On July 13, the U.S. Department of Defense released a statement regarding the policy in place which said, “At a time when our troops have learned from experience that the most important qualification for service members should be whether they’re able and willing to do their job, our officers and enlisted personnel are faced with certain rules that tell them the opposite”.
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Carter in a two-page memorandum instructed military leaders to develop plans to increase security within existing Defense Department policy guidelines, which, he noted, included “the option of additional armed personnel”.
Four U.S. Marines and a sailor have been killed two weeks in the past in Chattanooga when a gunman opened hearth on… Military personnel are generally prohibited from carrying firearms at recruitment centers and bases.
Davis said the arming would be allowed for locations including centers “that [exist] outside of actual bases”.
“This incident and the ongoing threat underscore the need for DoD to revise its force protection and security policies, programs, and procedures, particularly for off-installation DoD facilities”, Carter said in the memo, signed Wednesday. He said there are about 7,000 such facilities throughout the United States.
Carter’s memo authorizes commanders and civilian directors to “arm qualified DoD personnel for security, law enforcement and counterintelligence duties”.
“I’m sure that the service chiefs, as they look at this, will be well aware of the constraints that they face in doing this, and that will be part of their plans”, Capt. Davis said.
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In that assault, the shooter, later identified as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, fired shots from his auto at an armed forces recruiting center, and then drove 6 miles with police in pursuit, crashed through the Navy Reserve center’s security gate, left the vehicle and ran through a building, firing as he moved. Abdulazeez, who was killed by police, is now categorized by the Pentagon as a homegrown violent extremist.
