Senators may review military's domestic role
By Megan Scully, CongressDaily
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., will decide later this fall how to proceed with a congressional review of a post-Reconstruction-era law that bars the military from participating in domestic law enforcement activities, a spokesman said last week.
Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in late August, Warner has pushed the Pentagon and Congress to investigate whether the government should amend the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 to give the military police powers during extraordinary U.S. disasters.
Several lawmakers back a review, but most hesitate to endorse immediately any effort to overturn or amend the law.
Airland Subcommittee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said he is not convinced the active-duty military should be involved in law enforcement. For his part, Warner repeatedly has said the review should be conducted carefully.
While President Bush has advocated a "broader" domestic role for the military, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has long opposed creating a domestic law enforcement military mission.
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