Jamie Witt was paid HOW MUCH money to come up with a PLAN????? Do tell all of us more....thanks....and about those other homeland Security people also....Thanks!!!
Here is some of the facts:
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IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
IEM (Innovative Energy Management) has worked with a dozen federal agencies and ten state emergency management agencies.
The company, based in Baton Rouge, is a client of The Livingston Group, a D.C. lobbying firm run by Bob Livingston, who was a representative from Louisiana's 1st district, which includes New Orleans suburbs--but you might remember him as the would-be Speaker of the House who was forced out of office by Larry Flynt.
NOLA Disaster Plan
Then on About.com comes this information:
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US Information Guide Robert Longley has details of the July 2004 planning exercise that IEM, Inc. ran for FEMA; the exercise involved the expected impact if fictional Hurricane Pam were to hit New Orleans. It is not clear just what the federal goverment bought with its $500 million, but a completed or workable plan doesn't appear to have been part of it.
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In May of 2004, IEM included James Lee Witt Associates, LLC in their proposal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for developing a FEMA Catastrophic Plan for Southeast Louisiana and the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
anip--
After the proposal was submitted to FEMA, James Lee Witt Associates was not approached again by IEM, nor did JLWA have any involvement whatsoever in the project.
The document this weekend seemed to dismiss the no further involvement comment here -- which actually came about on September 5th, when Witt found out his name was being bandied about on the internet and his "people" started damage control and suddenly they issued this statement on September 4th:
September 4, 2005 -- WMR contacted by spokesperson for James Lee Witt. Yesterday, WMR reported that according to a June 3, 2004 press release from Innovative Emergency Management (IEM), Inc. it received a FEMA contract to develop a "Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana."
The IEM press release stated that among its team partners was James Lee Witt Associates. Witt was FEMA director under President Clinton and he restored that agency's disaster recovery effectiveness after President George H. W. Bush's ineffective response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
According to Witt's spokesperson, James Lee Witt Associates continues to be fraudulently listed on IEM's web site as a team partner for the over $500,000 FEMA contract work.
The IEM press release that contains the erroneous information has been disappearing and reappearing, another sign of something suspicious with the contractor.
FYI at the end of this last excerpt they said they thought Karl Rove was responsible for Witt's name being used with IEM.