The Use of Emergency Powers
No, there should not be stricter guidelines on the events that the president of the US can declare to be disasters. The current guidelines are enough to ensure that the president does overstep his or her mandate. For example, there is the Stafford Act, which has well laid out guidelines on the manner that the federal government will offer support to the state and local government. The act goes further and defines what constitutes a disaster and what is not. So, while it gives the president a significant amount of power, such authority will be restricted to the response of disaster-related activities (Goitein, 2020). Thus, the potential for abuse of power by the president is very low. As for the National Emergency Act (NEA), some people assert that it should have stricter guidelines given it does not provide a clear definition of what constitutes a disaster. Even so, the involvement of many agencies and the existence of barriers will make the process of responding to emergencies less effective. Notably, it is vital to give the president the power to make prompt decisions since timeliness is critical in disaster response.
An official disaster declaration by the president or governor is vital for a number of reasons. To start with, it will free an array of federal and state programs that will be aimed at assisting in the process of responding and recovery from disaster. Also, the declaration grants public officials the emergency powers to take all actions that are necessary to save lives. Such measures may include restricting access to a particular area, suspension of specific regulations, and temporarily disarming civilians. In addition to the above, declaration of emergency at the state level, will allow the governor to formally ask for assistance from the federal government. That will provide relief to the state’s personnel and facilities which might be overwhelmed. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The National Guard.
In the state of Florida, the last time that the National Guard has been deployed in the year 2019 in response to hurricane Dorian. The hurricane was rated as a category five and had already destroyed some parts of the Bahamas. Given that it was heading towards Florida at very high speed, it implied there was likely to be the destruction of properties and loss of life. With that in mind, the National Guard was deployed in the state of Florida and played a considerable role in the process of supporting the readiness of the state agencies in terms of logistics. As well, the National Guard was pivotal in the process of rescuing those who were trapped because of the hurricane. In addition to the above, the National Guard was crucial in the delivery of supplies to the areas that were struck by the hurricane. In assessing the response that was issued by the National Guard, it was very effective in mitigating the crisis and also saving lives.
One concern that is associated with the use of the military in domestic operations is that they could end up taking up the responsibilities and mandates that are given to the local law enforcement. That will happen in the case the domestic administrative institutions are not able to function. In such a case, it means that all the functions of government from legislative, judicial, and executive will be taken over by the military. There is a huge possibility that the military might not execute such functions in a manner that is consistent with the law. As well, they might not respect the authority of the existing structures of administration (Ward, 2020). In that way, there is a huge possibility of the violation of humans rights, and that might lead to more chaos and hence the worsening of a disaster.
References
Goitein, E. (2020, March 16). Trump’s reasonable—And yet still worrisome—Emergency declaration. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/trumps-emergency-declaration-coronavirus/608083/
Ward, A. (2020, March 24). National Guard troops are deploying to help with coronavirus. Here’s what they’re doing. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2020/3/24/21188088/coronavirus-national-guard-testing-food-cleaning-martial