The angry winds that followed Hurricane Katrina ripped apart the federal government’s facade of emergency preparedness, whether in response to nature’s fury or terrorism. Much public wrath has been focused on Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown.
When Brown, a former Colorado resident, got the post two years ago, we hoped his experience handling the 2003 California wildfires prepared him for his new responsibilities. He disappointed us, to put it mildly. His recent public comments were absurd: He said he didn’t know refugees at the New Orleans’ convention center were running out of food and water, although the media had reported it for a full day. He claimed FEMA couldn’t get supplies into New Orleans because roads were blocked, yet musician Harry Connick Jr. did just that.
In 2003, a Denver Post editorial said if a major hurricane ever hit the Big Easy, “most of New Orleans, except for its tallest skyscrapers, would be under water.” Indeed, 48 hours before Katrina made landfall, the National Weather Service warned that New Orleans lay in its path. And 32 hours before the levees broke, the National Hurricane Center told Brown and other federal officials the storm was big enough to cause catastrophic flooding. Understandably, many voices, first among them the New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper, have called for Bush to fire Brown. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado, says Brown should be replaced by someone who can handle the duties yet to be performed. Only Brown’s college buddy, Joe Allbaugh, a former FEMA director and Bush campaign manager, offered him even a tepid defense: “I had a unique relationship with the president, having been his chief of staff. If you don’t have that kind of relationship, it just makes things tougher.” Yet even Allbaugh called the federal performance “unacceptable.”
But the debacle can’t be laid solely on Brown. The Southeast Louisiana Flood Control project sought $100 million in U.S. aid to strengthen the levees holding back the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, but the Bush administration offered a paltry $16.5 million, and Congress funded less than $40 million. Last week, after possibly thousands of people died, Congress rushed $10.5 billion in initial federal aid, reacting to a calamity that might have been partly prevented or mitigated for one-tenth that sum.
Two years ago, Congress, at Bush’s behest, stripped FEMA of independent status and submerged it in the Department of Homeland Security. Three weeks ago, state emergency managers urged Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to ease the department’s focus on terrorism, warning that the shift away from traditional emergency management left FEMA less able to respond to natural disasters, the Washington Post reported. For several years, FEMA’s budget has faced cuts. The consequences of those political decisions are etched into the despairing faces of New Orleans’ evacuees.
Since his administration was so ill-prepared for a predicted disaster, President Bush must now explain how his team can possibly be ready for a terrorist attack that likely will strike without warning.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver are among members of Congress pushing to restore FEMA as an independent agency, a step that deserves a hard look. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, is calling for a summit of state and federal officials to review our state’s terrorism and emergency response plans. Such a review seems prudent to say the least.
