Red tape keeping much of military on sidelines

[kskiska]

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. — A tiny fraction of the active-duty U.S. military is engaged in rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a situation that frustrated senior military officers are attributing in part to complex relationships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"There is a tremendous amount of frustration here, that we have assets stacked up ready to go," said one officer who asked not to be identified. "All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA and say, 'How about if we do this or that?' "

But a difficult command structure inside the military seemed equally cumbersome as officers wrestled yesterday with having to coordinate any movement of forces with dozens of supervising commands and agencies.

At the Pentagon's sweltering forward-command post in Mississippi, a television running on intermittent power showed scenes of utter devastation in New Orleans, with corpses, burning buildings and throngs of desperate refugees.

Military-action officers — who have at their fingertips thousands of heavy-lift cargo planes, medical-evacuation helicopters, warships, quick-reaction battalions of infantry and military police, as well as fleets of trucks and armored personnel carriers — watched the chaos while monitoring computer screens and answering the occasional phone call.

more…
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002468593_katmilitary03.html

[DELUSIONAL]

1. So FEMA is screwing up??

This has bothered me from the beginning -- where the hell is the military? They have the equipment and the know how -- it is beyond belief that someone in FEMA can't coordinate with the military.

I'd like to know WHO in FEMA is ignoring the role that the military can play in the rescue efforts.

[Miss Chybil]

5. All roads point to Michael Brown.

The "head" of FEMA. He spent hours and hours on t.v., I can't even count how many interviews he gave saying why they couldn't do this, or that, and they were doing everything possible. In the meantime, they were doing nothing. He had everybody's hands tied. He said it was "too dangerous" to go in there. They turned back so many people that wanted to help because of him. Michael Brown, Estate Lawyer, in charge of our Federal Emergency Management. What a fucking joke.

[mom cat]

20. Michael Brown and the idiot who hires him and their puppet masters.

[saigon68]

31. Michael Brown = An evil dog turd floating on a street in New Orleans

[daleo]

8. Where is the military?

160,000 in Iraq.
40,000 in Afghanistan.

[Pachamama]

9. No, the right question is "Where is the National Guard?"

The job right now doesn't belong to the US Military...its the job of the National Guard....and they are in Iraq and Afghanistan and shouldn't be.

And don't let the Bush Administration then try to get rid of the Posse Comitatus Act in order to start allowing the use of US Military on US Soil beyond their limited responsibilities and allowable actions.

[daleo]

30. Re-phrased: Where is the National Guard

40,000 in Iraq
10,000 in Afghanistan

(estimates, but probably close).

[kurtyboy]

22. I worked for FEMA for years, and my wife still does

She's in the disaster area, doing her level best to make things happen.

But there have been other governmental forces at work, undercutting everything FEMA attempts. Please, stop saying FEMA when you complain about the government response.

Start the more important meme--

The Department of Homeland Security is the failure here!

Bush wants us all to kill FEMA, and this is just how he's doing it. If he has his way, the whole cadre of experienced, toughened emergency managers will be gone, and in their stead, only the Department of Homeland Security and the Northern Command. If that don't send shivers up and down your spine and you dog's spine, you're on heavy narcotics.

[MADem]

24. When people denigrate FEMA, they are not denigrating the OLD FEMA

I agree that FEMA in its current iteration has been gutted, it is not the same outfit it used to be. Hell, a fired chimpy fundraiser is running it, which shows how important they think it is now---not!

I have a friend who quit, because he saw the handwriting on the wall....

[kurtyboy]

27. I quit also, giving up fifteen years of governement tenure

I quit just about one year after 911, becuase I saw an Agency being run by people with entirely the wrong priorities.

On my last day at work, they threw a small party (most of the office was at disasters around the country). I gave everyone an address where they could obtain a copy of the Constitution. I told them, "When you wonder whether you're doing the right thing, reread the Constitution."

My office was a mostly conservative crew, and they gave me strange looks. They knew I had really gone around the bend when they asked what I was going to do after leaving work that day.

"I'm going to a Peace Rally. This war were going into is wrong." (The drumbeat on Iraq had just begun days earlier--we were still months away).

You coulda heard a pin drop as left the building for the last time.

[MADem]

23. FEMA has to unleash them, NORTHCOM cannot do crap without

authorization. The authorization has to come via that asshole in the golf shirt, chimpy's fundraiser. He has to either tell chimp he is doing it, or ask chimp for authority to do it. It takes a three way phone call between him, chimp and rummy--that's all. FIVE FUCKING MINUTES. Then shit starts happening.

The military, all branches, WANT to help, they KNOW HOW to help (remember the tsunami? Most US aid was delivered via the US military), they have so much experience doing Humanitarian Relief and Handclasp missions, and BUSH IS FAILING TO LEAD. FAILING!!!!

[Solly Mack]

2. so while they decide who gets to be top dog, people die

that's the real issue - who gets to be in charge

and while FEMA is engaging the Pentagon in a pissing contest people are dying.

Internal struggles between officers can be easily resolved - ranking officer wins.

Deploy the soldiers for the love of humanity for a change.

