"Battlespace" was the word U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper used to describe protest sites in the nation. The top U.S. general reinforced that image by appearing in downtown Washington in camouflage during a Monday evening crackdown.
Helicopters that could easily be mistaken for active duty U.S. military ones staged show-of-force maneuvers in Washington above people protesting the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.
As President Donald Trump increasingly turns to militaristic rhetoric at a time of national upheaval, the U.S. military appears to be playing a supporting role — alarming current and former officials who see danger to the U.S. armed forces, one of America's most revered and well funded institutions.