San Antonio – President Bush called Sunday for Congress to consider a larger role for the armed forces in responding to natural disasters. He completed what aides called a weekend fact-finding mission to determine whether the Pentagon needs more control.
“Clearly, in the case of a terrorist attack, that would be the case, but is there a natural disaster – of a certain size – that would then enable the Defense Department to become the lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort?” Bush said after a briefing from military leaders at Randolph Air Force Base. “That’s going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.”
Bush has told aides that one of the major breakdowns in the Hurricane Katrina response was the federal government’s inability to seize control of rescue and relief efforts. Under existing law and procedure, a state governor is in charge when natural disasters strike and is responsible for deploying the National Guard, though in certain cases the president can order troops to support local law enforcement.
Bush is asking Congress to consider a major change, potentially shifting federal responsibility for major natural disasters from the Department of Homeland Security to the nation’s top military generals.
The Defense Department has been hesitant to take such a role because of sensitivity to the idea of adopting a police presence on U.S. soil and because of strains on the armed forces from the war in Iraq.
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said a number of ideas are circulating.
He cited three possible jobs for the military – maintenance of civil order, urban search-and- rescue support, and damage assessment – when state, local or other federal agencies are incapacitated or overwhelmed.
