Bigger Military Role In Disasters?
Lawmakers Must Decide Pentagon's Role While Respecting States
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Play CBS Video Video Bush Hears Katrina Analysis The president listened to some sharp criticism on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. As Mark Knoller reports, he vowed to take it all under advisement.
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Video Defense Dept. And Disasters CBS News RAW: During a briefing with military officials in Texas, Pres. Bush says he has been interested in whether the Defense Department should take the lead in disasters of a certain size.
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Theresa Perrin is lifted off of a military truck by Terrytown firefighters and National Guardsmen after fleeing rising floodwaters Saturday in Jean Lafitte, La. (AP)
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President Bush participates in a briefing on Hurricane Rita at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Sunday (AP)
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Photo Essay Meet Rita Yet another monster storm invaded U.S. shores, this time with its sights set on Texas and Louisiana.
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Interactive Hurricane Rita Here's where to find photos, satellite images, and an animated path of the season's latest big storm.
But members of Congress are already weighing how far they should go without treading too heavily on states rights.
"I'd say that we have a general agreement that the military has a very strong role to play, but so do our governors and our local elected officials," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in a CNN interview. "We do have a democracy and a citizenship that has elected mayors, county commissioners and governors, particularly. I'm not sure the governors association or all the mayors in America would be willing to sort of step aside."
Other lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va. , have suggested Congress may review the Civil War-era Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from performing law enforcement duties such as stopping traffic, searching people, making arrests.
"We need the military, because of its extraordinary capabilities, to be ready to play a much more active role," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. on Sunday. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has already begun investigating the military response to Katrina, and how it could have been done better, he said.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is considering a wide range of possible changes in the way the military could be used in domestic emergencies, including possible changes in the relationship between federal and state military authorities.
In the days after Katrina, there was some discussion about whether Lt. Gen. Russel Honore — head of the military task force for the hurricane response — should play a dual role and also command the National Guard troops.
The active duty troops in the field Sunday said their rescue operations were running smoothly, in cooperation with Guard and Reserve units and local emergency responders.
Air Force Col. Mark Noyes, who is directing the Air Force rescue mission flying out of Randolph Air Force Base, said his Pave Hawk helicopter teams rescued 12 patients — including three critically injured people — from a convalescent home in Fred, Texas, and transported them to a Houston hospital.
He and Hall said it appears more people fled the area, than did before Katrina. But Navy teams were still searching more than 4,000 nautical miles along the Texas and Louisiana coastline for survivors.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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