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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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 Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:35 am Post subject: Terror war may have hurt storm response |
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So much of what has happened with Katrina was and should have been anticipated. But with tax cuts and new priorities, real homeland security was just not a priority:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12549581.htm
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Terror war may have hurt storm response
Emergency officials said the slow response to Katrina was the result of the government's focus on terrorism.
BY ALISON YOUNG AND SETH BORENSTEIN
Knight Ridder News Service
WASHINGTON - The chaotic government response to Hurricane Katrina, which even President Bush said was ''not acceptable,'' was the inevitable result of federal policies emphasizing protection from terrorist attacks at the expense of preparing for far more common natural disasters, state emergency officials and other experts said Friday.
As hurricane survivors died along roadsides and at shelters where they were told to take refuge, or pleaded for food and water or a ride to an overcrowded shelter, members of Congress called for hearings to find out how the response to this disaster could have failed so badly when the nation has spent unprecedented billions of dollars in the name of homeland security.
But the answer may not be much of a mystery.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, once a powerful independent agency focused solely on responding to earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters that occur on average about four times a month, was placed within the huge Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Homeland Security sends $1.1 billion each year to states to combat terrorism, but $180 million to help prepare for such disasters as Katrina. Much of the terrorism grant money is given under conditions that specifically exclude spending it on items or personnel that would be used in responding to hazards other than terrorism.
MAJOR DISASTERS
Since 1995, the federal government has declared 562 major disasters. All were natural disasters except two terrorist attacks: Oklahoma City in 1995 and the 9/11 attacks.
The hearings and investigations will likely show that the disaster response expertise of FEMA was badly eroded once it became part of the terrorism-fighting bureaucracy of Homeland Security, state officials and some former FEMA officials said.
''There are no emergency managers at any level in the Department of Homeland Security. It's all law enforcement,'' said George Haddow, former FEMA deputy chief of staff. ``It doesn't look like anyone's in charge to me because the system has been deconstructed.''
Clark Kent Ervin, the former Bush-appointed Homeland Security inspector general, said FEMA disaster officials frequently expressed concerns that not enough attention was being focused on natural disasters. Apparently, he said, nothing happened.
Ervin said the red flags raised by FEMA employees had the force of logic.
''It does make sense to say that it's more likely, thank God, to have a natural disaster than a terrorist one,'' Ervin said. ''There's a question mark: Is [FEMA] in a primarily terrorism-related department nimble enough'' to handle a natural disaster?
State emergency management directors share this concern.
''We've really seen some degradation of capabilities in this country,'' said Trina Sheets, executive director of the National Emergency Management Association, which represents those state directors.
Homeland Security officials defended their agency's response to Katrina and its ability to combat terrorists and Mother Nature. Spokesman Marc Short said that while more state funding is restricted to fighting terrorism, the equipment and expertise gained by terrorism response exercises are often applicable in natural disasters.
But Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that oversees homeland security, said he would hold hearings into the response to Katrina and expressed concerns about the nation's ability to respond to a terrorist attack.
''I am not at all confident, based on what we've seen, that we'd have the ability to handle that,'' he said.
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee also announced it would investigate the inadequate response to Katrina. In a joint statement, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the committee chairwoman and ranking member, said, ``It is increasingly clear that serious shortcomings in preparedness and response have hampered relief efforts at a critical time.''
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., called on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to conduct oversight hearings once the relief effort is completed. He specifically charged the committee with examining the response of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.
''Every state and community has warehouses of haz-mat [hazardous materials] suits, personal protection equipment, bomb detectors, bomb diffusers, radiological detectors. And some of that really wonderful equipment is needed,'' Sheets said. ``But we've also got local officials where their emergency operations center is an office somewhere with a phone and a fax machine.''
Several members of Congress are questioning the wisdom of rolling FEMA into Homeland Security.
''FEMA should not be hindered by a top-heavy bureaucracy when they are needed to act swiftly to save lives,'' said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. He said he plans to introduce legislation to pull FEMA out of Homeland Security.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he voted to put FEMA under Homeland Security -- and now questions that decision after watching all the chaos.
''What's happening is inexcusable,'' Pascrell said Friday. ``God knows how many people we're going to find who have died because of starvation or died because they have not received proper medical help.''
DEFENDED FEMA
FEMA Director Michael Brown defended his agency's efforts against a barrage of criticisms and video reports showing slow response.
