AP: First Responders Warned Feds on Training

[expatriot]

First Responders Warned Feds on Training
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration was warned by congressional investigators this summer that some first responders were concerned that their training and equipment was tilting too much toward combatting terrorism rather than natural disasters.

It's too early to tell whether the shift affected the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina. But it led some emergency personnel to raise red flags.

The emphasis changed once the Federal Emergency Management Agency lost its independence and joined the 22-agency Homeland Security Department in March 2003.

[krkaufman]

1. This is just what FDR meant when he said...

... that we have "nothing to fear but fear, itself."

Our sphincter-tightening reaction post-9/11, accentuated by the fear-mongering of BushCo and the ROG, misdirected our focus and funding from the probable to the improbable.