1/ What is happening Portland should be terrifying everybody. It is what happens (up to now) “in foreign parts” – not here. But let’s get our terminology straight, so we can make the necessary points. The camouflage-wearing masked men are “Paramilitaries.”

2/ The Department of Defense defines paramilitary as “Armed forces or groups distinct from the conventional armed forces
of any country, but resembling them in organization, equipment, training, or mission.”

3/ The “distinct from…” language is important – they are not bound by the Rules of War, the UCMJ, the Posse Comitatus Act, nor is their chain of command structure evident. But they are not “Secret Police”.

4/ Secret Police is an informal term, and is almost always used to denote institutions like the Gestapo, Stasi and KGB. Secret Police generally share attributes of law enforcement (they are armed, have arrest powers, and can use force), as well as intelligence services (they…

5/ …are skilled in clandestine tradecraft, recruit and run sources, and are generally use various methods of compartmenting information.

6/ They are both secret, and largely unconstrained by ordinary legal frameworks, and often report directly, or nearly-directly, to a single leader. The Portland contingents (at least the ones we see) are Paramilitaries, not Secret Police.

7/ “Militia,” like paramilitaries, have some of the equipment and “look” of paramilitaries (and even conventional armed forces), but have even less formal organization and structure.

8/ The original concept dates back to “citizen armies,” but in recent times, militia are in general “private armies,” controlled by private individuals (although sometimes loosely connected with government officials).

9/ They are completely outside formal structure, made up of civilians, have little or no formal training (although can be drawn from former military, police or paramilitaries). Militia are what we saw in the takeover of the Michigan State House, or in the Oregon stand-offs.

10/ We need to worry about all three. Paramilitaries and Secret Police are often (in foreign non-democratic countries) the twin attack dogs of the despot. Militias form when structures break down, and law and order deteriorate.

11/ In Germany, the Gestapo was the Secret Police; Brownshirts the paramilitary; in the Soviet Union, the KGB the Secret Police, while a number of other organizations (e.g., Ministry of Interior “Police”) serve a paramilitary role.

12/ Militias, in contrast, played a significant role in factional fighting in Lebanon in the 1990s.

13/ The key attribute of all is that they by nature and direction tend to act outside of legal constraints, and are loyal to leadership (individuals or small groups), rather than to institutions or concepts (like a Constitution).

14/ They sometimes work together, sharing information and even personnel. But they are the characteristic instrument of the dictator or despot, and the symptom of national collapse.

We should be worried.