Patterico's Pontifications

9/9/2005

An Observation on the Katrina Rescue Efforts

Filed under: Current Events — Patterico @ 6:46 pm



For the most part, I haven’t weighed in on the raging debates over who was responsible for the failure of rescue efforts in the aftermath of Katrina. There is so much partisan wrangling, and we are still so close to the issue, that it seems any such discussion is likely to elicit far more heat than light.

But I will say this:

If you’re looking for a quick, nimble, and effective response; if you’re looking for a response that comes without bureaucracy and red tape; if you’re looking for a response that immediately directs resources where they’re needed in an efficient fashion — then you want the feds, baby! Nobody cuts through the red tape and bureaucracy like the feds!

UPDATE: Silly mangling of cliché (reversing heat and light) fixed, thanks to commenter Levans.

32 Responses to “An Observation on the Katrina Rescue Efforts”

  1. …any such discussion is likely to elicit far more light than heat.

    Might you possibly have meant “more heat than light”?

    But, at least you followed up with a paragraph which provides a nice example, given the present environment, of “more heat than light.”

    Levans (7470d8)

  2. D’oh!

    I’ll fix it.

    Patterico (756436)

  3. Yes, I said “more light then heat.” And I hadn’t even started drinking yet!

    It’s all Dafydd’s fault.

    Patterico (756436)

  4. New Orleans has always been a city on life support. Ok, maybe not always, but pretty much so after it expanded beyond Vieux Carre. Who is to blame? I don’t know. Was she a viable city when the hurricane struck? Where were the sandbag brigades? Where were the “bucket” brigades? Where was the Levee Board with its casino, marina and private airplane? Was she just a patch of drained swamp, needed, used, visited but never really cared for or looked after?

    nk (06f5d0)

  5. Nobody cuts through the red tape and bureaucracy like the feds!

    Was this sarcasm, or did you mean “feds” as in “military”?

    Parents guide to politics:
    Rule #1
    When you walk into a room, the first one to say, “He did it!”, did it.

    MD in Philly (b3202e)

  6. You are spot on. I’ve been involved in two disaster reliefs while in the Military and in both cases we had a guy in charge whose main thrust was “fuck the red tape, do it anyway.” Mike Brown was not that guy. He was the Red Tape. My fave of the two that supervised my “rescue” effort was a Reserve Navy Lt. Commander who was the southwestern district manager for Bell Telephone in real life (back in the days Bell Telephone was a top dog). He stood in the back of a jeep and signed off on everything we had to do to accomplish the rescues. He said he’d even sign a declaration of war to get things done.

    News that New Orleans is going to open up their French Quarter, AKA open air drunk tank, and perhaps have that stupid mass drunken orgy called Mardi Gras tells everyone all they need to know about New Orleans: too loaded to give a shit about anything but continuing the orgy.

    Howard Veit (baba22)

  7. Patrick,

    Nothing personal but any time you put an attorney who has spent his life in administrative positions in charge this clusterfirk is what you get. Add to that the one thing Brown really got slapped for last year was handing out too much money in Miami-Dade and you have a disaster’s disaster waiting to happen.

    What the Feds should do, and won’t, is put the Coast Guard, National Guard, and Air National Guard under one command structure reporting to a career 4-star with civilian oversight at cabinet level. Each State should be assigned a 2-star or above to work with State civilian authorities and who has command of all State Guard assets.

    They should have full police powers, small arms only, and recovery stage 1 logistics support capabilities to provide the population with food, shelter, and medical care.

    When called out they must be given command authority over all local and state first responders. Civilian oversight would rest with the governor in a single state event and with the President in a multi-state event. DOD assets would be available in support.

    If we run into intransigent and incompetent governors like Blanco the Pres would have authority to federalize a State or States for a period not to exceed 30 days and subject to 2/3 ratification of the House and Senate for periods exceeding 30 days.

    I’d call the organization: the National Civil Guard Corps.

    Yeah, the Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus would have to be changed but I don’t see a Constitutional problem. Do You?

    Woof!

    RiverRat (f64620)

  8. Here is an extract from the mission description of USNORTHCOM:

    USNORTHCOM’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief operations that occur during fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Support also includes counter-drug operations and managing the consequences of a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass destruction. The command provides assistance to a primary federal agency when tasked by DoD. Per the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces can provide civil support, but cannot become directly involved in law enforcement.

    So here was a whole command with a primary mission to do things such as evacuate people from a hurricane and they had to sit and wait for Bush to get around to figuring out that people actually were not going to tolerate his inaction without a political price.

    How can we trust him?

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  9. ““fuck the red tape, do it anyway.” Mike Brown was not that guy”

    Of course, its been pointed out that Brown got burned for “fucking the red tape” in Florida and handing out cash to the undeserving.

