We really are screwed

I have been reading the recommendations of the White House Report "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned" and my mind is reeling.

I originally checked it out after hearing on the radio last night that the report recommended putting the PENTAGON in charge of disaster relief. (Picture me driving along yelling, "No, No, NOOO!!!" at my radio.)

So this morning I popped over to the New York Times to see what I could find. The article itself was fairly innocuous. No major red flags that I could see:<

The nation must revamp the way it responds to major disasters or terrorist attacks, according to a new White House report that calls for more stockpiling of emergency supplies, a better-defined role for the military[??] and a more concerted push to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes.

From the actual report:

Lesson Learned: The Departments of Homeland Security and Defense should jointly plan for the Department of Defense’s support of Federal response activities as well as those extraordinary circumstances when it is appropriate for the Department of Defense to lead the Federal response. In addition, the Department of Defense should ensure the transformation of the National Guard is focused on increased integration with active duty forces for homeland security plans and activities.

[...]

22. DOD and DHS should develop recommendations for revision of the NRP to delineate the circumstances, objectives, and limitations of when DOD might temporarily assume the lead for the Federal response to a catastrophic incident. Katrina demonstrated the importance of prior planning for rapid and complex response efforts. DOD should develop plans to lead the Federal response for events of extraordinary scope and nature (e.g., nuclear incident or multiple simultaneous terrorist attacks causing a breakdown in civil society).

23. DOD should revise its Immediate Response Authority (IRA) policy to allow commanders, in appropriate circumstances, to exercise IRA even without a request from local authorities. DOD should work with DHS and State officials to improve integration of military response capabilities.

These caught my eye, but more than that, most of the recommendations centered around another layer of bureaucracy assuming the role that FEMA should be taking and beyond that, I kept saying to myself, "Four years after 9/11 and this still hasn't been done? I thought this is what DHS was created for." For instance, and this is just one recommendation:

DHS should establish an interagency team of senior planners with appropriate emergency management experience to conduct a comprehensive, 90-day review of the NRP and the NIMS.

Oh...and this:

Integrate and synchronize the preparedness functions within the Department of Homeland Security.

What??? Four years after creating the Department of Homeland Security this hasn't been done? Wasn't that the department's primary mission? More:

The recently established DHS Preparedness Directorate resulting from Secretary Chertoff’s review of the Department’s core policies, operations and structure should be fully implemented. To expand upon this initiative, DHS should integrate and synchronize the preparedness functions with the response, recovery and operational support activities currently located elsewhere in the department. Specifically, DHS should consider adding an Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Programs and an Assistant Secretary for Operational Plans, Training and Exercises, and an Executive Director for Public and Citizen Preparedness to the Undersecretary of Preparedness’ senior staff, which currently includes Assistant Secretaries for Grants and Training, Infrastructure Protection and Cyber & Telecommunications, plus the Chief Medical Officer, Fire Administrator, the Office of State and Local Coordination and the National Capital Region Director. This adjustment to the DHS headquarters will integrate all the preparedness functions of the Department and preserves FEMA as an independent operating agency to perform their response and recovery mission. There should be no artificial, functional, or geographic divide between the components of the Preparedness Directorate. The Undersecretary for Preparedness along with the FEMA Director should serve as the senior advisers to the Secretary on all matters related to the Federal response during an incident.

This sounds like more of the same. Create more positions for cronies, neuter FEMA, etc. Color me disgusted. Further, this report keeps calling for disaster and preparedness training, but Bush has taken preparedness dollars out of the budget. Where the hell is the money going to come from to do this and hire these new undersecretaries (and related support staff, I may add)?

Jeezus on a Triscuit

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