not for a variety of reasons, not necessarily
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  Speaker 2: just for the personal security of those officers, which is
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  Speaker 2: absolutely a key concern, but it is also an issue
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to the ability of these commanders to
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  Speaker 2: actually control and react to potential threats that are happening
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  Speaker 2: in their theaters. So, for example, if let's say you're
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  Speaker 2: the commander in Europe and you're called back to do
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  Speaker 2: something like this, and the Russians do something provocative, say
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  Speaker 2: in Eastern Europe, you should really be in a position
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  Speaker 2: to respond to that quickly and provide whatever assistance the
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  Speaker 2: United States can at that particular point, and you shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: be often a meeting in Quantico when that's really not
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  Speaker 2: part of your duties as a command of forward doctors
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  Speaker 2: for a theater. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we will certainly be watching to see what comes
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  Speaker 1: out of this meeting next week. Colonel Cedric Layton, thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: You bet