Posted on 09/06/2005 5:56:44 PM PDT by bobsunshine
WASHINGTON - The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region - and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.
Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.
Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged. Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."
The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina. "Governments at all levels failed," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Brown's memo on Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the rescues, establish communications and coordinate with victims and community groups, Knocke said.
Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said.
'Time for Blame'
"There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work," Knocke said. "Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts."
Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."
"FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days.
Knocke said the 48-hour period suggested for the Homeland employees was to ensure they had adequate training. "They were training to help the life-savers," Knocke said.
Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. "You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote.
The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should step down.
After a senators-only briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other Cabinet members, Sen. Charles E. Schumer said lawmakers weren't getting their questions answered.
"What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is what is the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wrong in the past," said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said the administration is "getting a bad rap" for the emergency response.
"This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe," Stevens said. "People have to understand this is a big, big problem."
Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government's request for help evacuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon. The president of the Air Transport Association, James May, said the Homeland Security Department called then to ask if the group could participate in an airlift for refugees.
how do you know I'm not some fat womyn studies prof. just lurking here?
My recollections are admittedly fuzzy about which days. I recall talk about people being "at" the convention center, but not in the sense that there were droves of them in desperate condition until Thursday.
That was a very confusing few days, and the media wasn't helping, shifting their coverage from one screaming anchor to another, pointing in different directions, yelling somebody needs to help these people NOW!
Perhaps during the next disaster, closer coordination between DHS/FEMA and the media could be worked out. Not listening to the screaming meemies like Geraldo and Shep, but talking to the newsroom and getting information from them (without the spin and hysteria).
Especially when the levee system failed the following day after Katrina had hit the Gulf Coast.
Pilots have been known to fly to the wrong airport. It happens embarrasingly often.
Next time you're going to put on airs of how perfect you are, it might behoove to post so many falsities. Just a suggestion.
Boy, they sure put on a show, didn't they? :-)
Wow, you construed that my cristism of the FEMA director was a DEFENSE of the state and local agencies?
Reading comprehension. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
Wow, you construed that my cristism of the FEMA director was a DEFENSE of the state and local agencies?
Reading comprehension. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
"The problem is, they let those thugs get the best of them. Everyone says they want law and order, but they don't want no one's head getting cracked."
Yup, that's what happens when they view every looter as a potential voter.
Explains why the shoot-to-kill order never came
I can repeat it if you like.
Derwin DeGruy had been kicked out of two hotels, the first on Sunday right before the storm hit, and the second one on Tuesday morning after it hit. He and about 50 other people found makeshift shelter on a ramp leading to the mall and parking garage at the New Orleans Convention Center. They rigged places for people to go to the bathroom, pooled their water for the babies, placed some blankets on the concrete and decided to wait and see what happened. DeGruy, accompanied by his pit bull, Kaiser, said he doubted he had anything to go home to in New Orleans East. ''I live here in this cesspool,'' he said. ``We're going to make it work.''
The response time is about what I expected to marshal enough resources to replace state and local first responders, considering they would be delayed another 24-26 hours to marshal additional security forces to replace the breakdown in local LE.
" Speculation, not fact. And if/when the LA governor refused you (Mr. Chertoff) permission?
LOL! It's a fact. I just told you what I would do. That's not speculation. Also, the governor has no say in the matter, because there is clear evidence of multiple violations of fed criminal laws. I would remind Mr. Chertoff that ATF is responsible for enforcement of these particular fed laws regardless of any existing environmental conditions. Since they are known as the agents that fly, they can fly their butts down and learn how to use a boat to expand their horizons if they have to.
Re:These things are better addressed beforehand.
" Implication, and a false one at that. This event was addressed beforehand. That might explain all the pre-positioned assets, flooding simulations on TV, evacuations, etc. "Implication? Prepositioned assets? LA obviously had no decent plan and what plan they did have was no followed. FEMA failed to recognize and address that fact. IOWs they failed their "proactive" duty under the FEMA charter.
Use of the dome was announced before the 'cane hit. What resources did FEMA preposition to compensate for the cokehead's plan?
Failures happened at ALL levels of the response, local, state, AND federal.
444 posted on 09/07/2005 8:40:08 AM CDT by Lunatic Fringe
DUH.
I don't agree with this. The head of FEMA could be out of there immediately with zero loss to the effectivity of the dep't.
LOL! Bush is the commander. He made a decision and his clear intention was for the relevant depts to handle the situation. It's not Bush's job to ponder and manage the things he has depts to do.
Re: Brown was AWOL before Katrina even hit the radar screen.
"That's been proven false so often I can only assume you are intentionally lying."
Nah. It hasn't even been addressed.
The problems are with state and local levels. All others are a smoke screen that you apparently fell for. You throw any articles at me that you want too. You can fall for their BS, I won't. La. Politician's are using fema and Bush to get out from under of their utter failure. You go right ahead and believe them, you succor at their teat. You won't find me there. I know how my politician's are here.
Previously, Mr. Brown served as FEMA's Deputy Director and the agency's General Counsel. Shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Mr. Brown served on the President's Consequence Management Principal's Committee, which acted as the White House's policy coordination group for the federal domestic response to the attacks. Later, the President asked him to head the Consequence Management Working Group to identify and resolve key issues regarding the federal response plan. In August 2002, President Bush appointed him to the Transition Planning Office for the new Department of Homeland Security, serving as the transition leader for the EP&R Division.Not so amazingly, they choose to ignore his work as the supervisor of judges or some such at the now-defunct Arabian horse association. At least some people who were in the organization blame him for its failure but they might also have motives to cover their own errors or be Dim hacks. I've read elsewhere that he was an estate planning lawyer in Colorado for a while but I can't find proof. I don't believe he was ever Allbaugh's college roommate but the reports they were friends in college have held up so far.
Prior to joining FEMA, Mr. Brown practiced law in Colorado and Oklahoma, where he served as a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and as a hearing examiner for the Colorado Supreme Court. He had been appointed as a special prosecutor in police disciplinary matters. While attending law school he was appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee of the Oklahoma Legislature as the Finance Committee Staff Director, where he oversaw state fiscal issues. His background in state and local government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight and as a city councilman.
"So far none of Brown's detractors have come up with anything more than a pile of their own crap in their hands as evidence of his incompetence...
Whatever.
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