Dateline: Home Study

The calls have been pouring in for the last few days over Katrina, Homeland Security, and FEMA. The very politicians who put FEMA under the new DHS now are calling for removal from that organization because it “should report directly to the President.” The reaction is hardly unexpected for poor leaders often want to “do something” when they don’t know what else to do. And many times the easiest thing to do is to undo what you just did–especially if you have to have to appear to your constituents that you did something.

There are times that decisions should be reversed, namely when they were wrong, but other times they should be left alone. Placing FEMA under the DHS was not necessarily a bad decision and it should not be undone just for the sake of having something to undo. Things may be broken but all that means is that they need to be fixed, not scrapped.

Lest we forget the lessons of 11 September 2001, what has been missing is coordination–coordination between local, state, and federal agencies, not to mention between local and agencies themselves. It is still important, after all, for the police department to talk to the fire department in an emergency. Could they in New Orleans?

But the cries now are that FEMA needed the ear of the President. Why? If FEMA had a cabinet position, what would have changed? Would help have arrived sooner? Would more help have arrived? Is having the ear of the Chief Executive the requirement for quick action? If so, then why did the Louisiana National Guard not react quicker? They were under the direct control of the so-called governor Kathleen Blanco.

Bureaucracy is slow and troublesome at times, but it also serves a purpose. The bureaucracy is the structure by which things get done in government, and when the bureaucracy gets in the way, then ways need to be found around it and that can not be legislated. What got things going in New Orleans? Simple: Lt. Gen. Honore. He got things going because he summed up the problem, developed a solution, and took action; all qualities of a leader, and all qualities lacking in the government of Louisiana.

There is a model in existence already that should be considered and that is Goldwater-Nichols. There are similarities here and lessons to be learned if we only had leaders with memories longer the last election. Goldwater-Nichols created the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff who serves as the principal military adviser to the President. Instead of having the President get hit with requests and comments individually by the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and the Air Force, he has a single point of contact, the Chairman, JCS. And if through that process he does not understand what the Navy or the Army needs, then he needs to look for a new Chairman, not the elimination of the process.

We also have a Secretary of Homeland Defense who does (should) have the ear of the President. If the President didn’t know what was going on and if was needed but not given, then we should look to the Secretary to see what went wrong, not simply give a place at the table to FEMA. If we give FEMA a direct connection today, what do we do for the next emergency where perhaps the National Guard, or the Navy, or even the state Fish and Game Commission need help? Should they all have a direct link to the President?

And let’s lay of the President and others, especially Chertoff, for not having a complete picture of the situation. I’ve heard all the television news programs ask how they could not have known what was going on with all the coverage it was getting. Well, simple, the media is not perfect; sometimes it is not even good. For the first few days after the hurricane the major news broadcasters had you believing that only New Orleans was impacted. Mississippi and Alabama were all but ignored on television and had the government acted on that information, they would have mobilized too few resources.

It must also be remembered that journalists are just that. They have no special insight, no real strategic thinking skills, and often no real understanding the big picture. If they did they would be part of the action and not simply observing it: they would be doers, not reporters. The media do not know what the priorities should be, or even what they are.

Are there lessons to be learned? Yes. Will they be learned? Yes. Will mistakes be made during the next disaster situation? Yes. Why? Because we are all fallible humans and no matter how hard we try, we never seem to be able to get it quite perfect. We will get better, but there will always be something else to learn.

The biggest lesson to be learned from all of this is that the American people must learn to elect leaders at all levels of government. Voting based on promises of money, new programs, or shared beliefs on a few issues is relatively unimportant in the grand scheme. What is important is leadership, leadership to get a city, a state, a nation through the tough times that are unexpected. On 11 September 2001 the comment was frequently made that it was good Bush instead of Gore were in office. I still felt that way with Katrina. I felt bad for Nagin and Blanco. Without a doubt things could have been better, but they also could have been worse. Imagine Blanco or Nagin in the White House…makes me go brrrrrrrrr…