Comments Posted By LagunaDave
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I've posted extended quotes and links to contemporaneous FEMA, DoD and National Guard announcements immediately before and after the storm hit on my (heretofore inactive) blog.
One thing which I've only realized by going through all this is that there were actually two parallel and quite distinct chains of command for bringing in reinforcements.
All National Guard troops are sent in response to a request from the governor of the affected state, under compacts negotiated between the states. That means the Feds do not call out the National Guard, even from other states, the governor does. Moreover, how these troops are tasked when they arrive is determined by the governor, not FEMA and not the DoD.
At the same time, NORTHCOM is the part of the DoD response taking orders from the President. Part of their duty is support FEMA in deploying assessment teams and moving supplies and equipment. They also do search and rescue, but they are forbidden from performing law enforcement duties.
The primary NORTHCOM assets in the aftermath were Coast Guard and Navy, with some helocopters and planes from the Army and Air Force. Essentially all the actual soldiers in the affected area are National Guard (under state control), however.
Another point which I think is frequently overlooked is that FEMA is coordinating the "rear areas" where refugees are moved to and have to housed, fed and given medical treatment, and whence supplies are collected and shipped into the response area. Basically, FEMA is supposed to get requests for needed items, and arrange for their delivery where needed.
Anyway, once Rick gets his bandwidth issues resolved, there may be some material there to add to his fine chronology.
http://virtueofnecessity.blogspot.com/
Comment Posted By LagunaDave On 6.09.2005 @ 12:14
Great timeline, but there is a mistake in one item.
President Bush did not meet with the Mayor on Thursday the 1st, as your chronology says, and the profane radio tirade occurred before any face-to-face meeting between the two.
The mayor lost his mind on the Thursday night, and he toured the area with the President on Friday.
Comment Posted By LagunaDave On 6.09.2005 @ 07:09
I found this interesting tidbit in one of the TP reports, from 4:45 pm Monday (i.e. barely 6 hours after the storm passed through):
Comment Posted By LagunaDave On 5.09.2005 @ 07:39Federal medical teams will be helping out. Brown
said personnel from his agency had been trying to help
out with medical assessments at the Superdome, but had
been having trouble getting to the area because of the
continued hurricane-force winds. FEMA will be
sending its own urban search and rescue teams into New
Orleans to help look for people who need assistance.Brown said he plans to do an aerial search of the area
in the morning.FEMA has water, ice and military meals-ready-to-eat
that are ready to be shipped into any areas that need
them, Brown said. He said he has “supply lines backed
up†to Fort Worth and Atlanta.