[MADem]

25. NO, the chain of command is very clear

It goes Chimp to Homeland Security with SECDEF consultation, to FEMA, to NORTHCOM, to shit starts happening.

FIVE MINUTES!!!!! The contingency plans have been written, the military knows what to do, they WANT to do it. Chimp just has to say the word, and clearly, he has not said it, or Rummy or Chertoff do not want to go that route and there is bickering going on behind the scenes, or Brown is just not carrying out orders.

There is NO OTHER EXPLANATION.

FAILURE TO LEAD.

[Solly Mack]

28. "Failure to lead" That says it all

[FlaGranny]

3. Someone, I think it was

Anderson Cooper, asked a FEMA person why they could not get into NO. He said CNN and other news organizations did it, why couldn't they. The FEMA spokesperson didn't give very good answers to that question, IMHO.

[bettyellen]

4. .....

[me b zola]

6. "All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA ...."

May I suggest a baseball bat? Maybe that will get someone's attention.




disclaimer: the bat, of course, is a metaphorical bat :hi:

[daleo]

7. Red tape is a metaphor - there is no such thing

It is human decisions that cause delays - including Bush photo-op decisions.

[Tinoire]

10. Red tape? Red tape? International Law couldn't keep them out of Iraq

and now they're concerned with red tape??!

WTF!

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. This total BS - Rummie and the DOD took control of the response

to the disaster on Wednesday. They don't need permission from anybody. Rummie can order the military to do whatever he wants. This is just more of their blame game crap.

Again, RUMMIE HAS BEEN RUNNING THE SHOW since Wednesday. There is no excuse.

[rfkrfk]

12. incorrect, Blanco is in charge 'of the emergency', in La.

active duty military can support the National Guard

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. After the State of Emergency was declared

the Federal government became the governing authority. Plus in this New World Order the Dept of Homeland Security/FEMA are the only ones with the resources and power to respond. If you haven't noticed most of LA's National Guard are in Iraq. Another reason why only the FEDs had the ability to respond in any meaningful way.

[rfkrfk]

15. fed 'emergency' and 'disaster area' decrees, do not alter authority

you will find this link interesting, especially the third paragraph.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/082905/new_bush001.shtml

the Fed role is to supply help/advice, when asked.
the reason for that arrangement is... law enforcement is local...
city police, local
state police, Governor in command
National Guard, Governor in command
Nqtional Guard on loan from other states, Governor of recipient
state, in command

I have heard that one-third of the La. Guard
is in Iraq.

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Read the National Response Plan

The Plan ensures the seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local or state capabilities.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/press_release_0581.xml


Once Bush issued the State of Emergency on Sunday night before the storm made landfall and it was still a Cat 5, the response to the disaster was automatically the responsibility of the Federal Government. What if it was a terrorist attack and the Governor was killed or injured and couldn't respond? This is why Bush lives in a bunker and we don't.

[rfkrfk]

16. none of that transfers authority

if you think I missed something,
please direct my attention to a specific paragraph-sentence.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Once the State of Emergency is declared by the President

the control automatically transfers to him. A Cat 5 Hurricane is a like a nuke without the radiation. The effects are just as devastating and unlike in a nuclear attack, there is nothing any of us can do to stop a Hurricane.

This is why the transfer automatically happens with the President issues the SOE. That is why it is the President who has the bunkers, the special communication channels, all the resources of the entire military and everything else that you could possibly need to response to a NATIONAL EMERGENCY.

There is no excuse for the sorry POS that sit in our WH and his staff, who couldn't even cancel their vacations.

[rfkrfk]

19. control of what? tranfers

National Guard? no, still state
state police? no, still state
city / county-parish sheriff?, no, still local
state/local agencies?, no, still state/local

fed stuff,no, still fed

'emergency',and 'disaster', -->
Fed picks up the tab for cleanup, offers loans

[kurtyboy]

29. Right and Wrong

Authority over state and local assets can only be transferred under the Insurgency Act.

However, once the declarations are signed by the President, FEMA has control over any asset in the Federal Government. They can mission assign any military or civilian resource owned by the Federal government with the stoke of a pen. The persons who have that authority include the Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) and any person he so designates. On a very serious disaster, there are at least a half-dozen officials with this delegated authority--

Delegated directly form the President of the United States. My wife has made mission assignments costing hundreds of millions, all with one signature.

On this disaster, after 12 years of operating with this type of authority (Since the revision of the Stafford Act in 1993),

FEMA suddenly forgot how to do this????!!! I DON"T THINK SO!!

Someone wants FEMA to look bad--

I'll give you three guesses....

[jody]

18. The ONLY person who can cut through such red tape is a president.

Katrina was clearly an act of nature or nature's god but failure to aggressively and promptly deal with the catastrophe is Bush's and his alone.

[indepat]

21. Being able to cut though red tape is the essence of leadership and manage-

ment skills.

[MADem]

26. I'll say it again: FAILURE TO LEAD!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[natrat]

32. .would have been perfect time for a real leader like castro or chavez

or wellstone or even that fat pug yelstin sitting on the tank