PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The Joint Operations Center at U.S. Northern Command is an electronic window into America. And as Hurricane Katrina churned its way across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, gathering energy and pushing a storm surge before it, the view from that window darkened ominously.
Most of the eight large video screens that make up the operation center's "wall of knowledge" were tracking the approaching storm and the U.S. government's preparation for what would become one of the worst natural disasters to strike America in modern times.
Northern Command, the Pentagon's designated force for protecting the homeland and responding to "incidents of national consequence," began deploying forces well before Katrina made landfall. It dispatched military liaison and medical planning teams to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, where they were to coordinate with Federal Emergency Management Agency field offices. As part of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA is responsible for coordinating the federal response to hurricanes.
Given acute sensitivities about military operations on U.S. soil, and given the provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the U.S. military (although not the National Guard) from engaging in law enforcement activities, Keating's comments caused a stir. Almost immediately following their publication, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff reminded the Pentagon that under presidential directive, he had federal responsibility to "prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies."
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32146&sid=28Looks less than 24 hrs. young.
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