This is the letter I wrote to my Senators and Congressperson earlier this week. Feel free to copy pertinent parts and send to YOUR senators and congresscritter if you are so moved:
I am writing to express my belief that the US Armed Forces should NOT be given additional authority to act in times of disaster. They especially should not be given command of relief operations.
I just spent three weeks in Louisiana as part of the North Carolina Army National Guard 113th Quick Reaction Force when we were deployed for Hurricane Katrina Relief.
As a staff officer, I spent most of my time in the Tactical Operations Center, assigning the missions to the companies under us. As such, I was 110% aware of the fact that the National Guard was under the command of the civilian authorities in the area. We had people call in to the TOC asking for security at their site, and I had to say that they had to call the Parish President and Parish Council to request that the mission be carried out. And when a mission ended, we could not just pull out--we had to wait for word from the Parish authorities that *they* no longer thought the mission necessary.
This civilian control of military activity is enshrined in our constitution, as is the fact that domestic military response is the province of the National Guard, NOT the regular armed forces.
While FEMA and other civilian agencies definitely need to clean up their acts to be able to respond to disasters more efficiently, the answer is decidedly NOT to give more authority to the regular Armed Forces, or even to the National Guard.
America was founded on the ideals that civilian authorities controlled the military in order to protect our civil liberties. This is as it should be and should not be subverted by giving military authorities more power in domestic affairs.
In my Officer Basic Course, I trained with two Pakistani officers. Seeing them there reminded me that their Commander-in-Chief was in power because of a military coup. They had no civilian authority over them. And this chilled me. Let's not see America edge any closer to this threat to our freedom.
Please vote against ANY increase in military authority in domestic affairs.
Not that I've heard anything back, but, hey, I did my part, right?
-Sarah F.