Here's our bad idea of the week.

Military May Play Bigger Role in Future Disaster Response

In his post-Hurricane Katrina speech last Thursday (September 15th), President Bush spoke about the unmatched logistical ability of the military and how it would be a good idea to have them play a role in responding to future major disasters. Pentagon officials are reviewing that possibility, and some in Congress are saying it should be considered.

Under the Posse Comitatus Act enacted after the Civil War, the military may not engage in actions that can be defined as law enforcement on American soil. Consequently, the active duty forces that did go to the Gulf area in Katrina's wake only engaged in search-and-rescue mission and evacuations. But in addition to the legal restrictions, presidents have been leery of the image of federal troops patrolling in their own country or of embarrassing state and local officials.

Allowing military response domestically in the future raises many questions, key among them whether Congress should define when to trigger the president's authority to send federal troops in an emergency, whether or not a governor agreed.

What do you think of the idea of changing -- eliminating -- Posse Comitatus to allow the military to respond domestically to disasters?

Terrible idea!