Katrina Inside the Monolith

The past four posts to this blog are 'retrospective' entries that are edited excerpts of some emails I sent to some friends over the past week while working in the FEMA Region 4 office in Atlanta, GA.

It's been a long week. You can read about what my role inside the monolith of the Federal gov't has been in the email excerpts I posted according to the date I sent the emails. I really hope I'll be moving down-range to MS and LA sometime early next week.

Almost every day, I've been checking in with my mom and dad. We talk a little about the Federal response to Katrina and I enjoy talking about things completely unrelated to Katrina. In my family, that would mean we talk about my brother's upcoming wedding in October, what my mom is going to wear, and whether I'll be able to attend. My mother is looking for a softly structured outfit and will probably go shopping with M___ J___. The folks were supposed to visit me in PDX and we were going to go shopping over Labor Day weekend. And, yes, I will be able to attend the wedding unless another hurricane hits the the U.S. And if that happens, then I make no promises.

But when we do talk about Katrina and the Federal Response, it's interesting to hear the outside perspectives on this event and it helps me digest the various emotions and thoughts I've had throughout the past week (disgust, frustration, embarassment, satisfaction, perplexity, and fatigue). (I'm working 12 hour days and catch (maybe) 2-hours of news a day in addition to occasional glances at the CNN text-crawl at the bottom of the TV. Reading text-crawl is how I learned, this evening, that Justice Rehnquist died.)

As it is getting late (0130, 4 Sept 05) I'll put down one question that has been in my head all day:

Why didn't FEMA or some civilian civil servant (Federal, State, or Local) step up to the plate in LA the way General Honore has in the past 36 hours (or so)?

That question has been bothering me all day. And I've come up with some theories. General Honore came into the event with some situational awareness. FEMA did deploy people to Baton Rouge, LA in advance of landfall and so the situational awareness of the federal people in Baton Rouge would have been poor - in the first 24-36 hours or so. However, during that time, someone ELSE outside of LA should have realized that FEMA did not have the on-the-ground capability to aid 1000s of people trapped in a flooded city. Someone should have stepped up.

Why did it take so long to start evacuations out of the city? and bring aid into the city?

My thoughts on that actually makes me wonder if the finger might point to the governor of LA. I could be wrong, but the Governor has the authority to direct the National Guard to act within the State. Inasmuch as I hate playing Monday Morning Quarterback, I would be interested in seeing if/when the LA governor directed National Guard troops to initiate operations in NOLA. National Guard is a state asset. Not a Federal FEMA asset even if FEMA can support their operations by providing supplies and equipment, and arranging for the care and feeding of evacuees.

Here's the dirty little secret that no one is yet saying in the national media. FEMA is not a 'first responder' organization. And, it never has been. I'm not trying to make excuses for FEMA. Someone should have realized much earlier that the situation in NOLA far outstripped the FEMA capabilities and expertise on the ground and called for DOD assets much earlier.

Maybe I'll push the thought a little farther. FEMA is not a 'first responder' organization. It never has been. It never should be. If I understand my basic US civics, Federalism dictates that the States have primary responsibility for citizenry within their boundaries. The concept of Federalism is why FEMA has always explicitly stated that they SUPPORT the STATE government in emergency response. They do NOT takeover the emergency response efforts for the State. FEMA has always stated that states must be self-sustaining for the first 72 hours of a disaster. Given the funding and personnel of FEMA, they cannot be a 'first responder' organization. It is the responsibility of the STATE government to manage events within their jurisdiction.

The political and fiscal reality of it is that State governments don't have the resources to plan, train, and equip themselves for disasters. And the political and fiscal reality of it is that FEMA is not equipped or trained to be a first responder organization.

Well, I better go to sleep. Hope some of this makes sense. Hopefully I don't sound like a complete idiot.