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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject: KEY MILITARY HELP DELAYED (I have a question) |
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Witt, Gorelick, and Homeland Security experts ALL questioning the Federal response.
Is it a fact or not that Governor Blanco had to make a formal request for the U.S. Military to be sent to LA????
| Quote: | Key military help for victims of Hurricane Katrina was delayed
By Drew Brown, Seth Borenstein and Alison Young
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Two days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, President Bush went on national television to announce a massive federal rescue and relief effort.
But orders to move didn't reach key active military units for another three days.
Once they received them, it took just eight hours for 3,600 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., to be on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi with vital search-and-rescue helicopters. Another 2,500 soon followed from the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.
"If the 1st Cav and 82nd Airborne had gotten there on time, I think we would have saved some lives," said Gen. Julius Becton Jr., who was the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Reagan from 1985 to 1989. "We recognized we had to get people out, and they had helicopters to do that."
Federal officials have long known that the active-duty military is the only organization with the massive resources and effective command structure to handle a major catastrophe.
In a 1996 Pentagon report, the Department of Defense acknowledged its large role in major disasters. Between 1992 and 1996, the Pentagon provided support in 18 disasters and developed five training manuals on how to work with FEMA and civilians in natural disasters.
"In catastrophic disasters, DOD will likely provide Hurricane Andrew-levels of support and predominately operate in urban or suburban terrain," the report said. "This should be incorporated into planning assumptions."
The delay this time in tapping the troops, helicopters, trucks, generators, communications and other resources of the 1st Cavalry and the 82nd Airborne is the latest example of how the federal response to Katrina lacked organization and leadership. And it raises further questions about the government's ability to rapidly mobilize the active-duty military now that FEMA has been absorbed into the massive, terrorism-focused Department of Homeland Security.
Addressing the nation on Thursday night in a speech from New Orleans, Bush said the storm overwhelmed the disaster relief system. "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces, the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice," he said.
Several emergency response experts, however, questioned whether Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff understood how much authority they had to tap all the resources of the federal government - including those of the Department of Defense.
"To say I've suddenly discovered the military needs to be involved is like saying wheels should be round instead of square," said Michael Greenberger, a law professor and the director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security.
During the last great hurricane - Andrew in 1992 - the failure to get food, water and shelter to Florida and to victims highlighted the importance of quickly engaging the Department of Defense.
"For such disasters, DOD is the only organization capable of providing, transporting and distributing sufficient quantities of items needed," the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, wrote in a 1993 report. It noted that the military has storehouses of food and temporary shelters, contingency planning skills, command capability - as well as the helicopters and other transportation needed to get them to a disaster scene fast.
Indeed, the new National Response Plan, the nation's blueprint for responding to disasters that was unveiled with much fanfare in January by Chertoff's predecessor, Tom Ridge, includes a section on responding to catastrophic events.
"Unless it can be credibly established that a mobilizing Federal resource ... is not needed at the catastrophic incident venue, that resource deploys," the plan says. The plan and a 2003 presidential directive put Chertoff, as Homeland Security secretary, in charge of coordinating the federal response.
Chertoff, who aides said has been engaged in the response to Hurricane Katrina, went to Atlanta the day after the storm hit for a previously scheduled briefing on avian flu. Aides also concede that Washington officials were unable to confirm that the levees in New Orleans had failed until midday on Aug. 30. The breaches were first discovered in Louisiana some 32 hours earlier.
Greenberger, the Maryland homeland security expert, said he wonders whether Chertoff and other top federal officials understand the National Response Plan or even had read it before Katrina.
"Everything he did and everything he has said strongly suggests that that plan was never read," Greenberger said of Chertoff.
Chertoff was in Gulfport, Miss., on Friday to participate in the Harrison County National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. He took no questions from reporters. Homeland Security officials didn't return calls for comment.
Also on Friday, Bush said he thinks Congress should examine what role the military can and should play in natural disasters.
"It's important for us to learn from the storm what could have been done better," Bush said during a question-and-answer session with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "This storm will give us an opportunity to review all different types of circumstances to make sure that, you know, the president has the capacity to react."
Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, who served under President Clinton, believes that the Bush administration is mistaken if it thinks there are impediments to using the military for non-policing help in a disaster.
"When we were there and FEMA was intact, the military was a resource to us," said Witt. "We pulled them in very quickly. I don't know what rule he (Bush) talked about. ... We used military assets a lot."
