From AP
July 23, 2002
WASHINGTON: US homeland security chief Tom Ridge yesterday cautiously backed President George W. Bush's call for the military to be used for domestic law enforcement, saying there was a need for "discussion" on the proposal.
A 90-page strategy document released by Mr Bush last week outlines the creation of a Homeland Security Department and the review of a law which bans the military from arrests, searches, seizing evidence and other police activity on US soil. The Coast Guard and National Guard troops, under the control of state governors, are excluded from the law, known as the "Posse Comitatus Act".
Mr Ridge, speaking ahead of a Bush speech on the strategy planned for last night, Australian time, admitted it went "against our instincts as a country to empower the military with the ability to arrest", and called the prospect "very unlikely", but said it was important the law be examined.
Influential Democratic senators Carl Levin and Joe Bidden told television news programs separately yesterday they supported reviewing the law, but they expressed no interest in granting the military new powers to arrest Americans.
Congress is racing to approve Mr Bush's proposed legislation by the end of its autumn session. In the Senate, a version of the measure by Democrat Joseph Lieberman tracks closely with Mr Bush's plan.
It also would augment the agency's ability to gather intelligence from the FBI, CIA and others. That bill is to be considered by the Governmental Affairs Committee, which Senator Lieberman heads, tomorrow.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey said on NBC's Meet the Press there was a strong possibility Congress would resolve its differences and send Mr Bush a bill enacting the sweeping reorganisation by September 11.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern about rushing decisions on far-reaching changes in the bureaucracy, but Mr Armey said: "It's time to move forward with this. The President's got a good plan."