- Washington (Bloomberg) -- The government should consider
reversing a more than a century of tradition and law to give the military
authority to make arrests and fire their weapons on U.S. soil in the event
of a terrorist attack, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said.
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- Fears that terrorists might attempt a nuclear, biological
or chemical attack on U.S. territory are prompting some lawmakers to support
revisions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which restricts the use of
the military in civilian law enforcement.
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- ``I think it is time to revisit it,'' Senator Joe Biden,
a Delaware Democrat, said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. That would
``allow for military that has expertise with weapons of mass destruction
to be called in'' if such a plot was discovered.
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- Since terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
organization destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon
on Sept. 11, Congress has given law enforcement agencies more latitude
to conduct wiretapping and other intelligence gathering to uncover terrorist
plotting. President George W. Bush has proposed the biggest government
reorganization in 50 years to put more than 100 offices and agencies into
one department devoted to homeland security.
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- The Bush administration already has taken step to investigate
giving the military a larger domestic security role, the New York Times
reported today. Air Force General Ralph Eberhart, who is in charge of U.S.
defenses against attack, had urged the review, the newspaper said.
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- Legal Review
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- Lawyers in the Departments of Justice and Defense are
looking into the legal questions that might be raised by greater involvement
of military personnel, the Times reported.
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- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in May that the
Pentagon would not seek expanded law enforcement powers and some defense
officials are wary of making any changes, the Times said.
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- Congress revised the Posse Comitatus Act in 1981 to allow
the military to help the Coast Guard in drug interdiction efforts. Another
change would require congressional approval.
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- Ridge said officials haven't yet discussed giving the
military powers to arrest U.S. citizens, though such authority might be
discussed once Bush's homeland security department is created.
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- "Generally that goes against our instincts as a
country to empower the military with the ability to arrest,'' Ridge said
on ``Late Edition'' on the Cable News Network. ``But it may come up as
a part of a discussion. It does not mean that it will ever be used or that
the discussion will conclude that it even should be used.''
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- Unrealistic Limits
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- Biden said he may revive a proposal he sponsored with
former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn to revise the Reconstruction-era limits
the Army, Navy, and later the Air Force's law enforcement authorities.
That plan was prompted by the bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building
by a domestic terrorist.
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- It is "not very realistic'' to deny the military
the ability, for example, to shoot at suspected terrorists trying to deploy
chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on a passenger train, Biden said.
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- "Right now, when you call in the military, the military
would not be allowed to shoot-to-kill, if in fact they were approaching
the weapon,'' Biden said.
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- Still, he said ``we shouldn't go overboard'' by giving
the military too many domestic powers.
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- Ridge said on Fox that the discussion should take place
between the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Bush's proposed Homeland
Security Department, which has not yet been enacted by Congress.
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- "We need to be talking about military assets, in
anticipation of a crisis event,'' Ridge said. "And clearly, if you're
talking about using the military, then you should have a discussion about
Posse Comitatus.''
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- On another security issue, Ridge said the administration
would accept legislation approved by a special congressional committee
last week to extend by one year the Dec. 31, 2002 deadline requiring all
bags to be screened at airports.
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- "There is a question, depending on the particular
airport, as to the ability to install some of these massive machines between
now and the end of the year, and I think this probably gives the new agency
a little more flexibility.'' Ridge said.
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