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The Army Corps of Engineers fought alongside George Washington, dug the fortifications around New Orleans for Andrew Jackson, and once ran the military academy at West Point.

But not since 1824, when Congress appropriated $75,000 for the Corps to remove snags and sandbars from the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, has the agency really been in charge of its own agenda.

This point was driven home on Monday, August 29, when the levees protecting New Orleans from the deadly waters of Lake Pontchartrain failed.

"The president's budget for fiscal 2005 is $3.0 million," explained a fact sheet on New Orleans-area hurricane-protection efforts updated by the Corps's New Orleans District this May. "We could spend $20 million if the funds were provided.... Several levees have settled and need to be raised to provide the [desired] protection. The current funding shortfalls in fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2006 will prevent the Corps from addressing these pressing needs."

The Corps has been predicting for decades that a massive storm could overwhelm the New Orleans levees, flood the city, and drown thousands of people. "There have been many times the Corps has asked for dollars and the money has gone elsewhere," said Lee Butler, a former Army Corps engineer. "From the time of Ronald Reagan on, administrations have not paid enough attention."

But when it comes to the priorities of the Corps, the White House is only part of the problem. It is Congress, using the power of the purse, that really sets the agency's priorities. And Congress, note numerous congressional watchdog groups, puts politics first when deciding which Army Corps projects to fund among the thousands of navigation, flood-control, shore-protection, and other water-management proposals from local officials each year. "There were high-priority Corps initiatives that were not funded as a result of member projects," said Scott Lilly, former Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee.

"There are so many [congressional] mouths to feed, so everyone gets a little bit of the money," said Steve Ellis, vice president of programs at Taxpayers for Common Sense. He said that even in Louisiana, Corps money has gone to waterway and wastewater projects that should have been deemed lower priorities than levee protection.

Donald Sweeney, a Corps economist-turned-whistle-blower, said the Corps plays a role, too. "The Corps is basically incapable of saying no to projects," he said. "Every district recommends every project as high priority, and when everything's a high priority, nothing is."

Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the Corps, said the levees in New Orleans were designed to protect the city in 99.5 percent of storms. Katrina fell within the 0.5 percent that planners had deemed an acceptable risk. "The government of this country, from the local up to the national level, needs to reassess what level of risk is acceptable," Strock said on Sept. 2. But even if the nation adopts a more risk-averse approach to flood control and other natural disasters, the Corps's culture of acquiescence to Congress's wishes -- and Congress's unwillingness to discriminate between pork and necessity -- will have to change.

COMMENTS

• History is history...The ONLY issue facing the Army Corps of Engineers and our country is simple. Should we in fact re-build New Orleans? According to a news article I heard the other day, this fine old city is sinking into the mud, slowly, but still sinking. Add to that the fact that it is an 'artificial'city, located down in a trough between Lake Ponchetrain and the Gulf of Mexico, protected only by inadequate levees, and you have the basic problem. Will anyone in the Corps have the bravery to state this fact, or will politics, and several billions of our tax dollars be wasted to show "Mother Nature"that she can't beat us Americans. Guess what will happen... GovExec.com reader Posted September 16, 2005 9:55 AM
• Comments from the Corp always will blame Congress. However, the Corp sets the agenda through its budget submission and congress blesses it or kills it based on the information provided by the Corp. Both are to blame - the Corp for not telling the truth and Congress for not investigationg the real needs of the USA! In the case of New Orleans the Corp should have the guts to tell Congress that the city cannot be made flood proof - instead the Corp says we can do it! It should be obvious to all that the Corp cannot do it regardless of the amount of money they waste on their ridiculous projects. They drained the everglades by straightening out a river, now they waste our money by putting the river back to its origninal state so the water will stay in the everglades. In other words, they dug a hole and now are refilling it - real Army mentality. They constructed flood barriers along the Mississippi river but had the worst flood ever in the mid 90's. That is because they have forced a lot of water into a small channal that cannot stand a significant rain. Millions were displaced and flood waters declined and the good ol' Corp continued to try and force the Mississippi into a small channel. Now the lake above New Orleans has spilled into the city and destroyed it. The Corp and the President are going to rebuild it so we can flood it again in the next century and pay for it all over again. It is time for the Corp to say they cannot keep the water out of New Orleans or in the Mississippi river and reconstruction should be outside of the range of those waters! A major part of the New Orleans problem is due to the Corp "flood control" on the Mississippi! Stop this foolishness now! George's God will take care of the river and the city and not the Corp. oh boy Posted September 16, 2005 7:06 AM
• It is not the Corps job, NOR RESPONSIBILITY to make the decisions of what projects to take on. Congress controls the purse strings...period. Congress makes the priorities, and the agencies are simply administrators carrying out Congress' wishes. If you want the Corp (or any other administrator/agency) to go against Congress, you would need to change the constitution...If the Corp ran off and took on its own projects, it would be unconstitutional. Once again, the administrators take the hit for Congress' decisions. GovExec.com reader Posted September 15, 2005 8:28 AM