Senate panel leaders slam FEMA's Katrina response
Bureaucracy prevented federal agencies from filling local requests for rafts, buses and high-water boats, key senator says.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, Monday admonished the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as local and state agencies, for allowing "bureaucracy at its worst" to slow preparations for rescue and evacuation in the days before Hurricane Katrina hit.
At a hearing Monday on the response to the storm, Collins noted that committee staff had found a memo showing that local officials had asked FEMA for rubber rafts to use to rescue victims.
The request was denied. Given the forecasts for a major Category 4 or 5 storm, Collins said, "It's puzzling to me that FEMA wouldn't have said, of course, we'll get them to you instantly."
Collins also noted other instances that she said revealed a lack of coordination among state, federal and local agencies.
She noted that New Orleans officials had attempted to use empty buses to evacuate local residents, only to find themselves slowed by paperwork. They had to resort to trucks and other less-efficient vehicles instead, Collins said.
New Orleans officials also requested high-water boats from the National Guard, but were told that the boats needed to remain in the Guard's barracks, which later flooded. Collins said the situation represented "a systemic lack of communication" among agencies responsible for responding to disasters. "Don't you all talk to each other?" she asked witnesses.
William Lokey, operations branch chief for FEMA's response division, defended his organization, saying that it is FEMA's responsibility to aid state and local officials, not coordinate evacuation efforts.
"FEMA does not have the authority to go in and take over," he said. He also noted that his division generally specializes in rescuing individuals from collapsed buildings, not flooded areas.
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., asked why FEMA did not step up when it became aware of the weather forecast. "It's like there were flashing neon lights saying 'this is the big one,'" he said.
Tim Bayard of the New Orleans Police Department said at least some of the blame rests with local government. "The New Orleans Office of Preparedness failed," he said. "We did not coordinate with any state, local or federal agencies. ... We relocated evacuees to two locations where there was no food, water or portable restrooms. We did not implement the pre-existing plan."