New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer threw his support behind a proposal to curtail the president’s recently expanded powers to take charge of the National Guard in domestic crises. “Given the Guard’s growing importance in local emergencies, we are concerned about having the president assume more control over the Guard,” said the governor’s spokeswoman, Christine Anderson. Spitzer was reacting to a change in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 that expanded the president’s ability to “federalize” the Guard during terrorist attacks, natural disasters, pandemics and other emergencies, without consulting the governors. (Newsday, May 15)
See our last post on the domestic police state.
See our special report on the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act.
