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Fighters, not First Responders

Against a larger domestic role for the U.S. military.

Oct 24, 2005, Vol. 11, No. 06 • By MACKUBIN THOMAS OWENS
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THE MAGNITUDE OF THE KATRINA disaster and the subsequent failure of local, state, and federal agencies to react in a timely manner have led some to call for an expansion of the military's role in domestic affairs. "The question raised by the Katrina fiasco," writes Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal, "is whether the threat from madmen and nature is now sufficiently huge in its potential horror and unacceptable loss that we should modify existing jurisdictional authority to give the Pentagon functional first-responder status."

The president has apparently agreed that the issue deserves a look. In a national address last month, President Bush asked Congress to consider a larger role for U.S. armed forces in responding to natural disasters. "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces--the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice."

In a recent press briefing, he returned to the issue: "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? That's going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about."

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