Buried in the mammoth National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — which funds military spending, and is considered must-pass legislation — is a provision that allows the president of the United States to capture and detain “enemy combatants,” including Americans, indefinitely, without any charges ever being brought. (This provision was first passed in Fiscal Year 2012 and has been continuously renewed since that time.) The language is written in such a sweeping way that even the United States itself can be considered part of the battlefield in the “war on terror.” Those arrested can be designated enemy combatants by the administration, and then imprisoned indefinitely by the military without habeas corpus or trial or being found guilty. Many Americans — such as former Army Public Affairs Officer Tom McCuin in his article “What’s Really in the National Defense Authorization Act?” — dismiss the threat...