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Senator wants to repeal posse comitatus Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-18-katrina-military_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-18-katrina-military_x.htm
Posted 9/18/2005 11:46 PM
Military's role in disasters reconsidered
By Dave Moniz and Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — After the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is questioning whether changes are needed in disaster-response policies, including repealing a law that prohibits the use of federal troops in domestic law enforcement.
The law dates to the 1870s. It was a reaction to the deployment of federal troops to former Confederate states to supervise elections and maintain law and order, known as Posse Comitatus. It was a practice that many in Congress were uncomfortable with because of the potential for abuse.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., head of the Armed Services Committee, wants to review that law to reconsider the role of troops in natural disasters.
In rare cases, Warner wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, only the Pentagon has the resources to respond effectively to a catastrophic event. The senator's interest in active-duty troops is one example of what could be an exhaustive look at overhauling disaster-response models.
Michael O'Hanlon, a national security analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., says the USA is well-equipped to deal with 90% of disasters that could strike, but for the rare event that leaves state and local governments unable to respond, a strategy is required that guarantees federal help comes quickly. "There will be no excuse next time," O'Hanlon says.
The only government agencies equipped to provide assistance on a large scale, O'Hanlon says, are the active-duty military, controlled by the federal government, and the National Guard, controlled by states' governors in peacetime.
Congress may focus on several areas related to the military's role:
•The 1878 Posse Comitatus law could get a fresh look after New Orleans. President Bush said last week that the military should take a larger role in responding to catastrophic events.
•Existing agreements among states to supply Guard troops to one another during disasters will be scrutinized. Because the National Guard and Reserves are major contributors to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Louisiana and several neighbors had lower-than-normal troop and equipment levels.
Guard officials in Washington defend the response to Katrina. Depleted by the deployment of 3,000 Guard troops to Iraq, Louisiana was able to mobilize about 4,000 of its own Guard members when Katrina hit. National Guard commanders in other states were able to send 30,000 troops within four days and eventually sent 50,000.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, released a statement last week saying commitments in Iraq "did not slow the Guard's response to ... Katrina."
•Some policy analysts say the active-duty military or National Guard should create a rapid-response force whose job is to deploy immediately. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says the National Guard is better suited to deal with domestic emergencies than the active-duty military.
James Carafano, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, says it's time to create National Guard units that can be called to an emergency in a matter of hours.
The Guard should at least have easily available stockpiles of items typically needed after a disaster: food, bottled water, plastic sheeting and medical supplies, says William Waugh, a disaster expert at Georgia State University.
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