FYI
thank you for the thread. Republican Rep Tom Davis chairman of the HOuse Select Committee is reading his opening, I assume the committee's democrat minority leader will speak too, and then, Michael Brown's opening statement, which better be good because he's going to get hammered.
I'm listening!
When locals call FEMA to ask for help, a unified command structure is formed. It is only through such a unified command structure, recognized for decades, that we can work together.
when Katrina was still a tropical depression, FEMA pre-positioned support equipment, a week before it hit. FEMA people were in the National Weather Agency to get first hand information. FEMA personnnel prepositioned weren't inside New Orleans for a reason, so they wouldn't be destroyed in the hurricane. "State Emergency Staging Areas" all over the region is where they were stationed. Red Cross, our partner, was also pre-positioned. Pre-positioned and prepared.