Peterson Air Force Base – President Bush switched to hurricane management mode today, pledging to keep a close eye on the federal response to Rita.
Bush had planned to go to San Antonio but dropped that visit because search and rescue teams there were being relocated as the huge storm shifted course, the White House said. Bush still was going to Colorado to monitor Rita’s progress from the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs. The facility was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as the military’s homeland security command center.
Bush was trying to walk a line between helping in a crisis and being seen as interfering. “There will be no risk of me getting in the way, I promise you,” the president said.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was repositioning search and rescue teams closer to the storm “and we didn’t want to slow that decision up in any way.” The president was expected to make additional hurricane-related stops throughout the weekend. But as the storm moved toward an expected landfall along the Texas-Louisiana coast, the White House kept his schedule “very flexible” and offered no word about where he was going or even when he would return to Washington.
At the White House, Bush’s Cabinet met to begin an internal assessment of how the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina went wrong.
The high level of White House activity and presidential travel related to the hurricane in the days leading up to Rita’s landfall were a marked contrast to the period before Katrina’s strike further east a month ago. Polls show that Bush’s job approval rating, already down all summer because of concern about his Iraq policy and rising gas prices, has remained stuck at the lowest levels of his presidency through the hurricane crises.
Bush said he had good reasons for traveling as the storm approached.
He said he wanted to see firsthand how the federal, state and local governments work together as a disaster occurs. In Katrina’s wake, some federal officials attempted to point the blame for the sluggish response away from Washington and toward lower levels of government, suggesting evacuation orders, information and requests for help hadn’t been communicated well.
And he said he wanted a closer look, from the Northern Command, at the military’s hand in domestic crises. In a speech to the nation from New Orleans last week, Bush urged “greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces” – which now are barred by law from performing any domestic law enforcement functions. He didn’t specify what he meant, but some have suggested since that the legal limits should be loosened and the White House has not ruled that out.
“NORTHCOM is the main entity that … that uses federal assets, federal troops to interface with local and state government,” he said. “I want to watch that relationship. It’s an important relationship, and I need to understand how it works better.”
Today, NORTHCOM was focused on evacuating medical patients requiring life support and specialized care today while making sure troops were ready to go
Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly said people inside the command center were monitoring troop movements, military evacuations and plans to deal with the aftermath of the storm. They were also preparing to deliver ice, generators, and trying to determine the number of doctors and field hospitals that would be needed.
“That was one of the key things we learned from Katrina,” Kelly said.
He said six ships – the USS Iwo Jima, USS Shreveport, USS Tortuga, USS Grapple, USNS Patuxent, and USNS Comfort – were following the storm to the Texas coast, where they were prepared to launch rescue efforts after the storm passes.
Kelly said about 4,000 people were evacuated Thursday by military aircraft to safer hospitals in Texas and Louisiana.
He said traffic control and protection of infrastructure, including oil refineries, was being left to the Texas National Guard.
Northcom, headquartered at Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs, coordinates military support for domestic emergencies at the request of civilian authorities or agencies.
The military assets are only deployed to support a federal agency, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, if local and state officials are overwhelmed and Northcom is asked for help.
Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of Northcom, acknowledged two weeks ago that the overall effort to help Hurricane Katrina victims could have been better. He said the command had lessons to learn, including how to better share information across more than 60 responding agencies.
The top-secret facility has about 80 representatives of various agencies monitoring multiple computer screens that show real-time movements of troops, maritime assets, aircraft and missile launches.
They also monitor satellite images from the National Weather Service and have their own full-time meteorologists.
Bush planned to stay overnight and follow the storm’s progress and the government’s response on Saturday.
This will be Bush’s first look at the command since it was created.
