Posted on 09/06/2005 5:35:09 AM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
As one who has received training by FEMA in emergency management and also training by the Department of Defense in consequence management, I believe that the federal response in New Orleans needs clarification.
|
|||
| Craig Martelle, retired as a major in the U.S. Marine Corps, lives in North Huntingdon. He recently launched the Strategic Outlook Institute, a public-policy organization. | |||
|
|||
The key to emergency management starts at the local level and expands to the state level. Emergency planning generally does not include any federal guarantees, as there can only be limited ones from the federal level for any local plan. FEMA provides free training, education, assistance and respond in case of an emergency, but the local and state officials run their own emergency management program.
Prior development of an emergency plan, addressing all foreseeable contingencies, is the absolute requirement of the local government --and then they share that plan with the state emergency managers to ensure that the state authorities can provide necessary assets not available at the local level. Additionally, good planning will include applicable elements of the federal government (those located in the local area). These processes are well established, but are contingent upon the personal drive of both hired and elected officials at the local level.
I've reviewed the New Orleans emergency management plan. Here is an important section in the first paragraph.
"We coordinate all city departments and allied state and federal agencies which respond to citywide disasters and emergencies through the development and constant updating of an integrated multi-hazard plan. All requests for federal disaster assistance and federal funding subsequent to disaster declarations are also made through this office. Our authority is defined by the Louisiana Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act of 1993, Chapter 6 Section 709, Paragraph B, 'Each parish shall maintain a Disaster Agency which, except as otherwise provided under this act, has jurisdiction over and serves the entire parish.' "
 |
 |
|
Phil Coale, Associated Press Flooded school buses in a lot, New Orleans, Sept. 1. Click photo for larger image.
|
Check the plan -- the "we" in this case is the office of the mayor, Ray Nagin who was very quick and vocal about blaming everyone but his own office. A telling picture, at left, taken by The Associated Press on Sept. 1 and widely circulated on the Internet shows a school bus park, apparently filled to capacity with buses, under about four feet of water. If a mandatory evacuation was ordered, why weren't all the taxpayer-purchased buses used in the effort?
Who could have predicted the anarchy resulting as a consequence? The individuals who devolved into lawless animals embarrass the entirety of America. (I worked in a U.S. Embassy overseas for a couple years and I can imagine what foreign diplomats are thinking.) What societal factors would ever lead people to believe that this behavior was even remotely acceptable?
The folks in New Orleans who are perpetrating the violence and lawlessness are not that way because of low income or of race, but because they personally do not have any honor or commitment to higher ideals. The civil-rights leaders should be ashamed at playing the blame game.
The blame is on the individuals. The blame is on the society that allowed these individuals to develop the ideal that the individual is greater than the national pride he is destroying. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very clear in her comments that she was offended at those who suggested the suffering in New Orleans was prolonged because of race.
As a retired Marine, I hang my head in shame to see my fellow Americans degenerate so far. I spent so many years in the Corps helping the citizens of other countries rise to a higher level of personal responsibility to ensure that in case of emergency, anarchy did not necessarily follow. When people are held to a higher standard of personal responsibility and they accept that, then they will do the right thing when the time comes.
It seems that the mayor of New Orleans is leading the effort in not taking responsibility for his actions. The emergency managers for the state of Louisiana do not have much to say either. The failure in the first 48 hours to provide direction for survivors is theirs to live with. When FEMA was able to take over, it started out behind and had to develop its plan on the fly. Now the federal government has established priorities -- rescue the stranded, evacuate the city, flow in resources and fix the levee. It appears that now there is a plan and it is being systematically executed.
Hurricane Katrina was a national tragedy -- not just in the number of lives lost or the amount of physical damage, but also in the failure of people to do what is right when no one is looking.
Welcome to ChronWatch -- Striving for Balance in the News
Was President Bush Forced to Use the Insurrection Act? Written by Barbara J. Stock Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Hurricanes do not sneak up on people. Unlike tornadoes, hurricanes don’t just reach down out of the dark storm clouds to wreak havoc on humanity. Hurricanes are tracked, named, have warning flags dedicated to them, and all coastal cities have long-standing plans for dealing with them. Nearly everyone in the world knew Katrina was going to hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and yet so many have died in New Orleans. Why?
