{"id":74664,"date":"2023-07-03T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/07\/03\/spot-troops-on-your-street-its-likely-a-parade-not-martial-law\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:41:20","slug":"spot-troops-on-your-street-its-likely-a-parade-not-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/07\/03\/spot-troops-on-your-street-its-likely-a-parade-not-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Spot troops on your street? It\u2019s likely a parade, not martial law."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Videos of troops and military equipment moving through downtown Philadelphia spread online last month<\/a>, sparking false claims on social media platforms that the U.S. government was preparing to invoke martial law<\/a>. The posts spread quickly, garnering millions of views and thousands of shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was really happening? Parade preparations for Flag Day and the U.S. Army\u2019s birthday in historic Philadelphia. The military vehicles were on the move as part of the city\u2019s annual Stars and Stripes Festival, held this year on June 14<\/a>, when members of the Pennsylvania National Guard showed off military equipment to the public, according to Maj. Travis Mueller, a Pennsylvania National Guard public affairs officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heading into the July Fourth holiday Tuesday, more troops and military equipment will be present in urban areas as part of citywide celebrations, including the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular<\/a>, the National Independence Day Parade<\/a> in Washington, D.C., and the Armed Forces River Parade<\/a> in San Antonio. Military flyovers are being planned for events across Oregon, Colorado and Vermont, among other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These celebrations offer more opportunity for the spread of rumors like those that took hold in Philadelphia. One way to stand down the panic? If you see military troops in your city or town, check out local law enforcement<\/a> and local military bases<\/a>\u2019 social media accounts, or states\u2019 National Guard pages on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>, where public affairs officers often post about service members and equipment appearing in public before planned activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unsubstantiated rumors of martial law sparked by troops spotted on Philly streets is just one of many incidents of such images spawning disinformation online. Such conspiracies go back to the 1970s, when so-called \u201cblack helicopters\u201d became a symbol of a military takeover of the U.S. But they\u2019ve grown in frequency since 2020, when myths about voter fraud eroded the public\u2019s confidence in U.S. democracy<\/a>, experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole idea is quite preposterous. We\u2019re so far from any situation in which martial law would be declared that it\u2019s laughable,\u201d said William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor who wrote a book about the domestic role of the U.S. military. \u201cThe fact that it\u2019s become a part of disinformation campaigns is concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to parades and other public events sparking concerns, the arrival of summer \u2013 annual training season for the National Guard and Reserve \u2013 means more troops on the move and more conjecture about a military takeover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat people are seeing now is what people have seen every summer for as long as I\u2019ve been alive,\u201d Banks said. \u201cFolks are taking their summer National Guard duty right now and riding convoys to wherever they\u2019re going to be. For many of us, it\u2019s a regular scene in the summer on the highways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumors spread online this month when a military convoy was spotted on state roads near Idaho Falls. The Idaho National Guard had posted the planned movement on its Facebook page on June 13<\/a>, alerting the public that its 148th Field Artillery Regiment would be moving tracked vehicles the next day from its training area back to its armory. \u201cDon\u2019t be alarmed!\u201d the post warned. Still, a video of the convoy was posted by a worried onlooker and went viral on social media. One post that received more than one million views warned, \u201cBREAKING NEWS! Tank group on the highway in Idaho falls today!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Idaho Army National Guard’s 148th Field Artillery Regiment conducted direct-fire training at the Orchard Combat Training Center in Boise, Idaho, on June 8. Videos of the unit’s equipment being moved from the training area back to the armory on June 13 was one of several recent military movements that sparked false claims online of the looming invocation of martial law. (Crystal Farris via DVIDS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, some social media accounts shared videos of low-flying helicopters in the Bay Area<\/a>, describing their presence as an \u201cundeclared military drill.\u201d The MV-22 Ospreys and Sikorsky White Hawks seen over Marin County, California, on June 16, were security for President Joe Biden\u2019s planned fundraising visit<\/a>, the San Francisco Gate reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, false reports spread that combat had come to San Diego\u2019s shores, when the U.S. Army Special Operations Command conducted training around the city<\/a>. This despite the city\u2019s high concentration of military bases and routine exercises, and an advisory issued in advance by Naval Base Coronado<\/a>. Residents told local television stations they were caught off guard by low-flying helicopters and explosions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the confusion? Several social media accounts \u2013 some of them verified on Twitter and boasting tens of thousands of followers \u2013 have falsely claimed that all of these movements are signs the military is preparing for an impending violent event and the invocation of martial law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInconceivable\u201d and \u201cutterly absurd\u201d is how legal expert and retired Army officer Geoffrey Corn describes the various martial law conspiracies. If ever anyone tried to illegally invoke martial law, it would be stopped by military leaders, Congress and the courts, said Corn, director of the Center for Military Law and Policy at Texas Tech University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe leaders of the DOD would look at this and say, \u2018We don\u2019t have legal authority to do what you\u2019re asking,\u2019\u201d Corn said, adding that \u201cAs soon as Congress got wind of it, it would create a political crisis,\u201d and the federal courts would shut it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rise in martial law conspiracies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The presence of military equipment has been a long-standing trigger for conspiracies. Stories of black helicopters and their role in covert operations started in the \u201870s but gained more attention in 1995, when former Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, held congressional hearings about black helicopters<\/a> allegedly targeting ranches in the rural West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

False claims about alleged government preparations to declare martial law are becoming an uncomfortable American tradition. In 2015, U.S. Army Special Operations was preparing to hold what it called a routine multi-state training exercise called Operation Jade Helm, spurring rumors of a covert effort to impose martial law. <\/a>Such was the widespread panic that the Texas governor deployed the Texas state guard to monitor special operations troops<\/a>. In 2018, former CIA director Michael Hayden attributed the Jade Helm panic to Russian disinformation targeting Texas<\/a>, according to the Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these types of conspiracies date back decades, rumors of the government invoking martial law have been on the rise since former national security adviser Michael Flynn publicly called for former President Donald Trump to impose martial law<\/a> to force a new election after his 2020 loss, said Syracuse University law professor Banks. Flynn\u2019s status in the conservative movement and experience as an Army lieutenant general lent weight to his espoused theories that ballot tampering had lost Trump the election \u2013 theories proven false by multiple state and federal investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Flynn retweeted an ad from a conservative political organization that called on Trump to suspend the Constitution, declare martial law and order the military to oversee a new election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlynn called over and over and over again in 2020 for the invocation of martial law,\u201d Banks said. \u201cHe\u2019s a widely followed guy in certain circles and by virtue of his rank, he had a lot of credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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#WeThePeople<\/a> @SidneyPowell1<\/a> @LLinWood<\/a> @DanScavino<\/a> @LouDobbs<\/a> @MariaBartiromo<\/a> @marklevinshow<\/a> @lofly727<\/a>

Freedom never kneels except for God \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8https:\/\/t.co\/Vrn3UeyDoF<\/a><\/p>— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) December 1, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>