"HARUMPH, HARUMPH, HARUMPH!!"
"Hey, I didn't get a HARUMPH from that guy!!"
Posted on 09/06/2005 3:27:10 PM PDT by No Longer Free State
Lets stop all the politicians before they ram another failed commission down our throats. We don’t need another stinkin’, failed 9/11 commission on our hands. We need an After Action Review (AAR).
A commission, which is just a fancy Washington DC term for ‘witch hunt’ didn’t solve the problems of 9/11, and won’t solve the disaster preparedness and relief problems we are experiencing over Katrina. All the proposals I’m hearing for commissions and other investigative bodies pay lip service to fixing problems and focus on fixing blame. Everybody wants a “blue ribbon panel of experts”, or some similar nonsense, to come in, give a superficial anal exam (yes, it’s a contradiction in terms, but an intentional one), and then make some heads roll. When they’re done, they quit and go home and we still haven’t fixed anything.
For one thing, there are NO EXPERTS on what happened the past week. We have never faced anything of the magnitude of a major hurricane and major urban flood at the same time before, and we’ve never in modern urban history had to evacuate a major city. Actually, I take that back. There are experts on what happened. They’re the ones who were in the middle of the action – the ones so many people want to establish a blue ribbon panel to lynch.
There’s a reason witch hunts, commissions, lynch mobs, etc, never fix problems: Everybody clams up. Everyone involved goes into CYA mode. The only ‘evidence’ or ‘testimony’ they provide is self-serving claptrap that either hides what happened or, worse, seeks to focus attention and blame on someone else in order to save one’s butt. See the 9/11 commission report and some of the things we’re only finding out now about how far off target they were in many ways. Also, see how well their ‘recommendations’ have paid off in preventing a debacle with Katrina as another example.
OK, so we’ve got a problem, and a commission is not the solution, so what is? How about a professional discussion at every level (each locality, each state-level, and the national level), as well as between each layer of ‘command’ about what the real problems were (root causes, not personalities) and how we prevent them from happening the next time. In the military, we call this an AAR (After Action Review). This is the only way to, as the president put it, “fix what’s wrong, and identify what’s right and duplicate it elsewhere.’
We do this all the time in the military, and the AAR process is most often identified as the ONE MOST IMPORTANT reason we’ve got the best, most professional, and most respected military in the world. We use the AAR process to focus on fixing problems, not fixing blame. AARs don’t result in firings, either, except in one specific instance: If someone goes into an AAR and either doesn’t participate in the spirit of fixing problems in which its intended, or fails to learn from the AAR and apply the fixes afterwards, then they can get fired. We don’t fire those who try and fail, but we fire those who fail to try to make corrections.
Why does the AAR process work? Well, one reason is because everyone in the military understands that we’re there to make the collective organization better, and that you only get fired if you DON’T approach it with a positive attitude. The flip-side of that reason is we can focus on being better prepared to accomplish the mission the next time we have to execute if we know we won’t be fired for telling the truth and recommending solutions. Compare that to what happens in a witch-hunt.
So what does that mean about Katrina? First, we have to ALL stop ALL the damn finger-pointing and name-calling. And that means me, too. When folks started pointing the finger of blame lots of folks started getting defensive and pointing back or pointing at third parties. I know better and I fell into that trap as much as many others as I tried to defend folks I thought weren’t worthy of the fingers pointing at them.
I described in a previous entry what I considered a failure of leadership. Well, I was wrong to do it. I wasn’t there, and I sure as hell don’t know all the facts or factors behind what happened and why. I WILL say, though, that if any of the folks at whom fingers have been pointed don’t drop their shields and their own pointing fingers long enough to professionally discuss and fix the problems, THAT WILL be a failure of leadership.
