Justin,

It may be a federal issue but the first responder is still going to be the local, then the state and then the federal government.

That is what happened in New York and Washington….. The locals are already on the scene and have to take hold of the situation until help arrives.

Most of the arugments in defense of the federal government in this case is that they were last in line to help so they should not shoulder the majority of the blame. That should be shifted to the state and local governments. Legally, this IS the case. They can’t act until asked. When and at what time they were asked is a whole different discussion.

However, if somebody hit us with WMDs, it would immediately become a federal issue. No amount of “looking into it” would change that. Again, I feel this is rhetoric.

Tully, I appreciate your comment. I definitely learn more about our systems everyday, and this is a great primer. Glad you shared.

Tully, right on.

Disaster response is keyed to the hierarchy of local, state, inter-state, and federal. IN THAT ORDER. Responsibility is not top down from the federal government. It’s bottom up from the local government. As much as I am sure we will find out that Mike Brown screwed the pooch, in terms of saving lives the feds’ influence is mostly up front, in assisting the locals in being prepared. How effective that is is mostly up to the locals. After it hits the fan, the fed’s influence in saving lives is STILL full orders of magnitude less in effectiveness than the locals, except for those Navy and CG rescue efforts.

In the immediate pre-event and aftermath of a catastrophic event, simple logistics dictates that those the closest can do the most to the greatest result. That is why 90+% of what the feds CAN do is geared towards beefing up local/state first responder networks, in assisting with planning, etc. And in passing out checks afterwards.

When handing out the blame, if you want to be realistic, as cold as it may seem, try using cost-effectiveness and you’ll see why the system is set up that way. We do not have infinite resources at any of those levels. ALL applied resources have their maximum effectiveness at the point and time of impact, or immediately before or after. And the feds simply cannot move very much in for 48 hours minimum. The standard is 72 to 96 hours before substantial material aid can possibly arrive. This is simple logistics.

Start with the locals and develop a reasonable estimate of the lives-saved/lives-lost and $$$ impact of their actions or inactions. Pay close attention to their filed disaster mgmt plans, how well and realistically constructed, and how well or not they implemented them. Move on up the ladder, doing the same thing using the appropriate expected-response timelines. When you finally hit the top in the White House, look down those columns and see what the $$$ price tags are associated at each level with saving one extra life. Compare the cost-effectiveness of response at each level along the response timeline.

Cut everyone along the line a wee bit of slack for the fact that we are talking about a massive natural disaster with a 5-day prediction window of narrowing uncertainty, and that in a massive FUBAR crisis NO amount of planning will ever give you an optimum result in the face of unbridled chaos.

Then, and only then, start figuring out how much rope you need for the gallows.

Here is another fact. The area of this disaster is 90,000 square miles.

Yes there have been mistakes and errors made by the administration and by FEMA but to focus solely on them and not the total break down is a disservice.

Ermmm…maybe because we reorganized the federal bureaucracy to better deal with terrorist-induced disasters, and this natural one is demonstrating some weaknesses?

It feels like fear-mongering in this context. I’m more than willing to admit I’m wrong, but that’s just how it felt.