Reply #503: 9/16 FEMA Officials Were Shocked @ Failure of Brown & Chertoff to Mobilize

[snot]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4791800
NPR follow-up story-DC FEMA Official Says Chertoff& Brown Ignored Warnings

Once again Chertoff/Brown are caught LYING!!

NPR doing a follow-up on previous story
FEMA Official Says Agency Heads Ignored Warnings
NPR - Morning Edition - 9/16/05
by Laura Sullivan

In the days before Hurricane Katrina hit land, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown and other top Homeland Security officials received e-mails on their blackberries warning that Katrina posed a dire threat to New Orleans and other areas. Yet one FEMA official tells NPR little was done.

Leo Bosner, an emergency management specialist at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., is in charge of the unit that alerts officials of impending crises and manages the response. As early as Friday, Aug. 26, Bosner knew that Katrina could turn into a major emergency.

In daily e-mails -- known as National Situation Updates -- sent to Chertoff, Brown and others in the days before Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, Bosner warned of its growing strength -- and of the particular danger the hurricane posed to New Orleans, much of which lies below sea level.

But Bosner says FEMA failed to organize the massive mobilization of National Guard troops and evacuation buses needed for a quick and effective relief response when Katrina struck. He says he and his colleagues at FEMA's D.C. headquarters were shocked by the lack of response.

"We could see all this going downhill," Bosner said, "but there was nothing we could do."

Entire audio at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4849706