Hurricane Katrina Task Force Subcommittee Report

February 2006.

Subcommittee Report (PDF) -- see page 23 for "Posse Comitatus and the Military’s Role in Disaster Relief" by John McCarthy, Randall Jackson, and Maeve Dion.

John McCarthy, Director and PI of the CIP Program, was recently asked to take part in a task force sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security. The task force studied the response to Hurricane Katrina to ascertain if the underlying legal structures were equal to the challenge of such a massive disaster.

Randall Jackson, Sr. Legal Research Associate and Maeve Dion, Legal Research Associate, worked with Mr. McCarthy to develop the paper’s section on posse comitatus and the use of the military in disaster relief.

This Subcommittee Report (PDF) is the final report of the task force.

The Hurricane Katrina Subcommittee Task Force Report was cited in CQ HOMELAND SECURITY - COURTS & JUSTICE in the Feb. 21, 2006 issue. The articles was entitled "Analysis Sheds Light On Lines Of Authority During Disasters," by Eileen Sullivan, CQ Staff.