1. President Obama will make good on this 2 July 2008 campaign pledge: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force (CNSF) that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

2. The CNSF will be formed under Homeland Security as part of a comprehensive legislative agenda passed within the first 12 months of Obama’s presidency. The CNSF will be small at first, buried in a Homeland Security reform bill with little fanfare or press coverage. Many Republicans will support it due to promises of strengthened border and immigration security, better terrorist response, and new jobs in their districts. Resistance will be limited to right-wing bloggers. Opponents of CNSF will be marginalized and ridiculed in the main stream media.

3. Overtly, CNSF’s stated purpose will be part of a reform strategy to “undo many of the Bush Administration’s mistakes.” The administration will state its intentions are to “streamline” efforts, “cut redundancy”, “increase efficiency”, etc. Its mandate will be broad and vague.

4. CNSF personnel will not swear an oath to the Constitution, but instead some amorphous oath based on social and economic justice. They will be armed and have federal law enforcement authority. They will be unionized. They will have uniformed and plain-clothes divisions, the best funded being their own intelligence branch. 

5. Its true purpose, however, will be strictly political - to diffuse the powerful military conservative voting bloc, create a new government dependency group in its place, and punish red states by eliminating or replacing military/defense jobs throughout the south and mid-west. This is part of a wider effort to consolidate Democratic Party power in conservative strongholds.

6. Over the next 3 years CNSF will be expanded to consolidate various functions in Homeland Security until it is the largest component of the Homeland Security Department. Border Patrol, ICE, FBI, and other entities will be absorbed or placed in subservient roles to the CNSF. ATF will specifically be absorbed into the CNSF. Homeland Security will become the most powerful cabinet position.

7. The CNSF will be given roles traditionally reserved for State Department Foreign Service officers. CNSF will be sent overseas as part of security details for nation building operations. State will willingly surrender some of these roles as part of a deal to see increased funding in other areas.

8. The defense budget, including supplementals, will drop from about $800 to $400 billion over four years. That money will be used to pay for “New-New Deal” programs and the CNSF.

9. There will be a freeze on big-ticket military acquisition programs across the board, with legislative exceptions for those impacting traditionally strong unions sectors.

10. After the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, another Base Realignment Commission (BRAC) will convene with big hits in the red states in the South and Midwest. Some bases will be converted to CNSF installations while most of the remaining bases will become ‘Joint Bases.’

11. After 2011, the deepest reduction in force (RIF) since post-Vietnam will hit the Navy and Air Force.

12. The CNSF will be manned at the expense of defense and see its largest growth after 2011. The administration will simultaneously placate powerful government unions and show ‘support for the troops’ by offering government employees from BRAC’d installations and RIF’ed veterans new jobs in the Civilian National Defense Force.

13. By 2012 there will be serious calls in congress and the press for consolidation of the services, most notably folding the Air Force and Coast Guard into other components. The Canadian model will be touted as an example.

14. Expect significant expansion of military benefits and entitlements, especially healthcare. These entitlements will be tied into larger civilian programs, making military/veteran care wholly reliant on civilian entitlement programs.  The new CNSF will have benefits equal to or superior to those in the military and make it easy and lucrative for veterans to transfer to the CNSF. Polls will show military and CNSF personnel will become more likely to vote Democratic by 2016.

15. The long-term military presence in Afghanistan will continue for political reasons, though on a smaller scale.

16. By 2014 CNSF personnel will imbed with military forces, including the new 20,000 man domestic response unit.  This will include Reserve and National Guard forces as well. CNSF will stand-up a “Special Response” unit about this time, composed of former military special operations personnel with experience in counter-insurgency operations.

17. CNSF personnel will eventually imbed with state and local law enforcement.

18. By 2012 CNSF will open high school and college recruiting organizations similar to ROTC as part of a wider, mandatory, community service effort stressing social and economic justice, environmentalism, and diversity. These programs will be welcomed on campuses, even in places where ROTC is not. 

19. By 2016, in response to widely reported allegations of voter fraud in key congressional elections, CNSF will be given the mandate to provide security at polling places during any federal election.

20. By 2016, CNSF will be fully entrenched and will have responded to several domestic emergencies. During those operations allegations of incompetence and criminal activity will surface. As a result several organizations, not including the ACLU, will bring constitutional and civil rights lawsuits against CNSF. They will be defeated or dismissed by the federal courts flush with new Obama appointees. 

21. By 2016, other progressive western governments will emulate the CNSF. CNSF will begin liaison and exchange programs with these counterparts under the auspices of the UN.

Okay, now you’re thinking, “Bull, you’re crazy!” Obviously, but these are the President-elect’s words, not mine:

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."