November 28, 2007 (LPAC) - A new book by author Naomi Wolf, entitled "The End of America," while not of great importance in its own right, has raised anew the issue of control of the National Guard, in the context of the Bush-Cheney regime's dismantling of democracy in the United States. - which EIR has subsequently reviewed.

Some will recall that after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush demanded tighter control of the National Guard in the aftermath of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's refusal to relinquish control of the Guard operating in her state in response to the emergency. Just before it adjourned forever, the GOP-controlled 109th Congress acceded to Bush's demand and rewrote the Insurrection Act, the law covering Federal authority over the National Guard and domestic use of the active duty military, in the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill. The old law allowed the President to suppress domestic disorder in any state only if the state authorities were unable to or refused to, or if the state opposed or obstructed the execution of the laws of the United States. Under the new law, the president may now use the National Guard or the regular military to restore public order after any natural disaster, or, if he determines that the state is incapable of doing so.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), co-chairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus, along with Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), warned on the Senate floor on Sept. 29, 2006, that these changes "will allow the President to use the military, including the National Guard, to carry out law enforcement activities without the consent of the governor...," making it easier for the president to declare martial law. Leahy surmised that these changes survived in the defense bill (they had originated in the House, not the Senate) because that was what the Pentagon and the White House wanted. He charged that the reason the Congress went along was because "we are not willing to use our Constitutional powers to overcome leadership that ranges from the poor to the intemperate in the Pentagon and the White House."

Historically, the Insurrection Act was only implemented a few times, most famously, during the civil rights struggles of the late 1950's and early 1960's. President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent Federal troops to Little Rock because the governor of Arkansas refused to enforce Federal court orders racially integrating Little Rock High School. President Kennedy would later do the same in Alabama. Under the new law, President Bush could decide that a tornado in Kansas was sufficient cause to declare martial law and send in the troops.