With Michael Brown’s resignation as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the requisite head has rolled for the government’s too little/too late response to Hurricane Katrina. The unexpected support he initially received from President Bush turned “Brownie” into a hapless caricature, but he was not the only one who failed to perform adequately in the Katrina aftermath, and his departure leaves plenty to be done.
It is essential now to get on with the difficult business at hand – collecting the bodies of the dead, restoring the lives of the survivors and figuring out how to improve the nation’s preparedness and response efforts.
On Tuesday, President Bush said that Hurricane Katrina “exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government.” He added, “And to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.” It was a far cry from the incredible moment when, in the midst of Gulf state chaos the president turned to the FEMA director and said: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” At that time, thousands of Louisianans remained trapped by floodwaters, hoodlums were terrorizing evacuees at the Superdome and people lay dead on the streets.
This weekend, relief teams found 45 bodies in a hospital that had been out of business for more than a week. Most of the victims were elderly and likely died while waiting to be rescued as temperatures inside the facility rose to more than 100 degrees. In addition, authorities say that more than 2,000 children remain separated from their families.
It seems likely that more officials will walk the plank – FEMA appointees like Brown who were sent to the agency with little or no experience handling disasters. The decision to treat FEMA as a hiring ground for political patronage brings discredit to the Bush administration.
R. David Paulison, former head of FEMA’s preparedness division, will succeed Brown. He must focus on the Gulf states’ recovery and at the same time look further afield, too.
FEMA’s mission is to provide “swift response in the event of disasters, both natural and man-made.” But since the Department of Homeland Security was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, FEMA funding has been tilted 9-1 in favor of anti-terrorism efforts. The country needs to be prepared to fight terrorism and to respond swiftly to natural disasters. Paulison and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff must now restore a reasonable balance.