Jamie Gorelick, the deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration who also was a member of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said clear legal guidelines have been in place for using the military on U.S. soil since at least 1996, when the Justice Department was planning for the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
"It's not like people hadn't thought about this," Gorelick said. "This is not new. We've had riots. We've had floods. We've had the loss of police control over communities.
"I'm puzzled as to what happened here," she said.
Scott Silliman, a former judge advocate general who's now the executive director of Duke University Law School's Center for Law, Ethics and National Security, said he was surprised that military forces weren't on the scene more quickly after Hurricane Katrina.
"I see no impediment in law or in policy to getting them there," Silliman said. "We could have sent in helicopters. We could have sent in forces to do search and rescue and to provide humanitarian aid. Everything but law enforcement."
He said someone failed to pull the trigger, but he added that an investigation is needed by an independent commission to determine who's to blame. "They're trying to say that greater federal authority would have made a difference," said George Haddow, a former FEMA deputy chief of staff and the co-author of a textbook on emergency management. "The reality is that the feds are the ones that screwed up in the first place. It's not about authority. It's about leadership. ... They've got all the authority already."
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(Knight Ridder national correspondents Shannon McCaffrey and Ron Hutcheson and Gary Dotson, of the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, in Biloxi, Miss., contributed to this report.) |
Knight Ridder Washington Bureau
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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Let's take inventory:
Knight Rider reporting - one of the most biased news services you can find... Don't know which is worse, AP or KR...
James Witt, hired by The Guv, who didn't seem to be able to provide any useful advice after he was hired, except "starve 'em out"...
Jamie ("The Wall") Goerlick, a Clinton (read leftist) Hack Job, if there ever was one - the person singled out in the Able Danger fiasco...
I don't recognize the others, but I suspect they have similar resumes... and/or motivations...
James Witt, who BTW is featured in a story I've seen today on one of the blogs as being perhaps involved in the mysterious loss of millions of $$ given to LA's FEMA local authorities prior to the Hurricane, and on Witt's watch while he was head of FEMA under Clinton.... James Witt has never heard of the Insurrection Act or Posse Comitus (SP?) ??????
This news release is a continuation of the bias, misinformation, and outright lying that has been going on since Katrina hit by the Bush-hating media.
Now I'm sure that were probably screw-ups by the Federales in getting help there; but nothing of the magnitude of ineptness this piece suggests. |
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Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| BTW, I agree with them that we need an INDEPENDENT investigation! That's Independent! Not bi-partisan. No partisans allowed, period! BOR (of all people) had what I think was an excellent idea about a week ago: appoint a commission of 5 retired Generals/Admirals. Tommy Franks and Storming Norman sound like good candidates to start such a list... |
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DADESID
Seaman
Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Posts: 157
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Federal help was there from the beginning. You won't hear much about it, because it doesn't meet the media's "get Bush" template.
****
----- Original Message
From: D.C.Thompson
To: Undisclosed-Recipient
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 10:39 PM
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Aviation Rescue Operations
Thought you might like to read some "inside" info and be proud of the way the Coast Guard responded down in the Gulf. This message was originated by the Commanding Officers of CG Air Station New Orleans (air sta NOLA) and CG Aviation Training Center (ATC) Mobile...
Deese
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fellow Commanding Officers,
We (Captain Callahan and Captain Jones) have struggled to find words which adequately express our admiration, respect and appreciation for the herculean efforts of the many, many Coast Guard men and women, Active, Reserve, Auxiliary, and civilian you sent to us and who made the recent Coast Guard air rescue operations over Louisiana and Mississippi possible. Words cannot adequately express what they accomplished, but please pass this message from both of us to them, and thank you all for your leadership and support in the Coast Guard's continuing Katrina response and recovery operations.
SUBJECT: COAST GUARD HURRICANE KATRINA AVIATION RESCUE OPERATIONS
1. On 28 August 2005 aircraft from Airstas New Orleans and Houston and ATC Mobile descended on the devastated city of New Orleans and Mississippi coastal communities only to find the utter horror of great expanses under water up to rooftops or completely flattened by winds with burning gas mains and buildings and thousands of survivors clinging to rooftops adding to the unimaginable scene. In tropical storm conditions, every available helicopter immediately began hoisting survivors, reacting intuitively to the difficult task of triaging the neediest from among the throngs of victims, and delivering those recovered to the nearest dry land or overpass.
