GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: DHS failed to use catastrophe response plan in Katrina's wake

• 43635
  

  Is catastrophe another word for global corporate advantage made possible by federalism? The "interest" of the "local near have nots" is displaced by the greater development plan, which favors the rich. In the case of Katrina non response resulted in replacing low income housing and business districts with corporate tourism: casinos, modern hotels, and laws that ran costs to rebuild beyond local residents means. It also changed long standing "states rights laws" to allow more federalism; it increased and extended time of federalism to periods before a catastrophe, and extended actual catastrophe to include mere threat. In the recent Greek fires federal non-response lead to highways developed through a national forrest and to casino and exploitative tourism constuction thoughout areas otherwise disallowed by long standing environmental, conservational laws and cultural indigenous generaly poor Greek heritage. Federalism, better known as corporate greed, uses "catastrophe" to legalize displacement [takings without compensation] and to ear mark the locality for global profiteering.

  me Posted February 15, 2008 5:36 AM
• 13249
  

  Russ Knocke apparently didn't read the Catastrophic Incident Annex before saying it applied only to "no-notice" incidents. On page CAT-4, under "State and Local Response," the second sentence says, "This annex addresses the proactive Federal response to be taken in anticipation of or following a catastrophic incident." Last time I checked, "proactive" and "in anticipation of" meant before something happened. How does Knocke figure this annex is only for no-notice incidents?

  Robert Tipton Posted November 3, 2005 11:22 AM
• 12996
  

  Wilma!!! Appears they will get another chance this weekend to work on their playbook. Just for chuckles, since the "plan" wasn't followed, why wasn't Chertoff fired? What happened to all this accountability propaganda being spewed by Bushwhacker?? I understand DHS is lowest ranked federal agency of all federal agencies in the morale measure. This is very comforting. The department responsible for anti-terrorism, national disasters etc., has the unhappiest employees in the entire federal government !! How comforting.

  Old Grunt Posted October 19, 2005 12:24 PM
• 12990
  

  I've been involved for the past two years with the interagency team drafting the National Response Plan, since it "morphed" from the old Federal Response Plan for disaster response. The "Catastrophic Plan" is just one such "Incident Annex" in the NRP.

  The not so widely known problem in the NRP is that only two of these annexes have dedicated, in place funding if they are activated. One is obviously the Natural Disaster plan, which has the Stafford Act funds. The other is the Pollution Incident Plan, which depends on either CERCLA/SUPERFUND for hazmat spills or the Oil Fund for oil spills.

  Dedicated funding sources for the other annexes (think about radiological incidents, biohazard incidents, etc.) as well as the "catastrophic" incidents are not identified.

  When there's uncertainty about what plan/annex to respond under, it's easy to see the immediate reaction is go where the money is, even if it might not be the best plan. Fighting with the lawyers, the auditors, or the Congress over whether Stafford Act funds could pay for the "catastrophic incident" was not an option in the teeth of the response.

  Will be watching to see if this situation changes.

  GovExec.com reader Posted October 19, 2005 10:46 AM
• 12982
  

  Oh please don't regurgitate the GOP talking points. I worked with FEMA. I worked with the Federal Response Plan. Six years ago, FEMA routinely pre-positioned resources in anticipation of on-coming storms, and routinely coordinated with the states in the line of fire. Who else is there to coordinate the states' efforts?

  There was nothing in any plan that prevented them from doing that.

  It's just not true that the states dithered in this case. All submitted the paperwork. (And yes, I worked on that too, so I know the details excuse is also baloney.)

  The feds could have prepared. They just didn't.

  Samuel Knight Posted October 19, 2005 9:17 AM
• 12981
  

  The problems in New Orleans were not caused by the hurricane directly. They were caused by the breaches in the levees which no one anticipated. FEMA has never performed well in a disaster, mostly due to the fact that the agency doesn't have a well defined role -- as an independent agency or not. My brother-in-law and family lost everything and still haven't received a nickel in federal relief. It's embarrassing to be a federal employee with results like this.

  GovExec.com reader Posted October 19, 2005 9:03 AM