Before we get to many people complaining about a slow response from the military or the lack of security being preformed by the military - some need to read up on the laws that regulate what the military can do inside the borders of this country.
What that means folks is that until congress authorizes the use of Active Duty Military its up to the civilian leadership of the city and state that is effected by such diasters.
Is FEMA on its ass - sure it is. But again one must understand how FEMA is suppose to work - before just taking potshots at the organization because of the magitude of the crisis.
http://www.fema.gov/
Like all beuraracies its prone to failures, mismanagement, and just flat out laziness until a crisis is upon them. Hopefully some much needed fixing is done to the system.
Having worked on a FEMA mission when I was in the Military - the process takes about 24-48 hours before FEMA resources are in place - that is why the first responders must be the city and state agencies at the site of the diaster or emergancy.
Before complaining about a system - try to insure you understand how it is suppose to work first.
The failure of handling the situation and not being prepared has a chain of events - most of it starts at the city level. New Orleans has for years had their own FEMA type agency tasked to evacuate the city when and if it is ever needed. What happen to their plan? Why did the Mayor not call for an evacuation of the city before the Hurricane was upon the city.
Why did the governor of the state not step in - when it became obvious that something terrible was coming their way.
Again its easy just blame the government at the Federal Level for the failure - but you only seeing 1/3 of the overall failure.
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