House panel seeks Katrina records

A special House committee investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina this week issued a subpoena for Pentagon records, but decided to hold off - at least for now - on subpoenaing the White House.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., issued a subpoena late Wednesday for "all records and communications" issued between Aug. 23 and Sept. 15 that relate to the Defense Department's "efforts to prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina." The Pentagon has until Dec. 30 to produce the documents.

Davis chairs the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, which is working to produce a report by mid-February. The report will describe problems with the government's planning and response to the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans, and provide recommendations on how disaster preparedness and response can be improved.

Pentagon spokesman Army Maj. Paul Swiergosz said the department had already given the committee "several hundred thousand" documents before the subpoena. He said additional documents now being sought are e-mails exchanged between senior Defense leaders.

The department is moving "rapidly" to comply with the subpoena, but must review the e-mails to determine if anything should be withheld based on executive privilege, Swiergosz said.

"We absolutely have no intention at all to not comply with the request for documents," he said. "It's just a matter of looking at [the e-mails] in a very purposeful and thoughtful way and making sure we're not breaking any issues of executive privilege, or the deliberative process that goes on."

He added that the Pentagon is proud of its planning and response to the hurricane and flooding, and looks forward to any constructive criticisms or recommendations the committee makes. "We welcome the oversight; we'll benefit from it in the end," he said.

The committee also is seeking more records and information about the White House's response to the hurricane and flooding, according to Davis' spokesman, Robert White.

White House officials gave committee members a two-hour briefing Thursday in which they admitted mistakes, White said.

"In the process of the briefing, the White House acknowledged many failures," White said. "Chairman Davis thought it was a very candid assessment of what [the White House] thought went wrong."

White declined to discuss specifics of the briefing, saying it was a closed-door session for committee members. Democrats have officially refused to join the committee, arguing instead for an independent commission. But some Democrats from states affected by the hurricane have been participating and attended the White House briefing.

White said discussions with the White House will continue, probably next week, adding that the investigative committee is still seeking "thousands of additional documents" from the White House and its Homeland Security Council.

"If, for some reason, the chairman and the members believe they aren't getting the information they need, they can always revisit the subpoena issue," he said.