Pointing the fingers...

Mike Brown was called to testify before a congressional hearing on Tuesday over FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina. Brown said that "My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday (August 27th) that Louisiana is dysfunctional". The Former FEMA director blamed Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin for not calling the evacuation of New Orleans sooner. Brown went on to receive harsh criticism from the 6-person House investigative panel, largely Republican. Democrats largely boycotted the hearings as protest, pushing for a vote to create an independent panel, akin to the 9/11 hearings.They probably won't get it, but I salute the effort.

Anyway, the exchange got pretty heated between Brown and the panel. "So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans," said a heated Brown. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., seemed to be the most outspoken against the former director. "What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate," said Shays. Brown continues to serve FEMA as a consultant for Katrina review, until October 10th.

Frankly, the guy deserves all the criticism going his way. This was a hurricane, an event of nature that was relatively predictable in its movements and the damage it would cause. Brown says he didn't do enough to help coordinate Nagin and Blanco. Well, that's essentially his job. Coordinate state, local, and federal officials to generate some sort of effective response and recovery effort after the Hurricane passes. FEMA's role isn't to provide emergency personnel, medical supplies, food, etc. Its role is to train personnel at all levels for disaster management and prepare an effective response. It failed miserably on both counts in this case. A 2001 report by FEMA listed 3 of the most likely disasters to hit the United States: 1) Terrorist attack on New York City 2) A hurricane hitting the city of New Orleans 3) A massive earthquake in San Fransisco. 2 out of 3…great. Blanco and Nagin will have some partial blame to their own respective responses, but Brown screwed up and all eyes are on him with just reason.

The Houston Chronicle reported this back in 2001. The FEMA report, in all my searching, cannot be found, for whatever reason. So my question is this. If FEMA knew that a major hurricane was heading towards New Orleans and they declared over 3 years earlier that this was a catastrophic scenario…how could they have failed in coordinating and training for an effective response? Short answer? The director was a douche bag who had very limited disaster management experience and wasn't qualified to handle something of this scale. Tack that one up to the current administration. The focus has been on combating terrorism ever since 9/11. And that's understandable. But if a hurricane hitting New Orleans is on the top 3 list of most likely major disasters to happen in the US, where's the preparation? Where's the training that FEMA was to provide to emergency personnel and to state and local officials? If FEMA had done what it was suppose to do, even a shred of its duties, the response would not have been so piss poor because the right people would have had, at least, an idea on how to respond rather than panic on national media while the city basically killed itself.