Another thing this means for Katrina is that the politicians have to back off. No commissions, at least not now, and damn-sure no firings of those who know what happened and can contribute to fixing problems if we give them the chance. We need to let those involved conduct AARs and report their findings and recommendations for fixing things to Congress and the other political bodies involved. Congress can review the AAR findings & recommendations and THEN determine whether or not their concerns have been addressed and whether or not a ‘commission’ is required. After those involved have had a chance to fix themselves, then you can appoint your commissions and conduct your witch hunts, but they can be focused on folks who fail to learn from the ‘lessons learned’ or fail to implement the recommended fixes. Why? Because it’s those who don’t want to learn from this mess that deserve to be fired, not those who did their best in the middle of a completely unique and complex situation, came up short, but are determined to do better next time.
That’s what I think MY lesson-learned is.
Dave
P.S. I’ll continue to defend those that I think deserve defending, but I’ll try to do so without pointing fingers. On the other hand, expect me vilify anyone who is more interested in fixing blame than fixing problems.
Amen. We don't need another commission filled with partisan Dim and chicken republicans.
Won't work. You are assuming " we're all here to make the collective organization better." Nagin and Blanko care only about their votes, their Party. NO and LA HAD A VERY EFFECTIVE PLAN. The didn't use it.
Commissions are crap too. (okay, okay, yeah, I'm depressed and disgusted with this whole thing).
Sorry for being so negative, but why do we need more Analysis? You just read the plan and list what was not done.
End of discussion.
Beloved's [No longer Free State] latest offering on his blog PING ....
My beloved asked that I ping you to his latest blog entry, asking that you let him know what you think via FREEPMAIL or email.
FMC
Oh come on........don't you want a commission, just to see who they appoint?
I bet Jamie Lee Witt will get a nomination from the Dems!
ROFL, great TV I am sure.
"HARUMPH, HARUMPH, HARUMPH!!"
"Hey, I didn't get a HARUMPH from that guy!!"
I tried to post a comment after signing up at his blog, but it kept telling me I was anonymous, so I quit. Will post my comments here.
Well written and in general I agree with the concept of an AAR. I suspect that such a tool would be quite useful, but probably foreign to most civilian agencies. Having said that, I disagree that no commission is necessary. This was the worst tragedy ever to hit our nation other than the Civil War, and it cannot be excluded from the political landscape. In any case I sense the findings of the AAR (which I completely concur in)will likely demonstrate command and control issues that can only be resolved at the political levels, if then.
Well written and well thought out.
Thanks for pinging me, FMC. I like the idea of an After Action Review. My husband and I were discussing the idea of a "commission" and the fact that this would soon become the cure-all for what failed Katrina's victims. Both of us agreed that a commission would become a political football and lessons that need to be learned would become lost in the shuffle.
LOL! Oh yes, it would be quite interesting. And Jamie Lee TWitt? too funny... :)
Yeah, we need the money.
I suppose Gorelick is out of the question?
Is she free? :-)
This is all part of Hillary! for President. This stupid, useless, waste of our money so they can go on CSPAN and bash Bush for free.
I have seen that approach used with safety programs in the oil field (only it is more of an after Accident review), with huge success in preventing future accidents. It is a lot safer out here than it was 20 years ago.
Funny, but so many people are conditioned to the blame game, any 10 people off the street involved in any incident will be playing CYA and blame shifting almost immediately. I have seen this in recent clips from NOLA.
It is tough enough to sit down with even industry professionals at the field level who have been assured that this is not a witch hunt to do a review of events leading to any incident, great or small, in an apolitical setting.
I really have trouble envisioning politicians being capable of doing this. The odd statesman might be capable, but on balance Congress cannot.
Certain members of Congress, however, are highly motivated by partisan political concerns to "do something" to give the appearance of "caring" in a non-election year so they can point back at it next cycle.
I seriously hope they will back off while the people who are handling the problems handle them, rather than disrupting the relief effort with this crap.
Or the other way around, for that matter.
Probably won't work, and for the reasons you say. Only way it will work is to do the work behind closed doors with no damn TV cameras and with a very strong leader in charge of the process to keep people honest with each other.
OK, those necessary conditions pretty much mean it won't work.
Great TV is the first thing that would sabotage this process. The work needs to be done in private with the results being published afterwards.
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