    Lonetown (3c583b)

  10. Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

    Maybe it’s not exactly right to link to one of my own articles in Patterico, but this gives y’all the choice of ignoring it! The reason that the federal response was not instantaneous is because the people who organize these kinds of huge projects have to actually plan their work, not rush in there haphazardly.

    Dana R. Pico (a9eb8b)

  11. ” then you want the feds, baby! Nobody cuts through the red tape and bureaucracy like the feds!”

    I still can’t believe we let them invade other countries. bumbling idiots!

    actus (9982e6)

  12. Re: #8

    Paul Deignan’s extract doesn’t provide the whole picture. Click on his “mission” link and see for yourself. You will learn that:

    “U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was established in 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities. USNORTHCOM’s specific mission:

    Conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within the assigned area of responsibility (AOR); and

    As directed by the president or secretary of defense, provide defense support of civil authorities including consequence management operations.

    USNORTHCOM “has few permanently assigned forces” but works with First Responders in domestic disaster relief efforts. “First responders are the men and women who are “first on the scene” as a natural or man-made disaster unfolds. They are also the last to leave the scene. First responders are police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians.”

    “In most cases, (USNORTHCOM’s) support will be limited, localized and specific. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point that the primary federal agency can again assume full control and management without military assistance, USNORTHCOM will exit, leaving the on-scene experts to finish the job.”

    Deignan selects quotes and then misstates USNORTHCOM’s “primary mission” in order to bash President Bush. USNORTHCOM’s function is to assist civil authorities in disasters, not to usurp the authority of elected civil officials, elbow them aside, and take over. Although in NOLA that might have produced better results, it simply isn’t what USNORTHCOM was designed for.

    No matter the Left’s double talk, tap dance, and finger pointing, the exclusive responsibility for giving the order to evacuate NOLA resides in the hands of Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco. They failed and Lefty mendacity will not change that fact. You can’t trust a word they say.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  13. Nonsense.

    Read what I wrote exactly–not imaginatively.

    “primary mission to do things such as…”

    I did not say “exclusively”. However, a fair reading has to conclude that this military organization has as a primary mission to do just as I stated: “evacuate people from a hurricane“.

    Any local official who whould get in the way of that evacuation needs to be run over.

    Now you should read and understand what you quoted:

    In most cases, (USNORTHCOM’s) support will be limited, localized and specific. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point that the primary federal agency can again assume full control and management without military assistance, USNORTHCOM will exit, leaving the on-scene experts to finish the job.

    Here is a command that covers all of the US. New Orleans is one city–pretty local. USNORTHCOM could in some cases support entire regions–even the whole of CONUS. Yet, you think that one city is a stretch for this command?

    At least you read the link. Someday, God willing, you will have the intelligence to understand what you read.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  14. Also, you should closely read this:

    In providing civil support, USNORTHCOM generally operates through established Joint Task Forces subordinate to the command.

    Right now elements of the 82d division are operating under a JTF structure that fals under USNORTHCOM.

    (That’s more than a couple troops).

    I think a correction is needed for your misrepresentation.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  15. Deignan,

    Your exact words are the source of my objections.

    First, a small point, USNORTHCOM’s primary mission is homeland security, (and) the secondary mission is assisting civil authorities in emergency disaster relief efforts.

    Ordinarily, I wouldn’t quibble, but when you claim USNORTHCOM was, “a whole command with a primary mission to do things such as evacuate people from a hurricane …” that’s demonstrably not so, and I object to the misrepresentation.

    You tried to create the impression that a “whole command” was ready and waiting in the wings to jump in and evacuate NOLA. But that’s not the case and your link provides the proof.

    I do think USNORTHCOM would have assisted local officials evacuate the city if they had been asked. But local officials didn’t give the mandatory evacuation order, as their own emergency plan required. That’s on Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush. And, that’s a point you duck.

    Now, as for your petty insult, I can read the English Language fairly well, and my Mother says I have some rudimentary level of intelligence, and God willing someday I may even come to understand a few things. Perhaps not everything, but I sure got your number.

    However, I say with respect and civility: It’s you who misrepresent, and it is you who are hoisted on your own petard. So, I’m sorry, I can’t accommodate your request for a “correction.”

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  16. First, a small point, USNORTHCOM’s primary mission is homeland security, (and) the secondary mission is assisting civil authorities in emergency disaster relief efforts.

    Where do you get this division except from your own interpretation? USNORTHCOM has many supporting missions which are not listed. Anything listed on a mission statement is a primary mission–the focus of action for that organization.

    USNORTHCOM is not FEMA. It is a unified military command. It supplants NORAD. As part of the DoD it is not in any way subordinate to local officials just as the PTO cannot command a platoon of tanks if they want.

