Where does your allegiance lie? This question is answered by federal, state, and local government officials — including law-enforcement officers — when they take their oaths of office. Although the specific wording varies by jurisdiction, they all vow to “support the Constitution of the United States,” as well as their state constitution. Some jurisdictions’ oaths of office include a vow to defend these documents “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Law-enforcement officers’ allegiance is first and foremost to the U.S. Constitution.
Who are the foreign and domestic “enemies” referenced in these oaths? Answering this question accurately is essential to defending the Constitution. In The Art of War, ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu noted the importance of knowing both our enemies and ourselves: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Accordingly, this Intelligence Brief provides answers.
Law-enforcement officers face a surprising, and growing, number of foreign threats. For example, they are increasingly likely to encounter criminal illegal aliens — individuals who shouldn’t be in the United States to begin with — in their line of work. Additionally, some foreign nations, including the People’s Republic of China, are expanding their subversive operations within our borders, which local law enforcement must counter. This Intelligence Brief includes articles exposing these threats.
Law-enforcement officers also face a wide range of domestic threats. Most apparent are the criminals they bring to justice. However, deeper threats also exist — including a federal government that blatantly ignores and violates the U.S. Constitution, and Marxist agents working to undermine local law enforcement as part of their efforts to tear apart our nation’s fabric. Articles in this Intelligence Brief address these little-discussed — but immensely important — threats.
Sun Tzu recognized that knowing our enemies is only half of the equation for victory — we must also know ourselves. So, who are we as a nation, and what are our founding values? For more than 65 years, The John Birch Society, the sister organization of the Law Enforcement Charitable Foundation, has been informing Americans about U.S. founding principles. The JBS documentary Overview of America gives a concise explanation of these principles. You can watch it at https://jbs.org/video/featured/overview-of-america/.
Furthermore, the JBS is leading the charge to defend our Republic from the forces seeking to destroy it. It does so by activating and organizing citizens to take effective action in their communities — and the JBS’s “Support Your Local Police” action project, one of its top campaigns, seeks to preserve the independence of local law enforcement from federal intrusion. We encourage you to join this epic undertaking to defend the founding document that law-enforcement officers swear to defend. Get started at JBS.org/SYLP.
— Peter Rykowski