Altering the Posse Comitatus Act: Letting the Military Address Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil
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Authors
Schmidt, Christopher J.
Klinger, David A.
Issue Date
2006
Volume
39
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
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Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, one of the authors of this Article, David A. Klinger, along with Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, United States Army (Retired), wrote an article describing why Congress should create an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act ("PCA"), a Reconstruction-era law generally forbidding the military from enforcing civil law on American soil. Asserting that America's police agencies lack the capacity to respond effectively to certain types of conventional terrorist activity (e.g., attacks involving military style assaults in public places) that could lead to many deaths, they argued that the PCA should be amended to permit the use of military assets and personnel to deal with terrorism of this sort. Because they focused their attention on why the military should be allowed to take action against terrorists within our borders, Klinger and Grossman offered less detail about two other matters relevant to the issue they broached: when and how the military should be called into service. This follow-up article takes up where Klinger and Grossman left off, putting meat on the bones of their proposal...
Description
Citation
39 Creighton L. Rev. 667 (2005-2006)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law