Karl Rove is going to try to lay the blame at Gov. Blanco's doorstep and we have an obligation to seek out the TRUTH.
Background: The response to Hurricane Andrew certainly could have been better, but one aspect that seemed to work well was the ability of the Florida National Guard to perform a law enforcement role. That was not the case when the California National Guard was federalized during the Los Angeles riots. After federalization, the National Guard must adhere to the principle of Posse Comitatus, meaning they must eschew law enforcement activities. In Los Angeles, the National Guard responded to only 20% of requests for assistance, due to their perception of Posse Comitatus. (See below)
Experts believe that a governor should NOT federalize the National Guard during a natural disaster.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/call/call_93-6_chap9.htm
During natural and man-made disasters, it is necessary to increase law enforcement efforts to prevent or stop looting and rioting, to control traffic, and to provide for general public safety. Once federalized, the National Guard, like the Active Army, becomes bound by the Posse Comitatus Act and loses the ability to reinforce local law enforcement agencies. At that time, the governor has lost a valuable resource.
LESSON(S): As disaster assistance doctrine is developed, ensure all language and plans for the National Guard to provide their services are in a SAD status, under the command and control of the governor of that state, with proactive liaison to coordinate efforts to increase effectiveness and eliminate needless redundancies.
Let's see what happened in the Los Angeles riots after the Guard was federalized:
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/USAWC/parameters/97autumn/lujan.htm
Prior to federalization, the National Guard in their Title 32 status responded to every request for assistance. After transformation to Title 10 status, the response rate dropped to approximately 20 percent owing to the perceived effect of Posse Comitatus. As one example, the LAPD asked federalized National Guard troops to transport prisoners arrested during a civil disorder. The military decision matrix made a distinction between "military functions" and "law enforcement functions" and placed this mission in the latter category. These requests in general, and this one in particular, were uniformly denied as violations of Posse Comitatus when in fact no such prohibition was imposed when the National Guard was federalized. This misunderstanding permeated all military activities; it led to underutilization of a potent force and to morale problems within the National Guard.
However, the key point is that, in an emergency, the National Guard needs to be supplemented with active duty troops. These active duty troop are mobilized by FEMA.
The Stafford Act is applicable only within the United States and its territories, and comes into play when a state, usually through its governor, requests a presidential declaration of a state of emergency following a natural disaster. Once a state of emergency is declared, active-duty soldiers can be employed to respond to the crisis under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
For example, after Andrew, FEMA mobilized Joint Task Force Andrew, made up of active duty military. This is what happened:
As federal assistance began to arrive, many relief functions were transferred to the federal military (JTF Andrew), allowing the governor to focus the National Guard efforts toward support of law enforcement.
Questions to ask:
(1) Where was Joint Task Force Katrina?
(2) Why was FEMA afraid to send in relief until the National Guard 'secured' New Orleans? Shouldn't both take place at the same time?
(3) Why do the Bushies think that the National Guard needs to be federalized in order to secure New Orleans? After they are federalized, THEY CAN NO LONGER SUBDUE LOOTERS BECAUSE OF POSSE COMITATUS.
(4) If the LA National Guard were mobilized, who would have secured New Orleans? The police by themselves? Would the National Guard also have been kept out of New Orleans until the police got things under control?
(5) Isn't the problem that active duty troops were not mobilized or not used for delivery of supplies and search & rescue - because FEMA was afraid of some looters?