    Petty insults do you no justice. I apologize that the insult was not worthy of the great density of your intellect. I am awed, truly awed.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  17. Re: # 16

    I get it from the link you provided. Check it out. You’ll notice the indentation and the “bullets.” They indicate two major categories: homeland defense, and emergency assistance during disasters.

    Further, you are the one who initially indicated the distinction: read your exact words in # 8 above. I disagreed. To me it’s clear that homeland defense takes precedence. But, again, I don’t wish to quibble over the point.

    However, since you make an issue of it, according to you, anything on the statement is a “primary mission” and you go on to say there are many “supporting missions” not listed.

    So, is that your criteria, anything listed on the mission statement is a “primary mission,” and things not on the list are nevertheless to be construed to be “secondary missions.” If so, I find your thought process bizarre, and it seems to me you are easily awed, and too quick to stoop to pettiness.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  18. * Conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within the assigned area of responsibility (AOR); and

    * As directed by the president or secretary of defense, provide defense support of civil authorities including consequence management operations.

    Two primary thrusts. Both at the same level followed by specfics. Both are part of “Homeland Defense”. Neither says, “Homeland Defense”.

    A secondary mission would be whatever the higher command orders that is not a stated mission of the command for which it was constituted. Some people call these “tasks”, but when they are at the level of a UNC, they are secondary “missions”.

    All Bush had to do was give the order. For that matter, Rumsfeld could have done it.

    The light eminating from the stars bends, never to be seen again, captured by singularity of your mental void. I’m sure these electrons will meet a similar fate.

    Goodby electrons, adieu. Into the great bit bucket you go.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  19. Deignan, you really should read the mission statement. See the first sentence in the opening paragraph. It mentions homeland defense rather prominently.

    “U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was established in 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

    The next two “bullet” points give a more detailed description and are as you posted above. However, they are not at the same level. One takes precedence over the other. It’s not an accident they are separate and distinguished by “bullets.”

    Now, it isn’t spelled out in black and white for you, and you may continue to argue the point and claim both are “primary” if you must, but I’m not going for it.

    You want to bash President Bush and you are trying to snow us with military jargon and bogus claims there was “a whole command with a primary mission to do things such as evacuate people from a hurricane…” Poppycock.

    In order to swallow your argument, one would have to put both experience and common sense in abeyance and take it on faith that a military organization’s primary mission is providing a helping to civil authorities in an emergency. That dog just won’t hunt.

    USNORTHCOM can and will help out in times of disaster, but if push comes to shove, I submit homeland defense would take priority.

    You, of course, and others of similar ilk, are free to diminish yourselves conjuring up stupid ways to bash Bush, but it exposes the poverty of your intellect and the low regard you have for the opinion of others. But, then, hate always does seem to blind one to the light.

    Now, I tire of your dissembling, although I do appreciate the flattery and grandeur of your petty insults.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  20. U.S. Northern Command

    U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was established in 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities. USNORTHCOM’s specific mission:

    * Conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within the assigned area of responsibility (AOR); and
    * As directed by the president or secretary of defense, provide defense support of civil authorities including consequence management operations.

    U.S. Northern Command’s AOR includes air, land and sea approaches and encompasses the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles. It also includes the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The defense of Hawaii and our territories and possessions in the Pacific remain the responsibility of U.S. Pacific Command. U.S. Northern Command is also responsible for security cooperation and coordination with Canada and Mexico.

    USNORTHCOM consolidates under a single unified command existing missions that were previously executed by other DoD organizations. This provides unity of command, which is so important to mission accomplishment.

    USNORTHCOM plans, organizes and executes homeland defense and civil support missions, but has few permanently assigned forces. The command will be assigned forces whenever necessary to execute missions, as ordered by the president and secretary of defense.

    Civil service employees and uniformed members representing all service branches comprise USNORTHCOM’s headquarters located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. The commander of USNORTHCOM also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a bi-national command responsible for aerospace warning and aerospace control for Canada, Alaska and the continental United States.

    USNORTHCOM’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief operations that occur during fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Support also includes counter-drug operations and managing the consequences of a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass destruction. The command provides assistance to a primary federal agency when tasked by DoD. Per the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces can provide civil support, but cannot become directly involved in law enforcement.

    In providing civil support, USNORTHCOM generally operates through established Joint Task Forces subordinate to the command. An emergency must exceed the capabilities of local, state and federal agencies before USNORTHCOM becomes involved. In most cases, support will be limited, localized and specific. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point that the primary federal agency can again assume full control and management without military assistance, USNORTHCOM will exit, leaving the on-scene experts to finish the job.

    I’ll let the intelligent readers decide for themselves.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  21. BTW, this discussion with Black Jack has been a demonstration of the well-known data processing inequality.

    Just count the number of characters in the post above minus my comment. Allow for formating characters and compare that total to the total number of characters Black Jack has written describing what he thinks the above states.

