In Sitka at the local US Forest Service office, the US flag was flown in the upside-down “distress” position on Monday, in violation of the US Flag Code.
The building, on Halibut Point Road, houses administrative offices of the Tongass National Forest and the Sitka Ranger District.
That Forest Service office isn’t the first federal office to do so. In February, upside-down flags were posted all over Sitka at federal sites, and at City Hall and the airpot.
That month, an upside-down flag was flown outside the State Department for a brief period, before it was reported and authorities corrected it.
Also in February, an upside-down flag was displayed at Yosemite National Park on El Capital, protesting the Trump budget cuts that impacted some Park Service workers. The National Park Service acknowledged that it was unauthorized and the flag was removed, but that flag was not being flown next to the government offices, as it was in Sitka. The sudden appearance of these flags on federal buildings are likely an act of protest, but may also be the result of tampering, rather than a federal worker going rogue.
The US Flag Code says the flag should only be flown upside down as a signal of “dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
They know exactly who put the flag up like that; federal office buildings have cameras everywhere. For every camera you can see, there are at least two others you cannot.