When I read on CNN that FEMA refused federal government offers of help, it boggles the mind and makes me question why we even have a Homeland Security Department.
Somewhere I recall this being suggested post-9/11, that we needed to consolidate government agencies under one group so they would be able to work better, preventing serious gaps in national security.
“Although we attempted to provide these assets, we were unable to efficiently integrate and deploy these resources,” an Interior Department official wrote the Senate committee investigating the government’s response to Katrina.
What was so hard to integrate? Were they sending down unnecessary items? No. According to CNN, FEMA turned down aircraft, boats, and federal law enforcement officers, among other things.
So if FEMA, under the auspices of Homeland Security, refuses offers of assistance from Interior, how are we to believe that other HS agencies aren’t also turning down offers of help — like tips about terrorist threats or airport concerns?
It’s remarkably frustrating to see government waste in the most inocuous of instances. In cases like this, where it cost human lives, it’s irreconcilable.
May changes be made and made quickly.
Agreed – it’s scary stuff. Bush and the Congress seem to have been doing a lot of navel gazing while blowing up Iraq, and it doesn’t surprise me that this kind of inefficiency happens.
There used to be a time when Republicans actually tried to cut government waste (whether or not it was actually “waste” that they were trying to cut is another matter, entirely). Tim Russert asked Sen. Frist what was conservative about cutting taxes while increasing spending, and Frist was completely dumbfounded for about ten seconds. The answer he gave was, at the very least, improvised, and showed home completely clueless the folks in charge are these days.
Comment by randomduck 01.30.06 @ 4:23 pm