It was widely reported June 17, 2009, that The Department of Defense is training all of its personnel in its current Anti-terrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course that political protest is "low-level terrorism."

A test obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on June 10,2009, queried test takers to answer the following question under the heading, "Terrorism Threat Factors, Knowledge Check 1":

Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?

Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.

__Attacking the Pentagon

__IEDs [improvised explosive devices]

__Hate crimes against racial groups

__Protests

The correct answer is "protests."

Referring to the question above, ACLU attorney Ann Brick said, "It’s part of a pattern equating dissent and protest with terrorism."

The DOD explains that, "Anti-terrorism (AT) and Force Protection (FP) are two facets of the Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Assurance Program. It is DoD policy, as found in DoDI 2000.16, that the DoD Components and the DoD elements and personnel shall be protected from terrorist acts through a high priority, comprehensive, AT program. The DoD’s AT program shall be all encompassing using an integrated systems approach."

In the event of an economic collapse, it is expected that a large percentage of Americans will suddenly be jobless, homeless and hungry. If Hurricane Katrina is any indication, the martial response from the feds will be less than compassionate.

The fact that the federal government views the highest form of true patriotism—opposition to unlawful government policies through protest and non-violent civil disobedience—as terrorism, comes as no surprise to many whose righteous dissent has been punished in the past. However, under the ever-deepening and darkening circumstances of life in the land of the free, the an open admission that the military is training its personnel to view protest as terrorism, the potential cost of dissent has now become public knowledge.