WP: This Time, Military Hopes to Be Ready

[Rose Siding]

By Josh White and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A11

The U.S. military and the National Guard were taking extensive precautions in advance of Hurricane Rita's expected landfall along the Gulf Coast, officials said yesterday, trying to quickly solve problems exposed by Hurricane Katrina while bolstering public confidence in the armed forces' ability to respond to a massive domestic natural disaster.
.....
"We have learned from the Katrina experience. Shame on us if we didn't," said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense. "But for anyone to pretend that we have all the answers, while still involved in the initial response, would be both foolish and premature."......

"We all have different radios. We all use different frequencies," McHale said in an interview yesterday. "Yet we all must be able to talk to each other."......

"Katrina taught us we can't rely on cable news broadcasts and early written reports to give an accurate assessment of the loss," McHale said. Officials had no idea of the extent of damage and flooding in New Orleans because transportation and communication systems were knocked out, and much of the area was unreachable.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202020.html

Interesting choice, putting McHale out in front like that....

snip>
...Bush nominated McHale for the post in January 2003, and the Senate quickly confirmed the widely respected Pennsylvania Democrat and former congressman.

In the early 1990s, McHale was a Marine Corps Reserve major who was so committed to the war to liberate Kuwait that he resigned his position in the Pennsylvania Legislature and volunteered for active duty in the Persian Gulf. He returned from the 1991 war dedicated to improving national defense. Elected to Congress in 1993, the infantry officer, lawyer, and moderate Democrat became an outspoken member of the Armed Services Committee and a major advocate for military reservists before retiring from Congress in 1999.

McHale, 53, oversees all military operations related to protecting the United States' territory, population, and critical infrastructure against attack. He oversees Northern Command, the newly created command-and-control structure for military operations in the continental United States. From his office in the rebuilt section of the Pentagon that was destroyed in the 9/11 attack - a location he has described as a visceral reminder of his responsibilities - McHale oversees all military support to civil authorities for homeland security. He also is a key player in defining the emerging relationship between the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

http://www.govexec.com/features/0204hs/0204HS_exec17.htm

[Burried News]

1. It wasn't the military that screwed up the last time.

Looks like McHale is trying to cultivate friends in high places.

"The U.S. military and the National Guard were taking extensive precautions in advance of Hurricane Rita's expected landfall along the Gulf Coast, officials said yesterday, trying to quickly solve problems exposed by Hurricane Katrina while bolstering public confidence in the armed forces' ability to respond to a massive domestic natural disaster."

[jody]

2. "We all have different radios. We all use different frequencies"! That's

been the case in nearly every joint exercise including some in Iraq.

"We have learned from the Katrina experience. Shame on us if we didn't". That's pure BS and the communication snafu should not have happened.

[xray s]

3. This is beyond belief

"Katrina taught us we can't rely on cable news broadcasts and early written reports to give an accurate assessment of the loss," McHale said. Officials had no idea of the extent of damage and flooding in New Orleans because transportation and communication systems were knocked out, and much of the area was unreachable.

We have satellites that can read a licence plate from outer space, but we can't assess the damage in an area that is hundreds of square miles because we rely on "written reports and news broadcasts"?

:wtf:

Hey, Bushbots! Why don't you try having FEMA sources ON THE GROUND IN THE CITY! What a novel idea!

[riverwalker]

4. So which baseball game will Rumsfeld go to?

like he did the day of Katrina.