In what way are new militias responsible to elected civilian authority?
A. They are not. New militias say they are subordinate to civilian authority, but that is not true. Not a single new militia group has its senior officers militarily subordinate to militia officers appointed by the state. None can show that there is a chain of command that starts with the governor or the legislature and can be followed down to one of these groups. This statement, of course, excludes state defense forces organized under s.109 of the National Guard Act. One of the major complaints of the American colonies leadings to the American Revolution was that the colonies could not exercise political control over the British military stationed in the colonies. The new militia, operating outside of political control, seem to want to turn the clock back to those colonial days.
