Reading Room Document

Assignment of Marine Personnel to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations

This memo considered (1) whether requesting the assignment of marine personnel to guard a U.S. mission to the United Nations would fall outside the scope of 10 U.S.C. § 5983, which allows the assignment of marines to guard any "embassy, legation, or consulate," and (2), whether the assignment would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the use of the army or air force to participate in civil law enforcement. The memo concluded that such a request was permissible under 10 U.S.C. § 5983 and did not violate the Posse Comitatus Act.

May 10, 1988