According to this CNN report, Homeland Security has no clue what FEMA was doing.
Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur...
Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans.
Speaking to "Larry King Live" on August 31, in the wake of Katrina, Brown said, "That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it."
Clearly, it was a mistake to roll FEMA into Homeland Security. The latter was so fixated on terrorist scenarios that it overspecialized, neglecting non-terrorist disaster scenarios.
When the Louisiana state authorities appealed for medical aid from FEMA, the first delivery they received was a shipment of drugs and equipment for use in the event of a chemical weapon attack.
Preparedness also means agility, being able to adapt quickly to new and expected scenarios. This did not happen.
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