''I understand that there are pockets where people have not gotten the basics, and we're working with the Coast Guard to get those,'' Brown told CBS's The Early Show. ``But I'm telling you, we have those supplies.''
As federal officials tried to get some control over the deteriorating situation in New Orleans, chaos was being replaced with bureaucratic rules that inhibited private relief organizations' efforts.
''We've tried desperately to rescue 250 people trapped in a Salvation Army facility,'' said Maj. George Hood, national communications secretary for the relief organization. ''They've been trapped in there since the flood came in. Many are on dialysis machines.'' With much federal help now beginning to arrive, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called on President Bush to appoint a Cabinet-level official to direct the national response to Katrina.
Knight Ridder correspondent James Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| Old wine in a new bottle. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:20 am Post subject: |
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No. this is coming from government officials charged with disaster management.
Nothing at all about the substance of the report?  |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:22 am Post subject: |
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http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44066
It doesn't matter what your angle is or how many talking points you can accumulate on your scorecard...no matter who the president is or what his decisions are, we are going to take hits from the weather, from terrorism, etc. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:36 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44066
It doesn't matter what your angle is or how many talking points you can accumulate on your scorecard...no matter who the president is or what his decisions are, we are going to take hits from the weather, from terrorism, etc. |
But we shouldn't discuss how we respond when we screw up unbelievably?? Bizarre... |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:08 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44066
It doesn't matter what your angle is or how many talking points you can accumulate on your scorecard...no matter who the president is or what his decisions are, we are going to take hits from the weather, from terrorism, etc. |
Hmmm, so should we just dismantle FEMA and Homeland Defense? Nothing we can do anyway, it's nature, or human nature, right? Or make them work responsibly? Sorry, I see no reasoning at all to your response. If too much money was given to homeland defense in terms of terrorism, and not enough attention to the prospects (given, annual, actually predictable) of natural disasters, then there is a problem. I am really shocked that you are so lock step with the administration that no criticism is possible. My sister wrote to me that even Tucker Carlson was questioning the failure of the Feds. Come on, they dropped the ball, they stayed on vacation, they went shopping and to the theatre in New York City. The f#*ked up royally. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:09 am Post subject: |
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http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi
Daley 'shocked' as feds reject aid
September 3, 2005
BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters
A visibly angry Mayor Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.
That truck, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency requested to support an Illinois-based medical team, was en route Friday.
"We are ready to provide more help than they have requested. We are just waiting for their call," said Daley, adding that he was "shocked" that no one seemed to want the help.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would call for congressional hearings into the federal government's preparations and response.
"The response was achingly slow, and that, I think, is a view shared by Democrats, Republicans, wealthy and poor, black and white," the freshman senator said. "I have not met anybody who has watched this crisis evolve over the last several days who is not just furious at how poorly prepared we appeared to be."
Response 'baffling'
The South Side Democrat called FEMA's slow response "baffling."
"I don't understand how you could have a situation where you've got several days' notice of an enormous hurricane building in the Gulf Coast, you know that New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level. ... The notion that you don't have good plans in place just does not make sense," Obama said.
Obama said he expects his counterparts in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama will call for congressional hearings, but he is ready if they do not. "It's heartbreaking and infuriating and, I think, is embarrassing to the American people.''
Daley said the city offered 36 members of the firefighters' technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies. City personnel are willing to operate self-sufficiently and would not depend on local authorities for food, water, shelter and other supplies, he said.
Flanked at a Friday press conference by a who's who from city government, religious organizations and business, the mayor also announced formation of the Chicago Helps Fund for storm victims.
"I'm calling upon every resident of Chicago to donate what they can afford, whether it's 50 cents or 50 dollars," the mayor said.
People can make tax-deductible cash or check donations at any of Bank One's 330 Chicago area branches or by check at Chicago Helps, c/o Bank One, 38891 Eagle Way, Chicago 60678-1388. A phone line to take credit card donations will be set up.
Churches were urged to take up collections this Sunday, and firefighters are planning to collect at major intersections this weekend.
In addition, donations will be taken at this weekend's Jazz Fest in Grant Park, and $2 of every ticket purchased through Ticketmaster for the Chicago Classic football game at Soldier Field today will go to hurricane relief. The Shedd Aquarium announced it will donate $1 from every ticket sold this holiday weekend to relief efforts and has set up "donation stations" at the aquarium.
