Summary

More than $1.7 billion worth of military equipment has been transferred through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, the primary means by which police acquire combat gear. President Biden could force law enforcement agencies to return this hardware and halt future transfers but has not, choosing instead to side with powerful police unions. Congress should pressure Biden to recall this equipment immediately through executive order.

Armed to the teeth

The flow of military equipment to police does not enhance public safety. In fact, the relationship is precisely the other way around. There is a direct correlation between 1033 program transfers and the number of people shot and killed by police. Not surprisingly, having and using military equipment makes police more violent.

At least 336,863 military-grade items have been transferred to American police agencies through the 1033 program since it began in fiscal year 1997. This includes a range of weapons and equipment and spare parts and accessories for each. The most visible armaments used by police—firearms, vehicles, and aircraft—are itemized below. President Biden could order the Department of Defense to recall this matériel by executive order at any time, but has so far elected not to.

Recommendation

It is incumbent on Congress to abolish the 1033 program entirely (by striking 10 U.S. Code § 2576a), but President Biden can make an immediate difference by adopting the language from Rep. Hank Johnson’s Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2021 into an executive order to prevent additional transfers of armored vehicles, explosives, assault rifles, and other armaments to police.

This prohibition could work retroactively, too. Police receive military equipment through the 1033 program as a conditional loan. The Executive branch can force police to return this equipment to the Pentagon by adding conditions prohibiting law enforcement from having this combat gear.

Biden was Vice President the last time an executive order was issued to a similar, albeit much more limited, effect. Former President Obama’s Executive Order 13688 prohibited only a few items, but those restrictions forced police to start returning them to the Department of Defense. For the short time it was in effect, about $30 million in military equipment—including 126 tracked armored vehicles and 138 grenade launchers—were recalled under the executive order.

The President was expected to bring back Obama-era restrictions governing the transfer of military equipment to police on January 26—“Equity” day, according to the White House calendar—but never did, after a successful last-minute lobbying effort by the National Association of Police Officers (NAPO) that reportedly has direct lines of communication with the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Justice leadership.

The cost of waiting

Congress may not be able to terminate or meaningfully reform the 1033 program until December of this year. By that time, an additional $180 million in military equipment will have been sent to police should the rate of 1033 transfers hold.