Hurricane Katrina struck the tip of southern Florida as a category 1 hurricane and made a beeline for the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For three days Katrina churned her way across the Gulf, growing in size and strength until it was a monster storm. With sustained winds of over 175 mph, Katrina bore down on the city of New Orleans. Literally, at the last possible moment, Katrina was pushed, ever-so-slightly, by dry air from the Midwest, off to the East and dropped from a category 5 to a high category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph. Katrina was still a killer storm by anyone’s description. For three long days, the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans watched Katrina bear down on their state and city respectively but took very little action to protect their citizens other than to state the obvious: “Leave town.” No assistance was offered to the poor or elderly.
Aerial views of New Orleans have shown pictures of hundreds of buses, left parked and unused. Why didn’t the mayor of New Orleans activate those buses to move the people out of the city those who wanted to leave but had no way out? Why was this golden opportunity to save lives left parked, only to be lost to the floodwaters? This from the Louisiana disaster plan, pg. 13, paragraph 5, dated 01/00: “The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...” Why was the city’s own disaster plan for using those buses to evacuate people not implemented? Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin had three days to evacuate the poor and elderly from New Orleans but they did not. Why?
While the governors of both Mississippi and Alabama put in a formal request for federal assistance before Katrina even made landfall, the governor of Louisiana refused to relinquish any of her power for the good of the people. Now she and her party point the finger of blame at the White House.
Liberal blogs and websites are pointing to the Department of Homeland Security’s website which states that it can take control in any disaster, natural or otherwise, but this is not true. The Department of Homeland Security can only work with the state and local officials in organizing relief efforts such as food, water, and shelter. There is no military arm of the Department of Homeland Security or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the military is what was needed and everyone knew that.
Instead of asking why the Democratic leaders of Louisiana failed the people, these sites post disgusting pictures of floating bodies with the message: “George Bush did nothing.” The truth is, the Democratic governor wouldn’t allow Bush to do anything. That floating body belongs to Governor Blanco. She is the one who “did nothing.”
[snipped, see link below for the rest.] http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=16626&catcode=13&mode=print
Emergency Aid Authorized For Katrina Emergency Response In LA (BUSH ORDERED AID ON 8/27!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476404/posts
Mandatory evacuation ordered for New Orleans (Please keep this post - BUSH ORDERED EVACUATION!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476383/posts
Gov. Kathleen Blanco: No State of Emergency
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477162/posts
Katrina: A timeline -- proof the Federal response was NOT SLOW
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476856/posts
19 posted on 09/04/2005 10:45:55 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK (secus acutulus exspiro ab Acheron bipes actio absol ab Acheron supplico)
Good article.... once again, those so quick to cast blame on the President for the inadequate local response are getting hoisted on their own petard.
No. I am advocating common sense. When American lives are in danger, we should use every effort to save them regardless of which level of government it comes from.
I am sorry. Decisions have consequences. In this instance, the decisions were made by the mayor and governor of NOLA. Don't blame the feds for not doing that which they are not allowed to do.
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in San Antonio and Ft. Worth tonight. My wife is down at Reunion Arena in Dallas as we speak handing out care packages and otherwise ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would be most appreciative if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
Yes, and IMNSHO, a cold hearted murderous decision was made to roll the dice and risk the lives of their constituents in order to prevent the prying eyes of the Feds (if they had taken over) from looking at the goings on in NO. They would find out that the money dedicated to ramping up emergency and disaster preparedness was G-O-N-E without a trace, having never been used for its intended purpose.
Whenever I hear the race card played, I smell a thief.
So too bad for the aged, the infirm, the children, etc.? What kind of attitude is that? This is more than just a bureaucratic turf issue.
hey, great article!!
see 67
You are right. This is not about turf. But it IS about responsiblity. This may have been more of an obvious case, but many are not. How should we have decided, in advance, how to respond? Should we no longer rely upon local officials, and just take over immediately, ignoring the local assessment of the situation? When do the feds make the call? Government cannot operate by the seat of its pants. Perhaps you could help write the procedure for the feds to use in the future.
makes the most sense of all.
The exception does not necessarily make the rule. If history is a guide, Katrina is a once-in-a-lifetime event. That said, there will be a lessons learned review. We need to do a better job of coordinating the various levels of government and there may need to be an acknowledgement that someone has the ultimate authority/responsibility to run things. FEMA may indeed have to be reorganized and taken out of Homeland Security. We need a more streamlined chain of command.
Should we no longer rely upon local officials, and just take over immediately, ignoring the local assessment of the situation?
No, much depends upon the size of the event and local capabilities. We may need an additional assessment outside the local assessment to ensure that it is done professionally, objectively, and on a timely basis.
