Comments on: Should Disaster Relief be Run by Military?

By: The Unalienable Right » DoD is for fighting wars, FEMA is for emergency management…

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 18:04:38 +0000

[...] James Joyner at Outside the Beltway nails it here: …We’d never think of putting amateurs with little substantive expertise in those positions; given the high cost of failure at FEMA, we can’t do it there, either. During natural disasters, FEMA should be the lead agency; it should only be subordinate to Homeland Security during terrorist attacks and the like. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 11:53:27 +0000

I think that some of you are missing the point. I don't care who is in the White House, I don't want them having this kind of authority for military operations within the US. There's no need for it and once you allow it and their role is widened, it is that much easier for it to be widened further. It's not the military's role. They have a purpose and it isn't policing its citizens. There are agencies for that already. They have plenty of room for disaster relief now. Changing the rules would only make things more difficult. Since when does putting someone who doesn't know squat about something in charge of something make sense?

By: Henry Schlatman

Henry Schlatman — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:59:55 +0000

Putting the Military in charge of a natural disaster just because President Bush can't find the remote to the TV, is a bit overkill isn't it?

By: Herb

Herb — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:41:11 +0000

Yeah, Clintons FEMA

"Federal Emergency Monica Alert" Hillarys coming

By: odograph

odograph — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:24:08 +0000

Just a note - in an earlier thread you may remember that I talked about San Francisco's post-quate analysis, and their recommendation that major disaster plans should use volunteers. I was surprised, and encouraged, to see the newcasters of Fox relaying the message that people who had flat-bottom boats should bring them down and use them.

As far as Military or not ... whatever works, but I have a feeling that a genuine disaster agency staffed by disaster specialists is the answer - and ready to coordinate with volunteers.

When you have X thousand people in trouble I think you need a bit of a "swarm" behavior to find and help them.

Did you see that Wal-Mart had a Disaster Recovery specialist with degrees in the field, and that was why they were so fast off the mark?

By: anjin-san

anjin-san — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:13:30 +0000

Why not do what Clinton did? Like, have a FEMA that was competent and not run by political hacks and cronies. Just a thought...

By: Herb

Herb — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:50:38 +0000

Right now, that is a difficult question to answer, We all witnessed how the Governors of Mississippi and Alabama handled the Katrina disaster and we all witnessed how Texas and the Governor of Texas handled the Katrina refuge situation and Rita. We also witnessed how the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans handled Katrina.

I would agree with a Federal takeover if the Feds encountered someone like the Governor and Mayor in Louisiana, but would have difficulty with States like Miss. Alabama, and Texas.

By: cirby

cirby — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:37:55 +0000

Something else that nobody seems to know about: A reshuffling of FEMA's role in disaster relief and planning has been in the works for years, and was officially kicked off back in July. There's a whole new Homeland Security Directorate that's going to be tasked with planning and mitigation. See "The Directorate" at my blog (linked below) for more about this.

By: cirby

cirby — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 17:10:00 +0000

Very little of a modern disaster relief effort is based around policing. The military should be able to contribute a lot to disaster relief without having to get anywhere near the bounds of Posse Comitatus.

Most of our actual military (the one we deploy around the world, not the one in the movies) is oriented towards logistics, and it's a fairly simple shift to have them do the second-tier response in things like road clearance and supply delivery.

Law enforcement? For every National Guard soldier carrying a weapon to enforce order, there's a dozen carrying sandbags or shovels or supplies.

Rescue? That's not really a law enforcemtn duty, either.

The Cato worries about discarding Posse Comitatus shows a severe misunderstanding of what our guys actually do in disaster areas.

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:38:20 +0000

Bush Urges Shift in Relief Responsibilities

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 25 -- On Sunday, President Bush called on Congress to consider a larger role for