----Original Message Follows----
From: "DonnaAnn Ward" <tutorla@...>
Subject: Heads will roll, heads will roll... as they damn well should
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:04:20 -0700

FEMA director waited to seek Homeland help
Documents: Brown waited five hours after storm’s landfall to get agency aid

Updated: 11:02 p.m. ET Sept. 6, 2005

WASHINGTON - The government’s disaster chief waited until hours after
Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss
to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region — and gave them
two days to arrive, according to internal documents.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought
the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff roughly five
hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties
of these employees was to “convey a positive image” about the government’s
response for victims.

Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams
across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first
department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.

Shortage of urgent language:
Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as “this near catastrophic event”
but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, “Thank
you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.”

The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating
criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and
Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal
response to Katrina. “Governments at all levels failed,” said Sen. Susan
Collins, R-Maine.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line
rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Brown’s memo on
Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the
rescues, establish communications and coordinate with victims and community
groups, Knocke said.

Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus
on helping victims find the help they needed, he said.

“There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn’t work,”
Knocke said. “Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to
learn from some of the successful efforts.”

Memo stressed need for ‘positive image’:
Brown’s memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected
to “convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials,
community organizations and the general public.”

“FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department
and as we know, one of yours,” Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending
1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000
within seven days.

Knocke said the 48-hour period suggested for the Homeland employees was to
ensure they had adequate training. “They were training to help the
life-savers,” Knocke said.

Employees required a supervisor’s approval and at least 24 hours of disaster
training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. “You must be physically able to
work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the
ability to work in the outdoors all day,” Brown wrote.

Urged waiting for specific request:
The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue
departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or
emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help
from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire
and rescue efforts.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should step down.

After a senators-only briefing by Chertoff and other Cabinet members, Sen.
Charles E. Schumer said lawmakers weren’t getting their questions answered.

“What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is, what is
the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wrong in
the past?” said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Alaska senator defends administration:
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said the administration is “getting a bad rap”
for the emergency response. “People have to understand this is a big, big
problem.”

Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government’s request for help
evacuating storm victims didn’t come until late Thursday afternoon. The
president of the Air Transport Association, James May, said the Homeland
Security Department called then to ask if the group could participate in an
airlift for refugees.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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