When do the feds make the call? Government cannot operate by the seat of its pants.
The federal government seldom operates by the seat of its pants. There are rules, procedures, policies, plans, contingency plans, to cover everything it does. Every one is responsible for something, and no one is responsible for anything. I wish the government would operate by the seat of its pants more often and be a little less ossified when it comes to making decisions quickly and adjusting to events. The Feds should be empowered to make the ultimate call and have the authority to carry it out. But those cases should be rare. I am not for taking away local powers, just to neutralize them when you have incompetent clowns like Blanco and Nagin putting millions of lives at risk.
Perhaps you could help write the procedure for the feds to use in the future.
You left the sarcasm tag off. That said, I have no doubt that I could direct such an effort. I headed a successful government-wide interagency effort that won several awards. It was like herding cats, but once everyone felt a sense of shared endeavor and rose above being an agency partisan, we got it done. It took three years from concept to full implementation worldwide.
Turning "don't blame the feds" into "so too bad for the aged, the infirm, the children, etc." seems a disgraceful warping of someones words, IMO.
That is sooo right. Their blame game will become clear as people find out the facts. When that happens, I hope all these incompetent whiners get the treatment they deserve. Responsibility and accountability aren't part of their job, but pointing fingers and blaming others for their pathetic failure.
Your entitled to your opinion, even if it is wrong.
One can hope that those in power learned a lesson. As far as the left is concerned, I don't think they really care about learning any new lessons so long as a Republican administration is occupying the White House. Even if they do "learn a lesson", the left by default never takes responsibility for it's own actions or words, no matter who's in the White House. This is amplified by the fact that you don't see widespread problems in Alabama or Mississippi.
As you so aptly demonstrate, FRiend ;}
Thanks for running the article from the Post Gazette on Free Republic. You were correct in that PG usually does not allow any conservative viewpoints - but they ran the article so they could only run a bunch of vindictive, assaultive attacks on me and the federal government. I did not see any positive support Letters to the Editor. What most folks missed (not the Free Republic), was that my article was not an emotional piece or Karl Rove talking points (as one reviewer thought). It was the facts and the law. It is my perception that Liberals are not swayed by the facts - their minds are made up, don't confuse them with the facts. As time has shown, some mid-level bureaucratic problems held up FEMA relief in certain areas, but overall, FEMA did an average job on response - not poor and not great. The local and state governments were all graded - from the panhandle of Florida to Texas, everyone took care of themselves except for Louisiana. As I wrote in my piece, what societal factors would lead to such a catastrophic breakdown? I offer that maybe it was the welfare state mentality that abounds in Louisiana - the few in charge live lives of luxury and power and are there because of the hundreds of thousands of poor. This reminds me of the system in the Soviet Union where the one percent of the Communist Party lived above the 99% that supported them.
I also must respond to attacks on my character, a favorite liberal approach, perfected by the Clinton presidency. A google search on my name will turn up some unfavorable information. Unfavorable if you believe liberal news organizations. A number of non-credible folks stood before a podium and stated "facts" by strong assertion (they yelled louder than everyone else). If anyone can tell me how to get intransigent government employees who don't want to do what they were hired to do to do it, then please let me know. My efforts were considered to be "intimidation." I was paid at a 75% rate of overtime for 75% of my overtime worked (which is legal under the federal system), so that was fraud. Harassment is the buzzword when morally-bankrupt employees don't want to do something that authority is trying to get them to do. Ensuring that the government gets what it pays for is a challenging task, to say the least. You are right when you comment on the glacier-like movement of government bureaucracy. Read between the lines of the articles - nothing could be proven because there were no transgressions. Maybe some people will grovel and compromise to retain their government job, but I was not one of them. It remains important to me that the government get what it pays for. Creating a huge FEMA bureaucracy in order to take over when a disaster strikes is not the answer. Bush was right in tapping the military - already there, already trained, and already paid for. The liberals who despise federal intervention at the state and local level, demanded it in this case. The MSM became pretty quiet after the President's announcement of his plan to deal with future emergencies. The liberals, as usual, had no plan at all - just vitriolic rhetoric. Unfortunately, their hatred of Bush blinds them to his admirable leadership in times of need. In a couple decades, GW Bush will be looked back upon as a great president. The media also hated President Reagan, until he passed away, then they could not say enough good about him.
My best regards to all and congratulations on such an outstanding web site with insightful commentary. The facts, analysis, and lessons from the past will lead us wisely into the future.
Reviewing your great piece today. Thanks again for writing it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.