2. As the scope of the disaster became known, Airstas around the Coast Guard immediately began dispatching aircraft and aircrews to join the enormous rescue operation, staging out of both ATC Mobile and Airsta NOLA. Each and every Coast Guard Air Station, without exception, contributed personnel and/or aircraft to this extraordinary effort. In addition, logistics and support personnel from units including PSU 308, ISC St. Louis and New Orleans, MSU Houma, SFOS Atlantic City and Grand Haven, CEU Miami, Atlantic Strike Team, MLC (K), ESUs NOLA and Portsmouth, and many others descended onto the severely degraded Airsta NOLA facility to help with watchstanding, aircraft dispatch, loading of equipment, aircraft maintenance, facility repairs and any other task required, making this operation the epitome of the "Team Coast Guard" concept.
3. All Airsta NOLA berthing and most shop spaces were rendered uninhabitable by flooding after Katrina's Cat 4 winds peeled back the hangar roof. Consequently, during the intense first four days of the operation until temporary tent cities and other shelters began to arrive all aircrew and support personnel staging at CGAS NOLA bunked head to toe on floors or on cots in the Airsta's crowded admin building. For much of this time the admin building/operations center was without power, air conditioning, running water, and all but one working cellular phone making the concept of "adequate crew rest" an impossibility. ATC Mobile encountered challenges with their own hangar roof, losing all of their operations spaces, Opcen, and many maintenance shops, along with a loss of basewide power and phone communications.
4. Despite these hardships, the extraordinary Coast Guard men and women who gathered from all over the Coast Guard to join the fight worked ceaselessly and cheerfully, allowing around the clock SAR and maintenance operations to continue unabated and at an unprecedented level. The dogged determination, enthusiasm and eagerness to serve in any capacity exhibited by all members was awesome to behold. Many members of the embedded media commented frequently and with wonder at the superb quality, dedication and camaraderie of the entire crew.
5. In around the clock flight operations over a period of seven days, Coast Guard helicopters operating over New Orleans saved an astonishing 6,470 lives (4,731 by hoist) during 723 sorties and 1,507 flight hours. They also saved or assisted thousands of others by delivering tons of food and water to those who could not be moved immediately. These figures include all Coast Guard helicopter operations over the New Orleans metro area regardless of whether the flights originated at CGAS NOLA, CGAS Houston or ATC Mobile, and are almost certainly underreported as some sorties returned to their bases before overtaxed flight operations personnel could collect their data. The numbers from coastal Mississippi are still being scrubbed, and will increase the total considerably.
6. Challenging each pilot and flight mechanic to his or her limits, most hoists were completed in obstacle-strewn environments, often on night vision goggles, over power lines and downed trees with daytime temperatures near 100 degrees, often in power-limited aircraft. The conditions encountered by rescue swimmers included flooded houses and buildings, steep, slippery roofs, foul and contaminated water, and the need to hack through attics with axes or break out windows to free survivors. Add to this the urgency felt by all crew to continue rescuing a seemingly endless supply of increasingly desperate survivors as the hot days wore on. Aircrew returned from missions with dozens of rescues on a single sortie. One ATC HH-60J crew completed its day's work with 150 lives saved. One CGAS Houston HH-65B crew saved 110. Another crew returned to base almost dejected, having saved "only" 15 lives. The stories of heroism and initiative these courageous professionals from all over the Coast Guard have to tell are remarkable.
'
7. That these extraordinary operational accomplishments, often achieved by mixed crews and aircraft from across the nation flying together for the first time, were accompanied by no significant personnel injury or major aircraft mishap is simply remarkable. The operation's superb safety record is a testament to the leadership, professionalism and skills of each individual participant, and also to the Coast Guard's aviation training, safety and standardization programs we have relied upon for years.
8. The Coast Guard's superb aircraft mechanics and aircraft maintenance program were a key enabler of the operation's success. Aircrew from every unit commented on the quality and speed of aircraft turnarounds and maintenance. Again, Coast Guard aviation's outstanding training, safety and standardization programs in place at CGHQ, ATTC and AR&SC, and at each individual Air Station enabled maintainers from across the country to instantly form effective teams at ATC Mobile and at CGAS NOLA and keep aircraft flying to save lives.
9. ATC Mobile served as the major staging area, force provider and maintenance depot for aircraft and crews cycling continuously to and from New Orleans, while simultaneously conducting major SAR and post-hurricane operations in its own AOR. At times ATC had no less than 37 USCG aircraft on its ramp and in its hangar. As helicopters operating out of New Orleans approached major maintenance cycles, both ATC and Airsta Houston accepted these aircraft and provided fresh mission capable aircraft and crews in return.