    The inequality proves that he is injecting all sorts of garbage into the discussion.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  22. Deignan,

    You have shown you can cut and paste. Now show if you can think.

    Do you really claim that one can gauge the quality of an argument by the quantity of words and letters used? That’s wrongheaded and bizarre indeed.

    But there has been more than enough said, let’s agree to disagree, and let the readers decide, and please no more of this nonsense.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  23. Here are the results:

    The mission statement (the sole source of information in this discussion in ref to USNORTHCOM) has 2985 characters (with spaces) over 9 paragraphs.

    That’s 2994 characters worth of information.

    In three successive posts disputing this mission, Black Jack, the sink of all knowledge has written:

    1: 1735+9
    2: 904+5
    3: 2012+9
    =__________
    4674 characters

    for a signal to BS ratio of 0.64

    Congratulations!

    That means that at maximum effeciency you have managed to insert one character of crap for every two characters of baseline information.

    Proving once again that “If you can’t blind them with brilliance, baffle them with BS”.

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  24. Deignan,

    I don’t dispute the mission and you know it. I simply point out that homeland defense is primary and that helping civil authorities comes next in line. It was a minor point and tangential to the balance of my post. But you can’t seem to let it go.

    This tiresome back and forth came about because you tried to use the mission statement to support your preconceived assumption that, ” … here was a whole command with a primary mission to do things such as evacuate people from a hurricane and they had to sit and wait for Bush…”

    I don’t agree, and if there are any readers still awake they can take sides as their stars command. I don’t expect you to admit error, or to acknowledge the deceit. True believers are immune to such things as ordinary folks can see without assistance from pompous know-it-alls.

    If you would look up “primary” in the dictionary it might, I say might, help you to grasp a rather fundamental point: primary means first in order of significance. Or, you can add up the letters and spaces here and include them in your index. It seems nutty to me, but if you have time and enjoy such efforts, go for it. I not only find it laughable, but also so far wide of the mark as to give new meaning to the term “barking up the wrong tree.”

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  25. 4674
    + 1258+5
    =________
    5937 /2994 = 1.98

    A little more and we’ll have one character of garbage per one character of content.

    Swing for the fences, Black Jack!

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  26. Silly me, and I thought Michael Kinsley was deliberately obtuse.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  27. We have a winner: S/BS = 0.498

    Paul Deignan (9e57a7)

  28. If there is anyone still out there:

    Under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which was revised after 9/11, the Federal Government and FEMA are not allowed to interfere with local operations unless they are authorized by state and local leaders.

    Although President Bush called Governor Blanco 3 days before the cat4 storm made landfall and according to her, “begged me to order a mandatory evacuation, she declined to act, and the consequences of her decision are on her alone.

    Add that to my side of the ledger, if you please.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  29. http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=3604

    FEMA Agents mutilated, murdered and lynched in New Orleans for ripping off Sax’s Fifth Avenue store of Rolex’s, cash and expensive leather goods.

    Some victims in NO have obviously had enough of the Federal Government’s assistance. Outsiders beware!

    How is the mainstream media going to handle this?

    Bests,
    John
    http://johnmccarthy90066.tripod.com/id432.html

    johnmccarthy (3dd9ab)

  30. I have no idea what Post 29 is trying to do

    Black jack, I thought P. D. was a reasonable person, but he’s stuck on the NO issues as if Bush simply should have played dictator and send in active military on day 1 to tell everyone what to do.

    MD in Philly (b3202e)

  31. MD,

    I clicked on #29’s links. The article’s gist is faithfully reflected in the first sentence. It seems to be some sort of unsupported sick nonsense, either that or a whacko’s notion of parody. Since the article paints a horrendous picture, but offers zero corroboration, it cannot be taken at face value, and so I dismissed it. If you’re interested, read it, if you haven’t already and see for yourself, it’s brief enough.

    McCarthy himself is a nutcase milblogger. Off his feed, anti-Bush, and flacking for Cindy Sheehan and the rest of the sad sack, barking moonbat crowd. Seems to me he’s suffering from a personal problem. The sort of guy who carps about his service experience but still wares his fatigue jacket long years after he’s been discharged, and much too fond of muscatel. Again, you needn’t take my word for it, he’s thoughtfully provided two links to his confused site.

    As for PD, what can I say? He’s a very mixed up boy. While PD does seem reasonable at times, he sure gives the opposite impression with regularly. Perhaps he’s just wrapped to tight, or under the spell of extraterrestrial influences.

    Regards, and thanks for your comments. I enjoy your prospective.

    Black Jack (ee9fe2)

  32. Is the Senator William Jefferson currently fighting the FBI the the same African American politician who during the Katrina rescue efforts commandeered a 2-1/2 ton national guard truck and had them take him to his local home in New Orleans (to check his freezer or to keep his shoes dry or some other excuse he gave on TV)?

    W. V. Bonds (dc52ec)


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