Even Newt Gingrich is questioning the slow response to this and some people on this board are still trying the defend "poor little Georgy boy"
from those "evil Liberals".
Last edited by some waygug-in on Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: |
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| I am sorry for America. More-so after some of the things I see on TV or written. May you find safe passage!! |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:37 am Post subject: |
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| some waygug-in wrote: |
Even Newt Gingrich is questioning the slow response to this and some people on this board are still trying the defend "poor little Georgy boy"
from those "evil Liberals". |
That's right! It's just us "opportunists" man!!! None of this ahd nothing to do with nothing but a big bad storm! Preparation is for sissies! Where the heck are your bootstraps?! |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:43 am Post subject: |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-weather-katrina-senate.html?pagewanted=print
September 2, 2005
Senators Call Hurricane Response "Immense Failure"
By REUTERS
Filed at 6:45 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two key U.S. senators said on Friday they will open a bipartisan investigation into what they described as an ``immense failure'' of the government response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who heads the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the panel's top Democrat, said they plan to begin an oversight investigation next week when the full Senate returns from a summer recess.
``We intend to demand answers as to how this immense failure occurred, but our immediate focus must and will be on what Congress can do to help the rescue and emergency operations that are ongoing,'' the senators said in a joint statement.
It's just so very sad that it's taken something like this..........
God help America........'cause Georgy boy sure won't. |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:49 am Post subject: |
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said they plan to begin an oversight investigation next week when the full Senate returns from a summer recess.
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WOW Thats nice of you. What the hell are they still doing on holiday when this is going on. Whay don't they get out there, mobilise support. Do something, you bribe them enough!! |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject: Re: Terror war may have hurt storm response |
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[quote="desultude"]So much of what has happened with Katrina was and should have been anticipated. But with tax cuts and new priorities, real homeland security was just not a priority:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12549581.htm
| Quote: |
| Terror war may have hurt storm response |
could just as easily say , paying to keep US forces in South Korea may have hurt storm response. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:36 pm Post subject: Re: Terror war may have hurt storm response |
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[quote="Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee"]
| desultude wrote: |
So much of what has happened with Katrina was and should have been anticipated. But with tax cuts and new priorities, real homeland security was just not a priority:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12549581.htm
| Quote: |
| Terror war may have hurt storm response |
could just as easily say , paying to keep US forces in South Korea may have hurt storm response. |
B.S. The troop levels are down in South Korea. The budget cuts and reallocation of resources which have affected readiness for natural disasters has been since the Bush regime took (literally, by the way) office. We are talking about changes in priorities. The change in priorities in South Korea is in the direction of spending less, not more. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:41 pm Post subject: Re: Terror war may have hurt storm response |
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B.S. The troop levels are down in South Korea. The budget cuts and reallocation of resources which have affected readiness for natural disasters has been since the Bush regime took (literally, by the way) office. We are talking about changes in priorities. The change in priorities in South Korea is in the direction of spending less, not more. |
The US is still spending a lot to keep land forces in SK. The US only reduced US forces in SK by a few thousand.
The funds for the war on terror could be funded by quiting South Korea. Is that not so?
Or the funds to prepare of national disasters could be obtained by quiting South Korea.
South Korea is a rich nation capable of defending themselves. The US can share intel w/ South Korea and sell them any weapons they want to buy but the US ought not to have to pay for keeping US forces in South Korea. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: Terror war may have hurt storm response |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Quote: |
B.S. The troop levels are down in South Korea. The budget cuts and reallocation of resources which have affected readiness for natural disasters has been since the Bush regime took (literally, by the way) office. We are talking about changes in priorities. The change in priorities in South Korea is in the direction of spending less, not more. |
The US is still spending a lot to keep land forces in SK. The US only reduced US forces in SK by a few thousand.
The funds for the war on terror could be funded by quiting South Korea. Is that not so?
Or the funds to prepare of national disasters could be obtained by quiting South Korea.
South Korea is a rich nation capable of defending themselves. The US can share intel w/ South Korea and sell them any weapons they want to buy but the US ought not to have to pay for keeping US forces in South Korea. |
This still begs the question. It was not an increase in funds to South Korean that caused the change in policy in terms of funds and priorities for natural disasters in the U.S. under this administration.
Please hone your other grievance elsewhere where is may be more appropriate. |
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