Posted by
Rich from Paso on Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:21:42 PM
We all saw the images of Hurricane Katrina and were appalled. Everyone involved in the disaster shares the blame for how poorly this country, at all levels of government, reacted. While this post may stir those memories to the surface again, let's all remain focused on the future and how we can prevent them from happening again. Allow me to start:
1. End FEMA
Let's face it: FEMA serves no real purpose. The job of FEMA is to roll up on a site and give away money, period. As Katrina showed, no one at FEMA knows how to really manage emergencies. Also, anyone can pass out cash.
2. Give the Emergency Management Job to the Military
Not because I'm a military "homer", but because the military is the only institution that can effectively manage the personnel and logistics needed to respond correctly and then get those personnel and logistics to the emergency site in the most timely manner possible. But more specifically, the National Guard Bureau should be in charge of domestic emergencies. The cash disbursement job can be handled by anyone in the Department of the Interior, which is where domestic disaster management should reside on the civilian side.
3. Restructure the National Guard to Handle Domestic Emergencies
How do we do this? First, all the National Guard units should fall under a four-star general that would head "2nd Army" (First Army already exists and would manage the Army Reserves under this plan). This new army would manage the deployments of units, the readiness and personnel moves of the National Guard as well as have an equal say at the Department of the Army. Under the 2nd Army would be four regionally based corps. Each corps, commanded by an active duty three-star general, would have the mission of managing personnel, readiness and training needs and requirements within their corps. More importantly, these corps would plan for every domestic contingency facing their corps area of responsibility (AOR). Every possible eventuality from a terrorist attack, wildfires, hurricane response, earthquake, WMD attack, mass casualty event, mass rioting, whatever, would be planned for. If another Hurricane Katrina-like event happened, the responsible corps commander would appoint a division commander in the AOR to head the effort, the operations plan would be brought out and implemented. The corps staff would have instant access to units in the area, their readiness strengths and equipment availability and could have soldiers mobilized and on the road in hours. In order for this plan to work, the governors in all 50 states would have to sign a compact that would allow the National Guard from theirs and others states to be mobilized from the national headquarters after the President declares a State of Emergency for that area. I think the deployments would be for a maximum of two weeks and could be extended at the governors request.
4. Rename the DHS to the Department of Homeland Defense
Why? I think "Homeland Security" does sound a little Gestapo-esqe and "common defense" is expressly stated in the preamble of the Constitution, not "common security". In other words, it just sounds better.
5. Give the Bureau of Land Management Oversight Responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineer Projects
The ACE levees in the New Orleans area were under a state of disrepair for not just years but decades. Who is watching the watchers of these things? Apparently no one. The BLM inspectors would report their findings to the Secretary of the Interior and provide a recommendation for repairs and other actions. The Secretary of the Interior should be mandated to set a corrective plan of action within a set period of time and present it to the appropriate Congressional committee for action.