10. The support and logistics chain worked around the clock to return the hurricane-scarred CGAS NOLA and ATC facilities to life. Logisticians here and up the chain determined how best to meet our vital needs, and where they could not be met quickly using existing administrative procedures and requirements, steps were taken to procure needed equipment and supplies by whatever means possible. There are many "Radar O'Reilly's" in the Coast Guard and God bless them. Not a single life was lost due to Coast Guard red tape.
11. The generous and unwavering support of our fixed-wing shipmates in ferrying vital equipment, supplies and many generous care packages, often paid for with personal funds donated by unit civilian and military personnel, was essential to the continued operation at CGAS NOLA and greatly appreciated. It is hard to describe the gratitude felt by those working for days without air conditioning or showers upon the arrival of crates of new underwear, deodorant, toothpaste and other amenities. Staggered rotation of all personnel out of theater for rest was an essential component of the success of this operation and we are grateful to the Falcon and Hercules communities for their continued support.
12. The dedicated volunteers of the Coast Guard Air Auxiliary, as always, stepped up to the plate and provided outstanding support to the operation. Their commitment allowed SAR aircraft to stay focused on SAR while still accomplishing necessary logistics missions.
13. To each and every Commanding Officer who sent personnel to serve in theater, your men and women were without exception superb and your leadership is apparent. Thank you. We ask that your returning personnel have the opportunity to meet with CISM counselors (opportunities have already been provided in theater).
14. That this complex operation could be so overwhelmingly successful despite a nearly complete loss of connectivity between Airsta NOLA and the outside world and chain of command for extended periods of time is a testament to the value of our Principles of Operations (reference Pub One). Particularly, the principles of Clear Objective; Unity of Effort; Effective Presence; On-scene Initiative; and Flexibility. If you turn highly trained and properly equipped Coasties loose on an objective, they will tackle it, and let you know when it is done.
15. The New Orleans and Mississippi air rescue operation is but one part of a much larger story of the Coast Guard's response to Katrina. For example, 300 Coast Guard men and women from 20 different units quickly coalesced at Station New Orleans and rescued or assisted in the rescue of an estimated 22,000 people over ten days with surface assets, in horrendous conditions and with amazing displays of bravery and perseverance. Many of these shipmates lost everything in the flooding. Their stories remain to be told.
16. To those hundreds of devoted Coast Guard men and women who toiled to and beyond the point of exhaustion to keep helicopters flying, CGAS NOLA's and ATC's facilities functional and to save lives, you have more than upheld the traditions of your predecessors. You embodied our core values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. You have earned your place in history. Be proud of your extraordinary accomplishments.
17. After several days of cover from various other H65 units staging out of ATC Mobile, CGAS NOLA resumes its own B-0 and B-1 SAR response requirement today and continues to find its "new normalcy". ATC Mobile will return to its business of Coast Guard aviation training next week. We will continue to rely on the generosity of the operational and logistics communities in providing personnel and services, so that our own personnel can take care of the many issues to be dealt with in the aftermath of family dislocations and hurricane damage. CGAS NOLA will be both home and workplace for almost all of its crew while they wait for the city to be reopened for occupancy, children's schooling and spousal employment. The expressions of concern and offers for assistance from outside the command are overwhelming, and we are deeply grateful.
18. God bless our incomparable Coast Guard men and women. Semper Paratus!
19. Signed, CAPT B. C. JONES and CAPT D. R. CALLAHAN. |
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Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:41 am Post subject: |
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Well, well, well... Want to know who developed NO's Hurricane Disaster Plan? The same plan that had no plan for the evacuation of the citizens except for "everyone's on their own" (as per DVD that was about to be released), and the same plan that hadn't yet come to grip with "Hurricane Shelter" (listed as a TBD)...
| Quote: | IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana June 3, 2004
IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. National weather experts are predicting an above normal Atlantic hurricane season with six to eight hurricanes, of which three could be categorized as major.
The IEM team will complete a functional exercise on a catastrophic hurricane strike in Southeast Louisiana and use results to develop a response and recovery plan. A catastrophic event is one that can overwhelm State, local and private capabilities so quickly that communities could be devastated without Federal assistance and multi-agency planning and preparedness.... |
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476911/posts |
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