Thanks to Lynne for noting the release of the (nonpartisan) Congressional Research Service’s report which concludes that, in fact, Louisiana Governor Blanco did what was required of her to invoke federal disaster assistance. >From the report’s conclusion (p. 11):
it would appear that the Governor did take the steps necessary to request emergency and major disaster declarations for the State of Louisiana in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina.
The report further concludes that, in response to the Governor’s actions, President Bush "did take the steps necessary" to trigger federal disaster assistance. So the problem, as we have known all along, is that the federal agencies charged with delivering that assistance were run by hacks who had no idea what they were doing, and therefore, predictably, bungled the job.
Take that Mitt, you turd impersonator.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (9/15): Thanks to Editor & Publisher for pointing out an excellent article by some intrepid reporters from Knight-Ridder. The reporters have shown that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not pathetic ex-FEMA director Michael "heckuva job, Brownie" Brown, was most likely the one responsible for the federal government’s inexcusably slow and bumbling response to Katrina. Apparently, Chertoff "may have been confused about" his role as head of disaster response. Furthermore, Chertoff seems to have had the power to mobilize a federal response even without action by state officials, contrary to what Karl Rove would have us all believe. Brownie, in contrast, actually couldn’t do much until Chertoff told him to. Here is the memo by which Chertoff belatedly gave Brown the authority he needed to do anything. That memo was not circulated until roughly a day and a half after Katrina made landfall. So Brownie, it is now clear, was a scapegoat for failings at a much higher level.
As has been said many times before, Katrina was the Department of Homeland Security’s first big test. It failed.
Wouldn’t it be great if, when everything comes out, “Brownie” was the one trying to get things done but he was being stopped by superiors. I just root for underdogs and Regardless of his competence, the people who put him there (white house) were the ones to make sure the system worked.
The question I have is why was the response of the USCG so effective while the response of FEMA was so pathetic? Both are departments under the umbrella of DHS. USCG had helicopters from as far away as Cape Cod on scene on Tuesday while FEMA didn’t get on scene to any effect until Saturday.As far as I can tell, the mission of the USCG has remained S&R while FEMA has been transformed from a disaster relief agency to a terrorist attack relief agency (not that I think their response to a terrorist attack would be any more effective than their response to Katrina).
I know a guy who joined the Coast Guard to avoid Vietnam. He ended up on one of those swift boats – as a coast guardsman..Not really relevant but, just thought thought I’d tell that.Coast Guard was so effective because it is a military operation with resources and one military guy, who wasn’t afraid of making wrong decision, ordering everyone around. That’s how it works. And all the soldier ants doing some job knowing it is important in the whole wheel of rescue and recovery. Therefore having confidence in their superior officers who are getting orders from general crew cut with a cigar in his mouth.Yeah baby!Police and firefighters are suppose to be like this, para military, but they failed in New Orleans which exasperated the problem.
I am thrilled to read the commentary on this site. I Greatly appreciate Erik’ question about the the Coast Guard v FEMA response. And I honor the commentary noting that all the participants said “mobilize help” up to the point that someone actually had to make decisions to deliver….