Us > Federal troops get limited role in Katrina work

"They will not take on a law enforcement role nor have they been directed in any way to do so," said Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, which oversees the military relief effort.

For the first time since Katrina devastated New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday, President George W. Bush on Saturday ordered in a large influx of regular military troops -- 5,200 Army active-duty Army soldiers and 2,000 Marines.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the Pentagon's National Guard Bureau, also announced that an additional 10,000 National Guard troops will stream into the region in the next three to four days, bringing the total of these troops to 40,000.

A total of 54,000 military personnel are now committed to relief efforts.

The military relief effort until now has been primarily handled by part-time National Guard troops under the command of state governors. Under law, they are permitted to perform law enforcement duties at a governor's command.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, enacted during the post-Civil War reconstruction period, prohibits federal military personnel from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States. But the president can waive the law in an emergency.

Asked whether Bush might waive the law, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We continue to consider the full range of options."

Inge said the Marines and Army soldiers will concentrate on providing humanitarian assistance to Katrina victims. But asked whether they could perform tasks like crowd control and site protection, Inge said, "That's correct. Probably not too much crowd control because you run the edge of law enforcement there."

"But I anticipate that their main effort will be providing relief to suffering so that any type of thing that smacks of law enforcement can be done by the National Guard," Inge said.

ACUTE NEEDS

Law enforcement needs are acute, particularly in chaotic New Orleans, where flooding has been accompanied by looting and violent crime, with large crowds of refugees desperate for food, water and transportation to safety.

Blum, just back from New Orleans, said the need was heightened by the fact that two-thirds of the police there have abandoned the force amid horrific conditions.

"They are significantly degraded and they have less than one-third of their original capability," Blum said.

"Many of them lost their homes. Many of them lost ability to get to the precinct. Many of them who did show up found what they were dealing with so overwhelming and dangerous or threatening to them as an individual that they made the personal decision to not risk their life until the situation made more sense to them."

National Guard troops performing law enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi have been given shoot-to-kill rules of engagement, officials said. Inge said the federal troops will have different rules of engagement.

"These soldiers will have what we call the standing rules for use of force, which in very general terms will give them the right of self-protection and will give them the right and authority to act should they witness an event that ... causes loss of human life," Inge said.

Inge also said these federal troops largely will be kept away from areas where looting is a concern.

2005-09-04