FEMA limitations

[Guest guest]

The following short history of FEMA shows how government entities can be

crippled by bureaucratic changes. This comment follows up on that from Rene

Quintana.

CHRONOLOGY.... Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA

and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush

administration. Read it and weep:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head

of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch s announces the Bush

administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May,

Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: " Many are concerned that

federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized

entitlement program.... " he said. " Expectations of when the federal

government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have

ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level. "

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of

the three " likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country. "

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he

is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking

to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Brown,

who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded

into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on

fighting acts of terrorism.

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation

and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness

and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and

recovery.

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding

requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: " You

would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the

grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it. "

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in

New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs

Walter Maestri comments: " It appears that the money has been moved in

the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq,

and I suppose that's the price we pay. "

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit

areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was

created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson,

Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe,

Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for McCain, plays the

guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues

with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the

scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air

Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose

Garden.

A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA.

Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was

known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was

deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's

conservative agenda to reduce the role of government. After DHS was

created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the

size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when

it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of

deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and

partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's the

Bush administration in a nutshell.

Henry Breitrose

Professor of Communication

Department of Communication

Stanford University

Stanford, California USA 94305-2050

+650-723-4700

henry.breitrose@...

Ann Millard, Ph.D., Associate Prof.

avmillard@...

(956) 668-6320

fax (956) 668-6302

South Texas Center

School of Rural Public Health

Tex. A & M Univ. Syst. Health Sci. Cntr

U.S. mail address:

2101 S. McColl Rd., Room 132

Mc, TX 78503-1733