- The federal government should be able
to deploy troops to deal with major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina
and, in "extraordinary circumstances," should take over the entire
operation from states and localities, the White House said yesterday.
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- In a 217-page report released yesterday
by White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, the federal
government proposed 125 recommendations in 17 categories to fix widespread
gaps revealed by the flawed response to one of the worst natural disasters
in U.S. history.
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- The report said federal agencies must
be able to respond quickly when disaster overwhelms first responders and
unprepared state and municipal governments.
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- "It may be that our military
is the last and only resort. We need to plan and prepare for the Department
of Defense to play a significant supporting role during future catastrophic
events," Mrs. Townsend said when briefing reporters at the White House
about the report.
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- President Bush asked Mrs. Townsend
to conduct a "lessons learned" review just days after the Aug.
29 hurricane killed more than 1,300 Gulf Coast residents and left hundreds
of thousands homeless. Louisiana officials and the city of New Orleans
were unprepared for the magnitude of the storm, and the federal government
was slow to respond.
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- "I wasn't satisfied with the
federal response," Mr. Bush said yesterday after a meeting of his
Cabinet to discuss the report. "We will learn from the lessons of
the past to better protect the American people."
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- The president noted that the next
hurricane season starts June 1 -- less than 100 days from today. To that
end, the report urges immediate changes in 11 areas, mainly in establishing
better coordination among federal, state and local officials.
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- Mrs. Townsend said the report will
serve as a guideline for redrafting the 600-page National Response Plan
that was in effect before Katrina struck. She called the NRP "well-intentioned"
but said "it didn't measure up."
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- "Unfortunately, the one thing
that the government tends to be best at is red tape, but what we know is
when we're fighting a deadly hurricane or a terrorist threat, red tape
can no longer be tolerated or accepted."
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- The report comes a week after a scathing
review by the House, which stated, "The failure of initiative cost
lives, prolonged suffering and left all Americans justifiably concerned.
Our government is no better prepared to protect its people than it was
before 9/11."
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- Mrs. Townsend acknowledged that the
homeland security system still has "structural flaws" that hamper
the response to catastrophic events.
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- Although at least a half-dozen other
reports on Katrina have spread blame across the board -- to officials in
federal, state and local governments -- Mrs. Townsend said it is the federal
government's job to step in when others fail.
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- "In events like Katrina, and
those where resources at the state and local level are overwhelmed, the
federal government must be in a position to ensure people are moved to
safety," she said.
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- Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid
of Nevada rejected the internal Bush investigation and called for an independent
commission to probe government failures in the response to Katrina.
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- "It is, regrettably, an understated
and often-times self-congratulatory report written by those who were part
of one of the most damaging and disturbing government failures in our history,"
he said.
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- Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff said his agency already has begun "to take action to address
many of the issues raised in the report, particularly those areas we need
to improve before the start of the 2006 hurricane season."
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- KATRINA LESSONS
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- Here are some recommendations made
by the White House yesterday in its report on Hurricane Katrina:
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- * The Defense and the Homeland Security
departments should draw up plans for how the military will participate
in the response to the next catastrophe, including how resources should
be put in place before a predicted disaster.
- * The Homeland Security Department
and other agencies should improve their abilities to communicate with one
another during a disaster, and buttress programs for training emergency
officials and workers.
- * The Justice Department should plan
for how it and other federal agencies can help state and local agencies
provide law enforcement during disasters, including how to quickly pour
in large numbers of federal law-enforcement officers if needed.
- * The Health and Human Services Department
has to better plan how it can provide large amounts of public health and
social services in devastated areas.
- * The Housing and Urban Development
Department must plan how to provide more temporary and long-term housing
assistance after disasters, working with other federal agencies and the
American Red Cross.
- * The Environmental Protection Agency
and other agencies have to figure out how they can more quickly determine
whether a disaster area has environmental hazards.
- * A national operations center should
be established to coordinate federal response to disasters and ensure that
information is being provided to all government agencies.
- * The Homeland Security Department
should produce an inventory of federal resources and capabilities so the
government will know the tools it has for responding to disasters.
- * The government needs a strong campaign
for educating the public on the need to prepare for catastrophes, including
building disaster preparedness into school curriculums and encouraging
state tax breaks for people buying emergency equipment.
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- Federal and local agencies must work
out ways to better coordinate assistance offered by private organizations.
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- http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060223-114204-7811r.htm
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