The Informationist

Guest Blogger: Jeffrey Itell on FEMA and the Confederacy of Bush Dunces

Dear Mr. Brooks:

Usually I agree with you, but I cannot disagree with your column today more strongly. The response to Hurricane Katrina would have been adequate without bigger government, changes in legislation, more money, or anything other than different leadership. The failure stems from the Bush Administration’s failure to understand its duty and responsibility during a catastrophic disaster. What makes the Administration’s failure worse is that Congress and the Administration “resolved” these issues after Hurricane Andrew. I know…because I led the Congressional investigation of Hurricane Andrew for GAO. (A Washington Monthly article in 1993 about FEMA lays out the problem and resolution. I am sorry I do not have the citation to provide.)

Very briefly, the findings then and now go as follows: a disaster response plan that coordinates local, state, and national resources without delegating clear authority will fail in a large catastrophe for two reasons: local officials are usually victims and cannot perform their duties; and local authorities have no experience responding to a catastrophe. (Catastrophes occur regularly but not in the same locale.) Only FEMA and organizations such as the Red Cross have the experience, resources, and such to manage such a catastrophe. In short, several days before Katrina’s landfall, FEMA should have been exercising command and control.

It is argued that this approach, however, would have infringed upon state and local rights. Bull hockey. Without the federal government declaring martial law, the state government can delegate as much authority to FEMA as necessary. FEMA’s team needs to present the state government with the necessary paperwork to authorize it to organize and conduct its response. The governor’s role: sign the paperwork. It’s temporary, it’s critical, it’s the only alternative, and it’s the only good information the governor will see during the response effort.

GAO, FEMA’s IG, and FEMA agreed that such an approach was legal constitutionally and within FEMA’s enabling statutes. GAO made this finding. FEMA’s legal team and the OIG changed long-held legal opinions in conformance with GAO’s.

Let me stop now but reiterate that the response to Hurricane Katrina, as with Hurricane Andrew, was nothing more than a failure of FEMA’s leadership to understand its powers and responsibilities—issues that were supposedly settled in 1992/3. I spoke with Andrew Card (Bush I’s point person for Andrew) as part of our research. He gets it. So does Jamie Lee Witt, Clinton’s first FEMA director.

It doesn’t take thousands of words and weeks of hearings to get to the heart of this screw up. I’d be delighted to provide information, perspective, or institutional memory to any member of the media or government. Please send them my way. As for credentials, my name is on the GAO FEMA report and the Washington Monthly article. Later, I was a journalist for among others, the Washington Post and New York Times Magazine. I wrote editorials for a few months for the Post online. (I may sound like a crank but I’m not—journalists are making this story to be more complicated than it really is.)

Someone had a job and responsibility. They didn’t understand their job. They screwed up. People suffered. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

Posted by Jeffrey Itell from Manteo, North Carolina on 09/11 at 02:59 PM in American Government, Politics, and Domestic Policies

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Comments:

Thank you for some decent insight into the workings that ultimately failed. A seemingly great idea on paper failed in the hands of men. From this I have another concern:

With the growing distaste of the American public in the “system” I believe we are at a key point in American history. Can our Government start tearing down beurocratic walls so problems can get addressed when they need to be? Or is our fate the same as the Romans?

I could make an entire blog on this subject but I will leave it as is. Can our Republic survive if this trend of ineffectiveness continues? Our overabundance of entertainment is helping our Government survive for the time being. We are becoming complacent with corruption, but are angered but unresponsiveness.

My point being: Beurocracy is needed, but there must be a visible end to the red tape.

Posted by on 09/12 at 01:41 PM | #