Experts question Chertoff's plan to fix FEMA (some calls for resignation)

[Wordie]

Posted on Mon, Feb. 13, 2006
Experts question Chertoff's plan to fix FEMA
BY SETH BORENSTEIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - ...Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's new disaster response plan fails to address the poor leadership that became apparent after Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast, outside disaster experts and administration critics said. Two Louisiana Democratic congressmen even called for Chertoff's ouster.

..."Perhaps the single most important question the (House) Select Committee has struggled to answer is why the federal response did not adequately anticipate the consequences of Katrina striking New Orleans," the House report concludes, according to a 59-page addendum released Monday by two Democratic congressmen. "At least part of the answer lies in the Secretary's failure to invoke the national response plan ... to clearly and forcefully instruct everyone involved with the federal response to be proactive."

...The best way to strengthen disaster response is to remove FEMA from the Homeland Security Department and have the FEMA chief report directly to the president, as in the past, said Gen. Julius Becton, who was the FEMA director during the Reagan administration.

...Alabama disaster chief Bruce Baughman called the proposals "a good launch in the right direction," but other disaster experts said it wasn't aimed well. They pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report and to the upcoming House report, saying the problem is leadership and accountability and that it starts at the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13864006.htm

[rodeodance]

1. Chertoff did not assume the leadership role that was needed -simple

as that. Bush is always yacking about 'measure the outcomes"--Well, we saw the outcome--INACTION by DHS/Chertoff. He should be sued!




"At least part of the answer lies in the Secretary's failure to invoke the national response plan ... to clearly and forcefully instruct everyone involved with the federal response to be proactive."

[Wordie]

2. His testimony tomorrow should be very interesting.

Lots of people seem to be calling for pulling FEMA out from under DHS. That sounds like it makes a lot of sense, as Chertoff's focus on terror-related threats seems to be what caused a lot of the slow response in Katrina, at least according to Brown. I don't like Brown, but some of what he said last week made me feel a bit more sympathetic toward him. It sounded as if he really may have been made a scapegoat in some ways.

[rodeodance]

4. Fema was just a pesty fly compared to the TERRRO aspect--and will

continue to be with people like Chertoff at the helm.

[Wordie]

6. ...and Bush is proposing CUTS in planning funds!

Those state disaster officials, who are normally among the first to respond in a crisis, said that they're hearing some good proposals from Bush administration officials, but added that they're upset that the president is cutting federal planning money. On Tuesday, an association of state disaster officials will ask Congress to appropriate $250 million a year in planning funds. The Bush administration has proposed $170 million for the 2007 fiscal year, $13 million less than the budget for 2006.

:banghead:

[Wordie]

9. Wasn't he supposed to testify today??? What happened? n/t

[rodeodance]

3. Chertoff "fails to address the poor leadershp"-this says it all.

[rodeodance]

5. nominated.

[Wordie]

7. A kick for the morning crowd...

[mom cat]

8. But the emperor wants FEMA to remain under the Gestapo - DHS

FEMS is no longer about disasters, but about morphing FEMS into an agency that can facilitate military takeover in an "emergency". K&R

[Wordie]

10. Read elsewhere: Harry Reid has called for Chertoff's resignation! Link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2109495&mesg_id=2109495