Reading Room Document
Use of Military Personnel to Maintain Order Among Cuban Parolees on Military Bases
The prohibition in the Posse Comitatus Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1385, against using military personnel to execute the law, was not intended to restrict the military's ability to maintain order among civilians on its own reservations. Military personnel may take any steps deemed by the base commander to be reasonably necessary to ensure that Cuban parolees housed on a military base do not breach the peace of the base, and may restrict them to areas of the base specifically designated for their use; however, any claim of a parolee of a legal right to depart the base should be evaluated by non-military law enforcement personnel. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/24491/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit