Free Republic

(snip) Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, the Guard's adjutant general, ordered the naval militia to stand down in 2002 while state officials, concerned about training, liability and funding issues, reviewed its status. Jordan and fellow militia members John Jedrejczyk and Mark Tegeder, along with former member Louis Ianniello, counterattacked this month. They fired a legal salvo at state officials, accusing them in a civil rights complaint of military branch discrimination. "We're doing this for the other members," said Jordan, 47, of Jackson, a certified firearms instructor. "We hope to get this moving again in the right direction. We've been totally...

But we are a federal republic, so the President and national agencies work to support state and local officials—not to usurp them or "take over." We expect our local and state governments to govern and manage their polities, their policies and programs; to plan and prepare for crises and to continue governing... Consequently Presidential declarations of emergency provide legal authority for the national government to spend money and release national resources, such as the armed forces, and provide “all necessary support” to support, rather than to supplant, state and local civil authorities. It’s the state and local government that bear...

One lesson I thought we had learned from Hurricane Andrew is that after a major disaster, the local and even state governmental system can become rapidly overwhelmed and paralyzed. It is a near certainty that local government and police will be in a “not mission capable” status. Therefore the early entry of military forces with other state and local police forces marshaled into the destroyed zones is imperative...We fell short of this standard in New Orleans...Emergency management plans that work and have been tested [not just paper-drilled] must be in place...New Orleans is not the only city that is sited...