WHAT ARE THE LESSONS OF KATRINA?

 

In answer to the question above, there are many lessons, but because of bureaucratic realities, most will not be applied to the disasters of the future. Yet here are a few for what they might be worth:

 

First, the blame game is missing the mark. George W. Bush is being accused by his natural enemies of everything from being asleep on the job to racism. But his real error came long before Katrina, when he and Congress created a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to 9/11.

 

After a disaster, politicians want to "do something." Striking back at U.S. enemies was essential and Mr. Bush did that against aI Qaeda with the enthusiastic ap­proval of Congress, launching the war that continues today with considerably less support. The DHS also had over­whelming congressional approval, but was based on a flawed concept.

 

Creating a bigger bureaucracy to deal with the failures of two existing bureau­cracies-the FBI and the CIA-was simply giving free rein to Beltway gluttony. The DHS has spent many billions, but when a hurricane equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction struck, the DHS was too cum­bersome to respond quickly.

 

That leads to lesson NO.2: If an agency is meant to cope with emergencies, don't put lawyers in charge. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff is an admirable man but former federal judges aren't trained for quick executive action. 'Ib his credit, he recovered from early fumbles by pulling fellow lawyer Michael Brown out of the front line in Louisiana and re­placing him with a military man, Vice Adm. Thad Allen.

 

                Sen. Trent Lott of hurricane ravaged Mississippi was referring to Mr. Brown's missteps as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency when he said: "Pencil pushers make lousy crisis man­agers. Michael Brown has been acting like a private instead of a general." In Mr. Brown's defense, lawyers are conditioned by training and experience to read all the rules first before taking decisive action, so the administration that hired him is at fault.

 

Which brings up lesson three: There are too many rules. Laws and regulations are mass-produced by regu­latory agencies and all the various levels of gov­ernment. In an emer­gency, the first response by government bureaucrats is to look at the rulebook to find out what they are allowed to do. Time was wasted after Katrina struck Some of those limitations were built into the institution's limits on federal powers. President Bush could not nationalize the Louisiana National Guard without the consent of Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, which was not immediately forthcoming.

 

The Northern Command of the U.S. Army, set up specifically for homeland de­fense three years ago, also was prevented from acting immediately because the Posse Comitatus Act (circa 1878) bars the army from conducting police activities on U.S. soil without a waiver. The best army in the world was ready, with equipment and men in place, but was left waiting for orders.

 

Onto lesson four: In the U.S. federal system, state and local governments are the first line of defense, simply because the first responders-police, firemen, emergency medical services- report to mayors and governors. When Katrina hit, New Orleans first responders were not up to the challenge. One-third of the police force deserted, leaving the streets to looters and felons, one reason householders and business owners were reluctant to flee the rising waters Mayor C. Ray Nagin panicked, leaving the city's fleet of buses sitting in the flood's path instead of using them for evacuation. He neglected to provide the thousands who fled to the Superdome and convention center with adequate police protection and supplies. Acting more the private than the general in Trent Lott's terms, Mayor Nagin instead raged to the TV cameras about the lack of federal help-as if the feds were supposed to do his job. You're only as good as your first respond­ers: New York rose to the occasion after 9/11; after Katrina, New Orleans didn't

 

Lesson five is that the media plays a central role. They and the national weather services did a great job of warn­ing Gulf Coast residents that a big one was coming, enabling a million to flee. They were at their best, as usual, cover­ing the suffering and destruction. But then they became involved in the political debate, as Republicans and Democrats tried to outdo each other in assigning blame, with often spurious charges.

 

Mayor Nagin's wild estimate of 10,000 deaths was broadcast  worldwide. The: death toll for all the Gulf Coast, when fully tallied, may be well below 1,000, judging from the numbers counted so far.

 

The media have a natural tendency to make a big story sound even bigger than it is. Politicians and bureaucrats know that the bigger the disaster, the more money is likely to be showered on them. They are being proved right by the $60 billion in federal aid envisioned so far

But there is a good side Katrlna-was indeed a huge tragedy for the many thou­sands of people who were displaced and whose homes in many cases are no longer there or uninhabitable. Global media cov­erage arouses global compassion. Govern­ments around the world are offering help, reciprocating for the massive U.S. effort during the Asian tsunami. NATO commanders agreed in an emergency meeting to provide ships and planes to help deliver aid to the victims. private sector came up with the quickest responses. Drug companies sent medicine. Wal-Mart is pitching into the reconstruction effort. Families in cities near and far are taking refugees into their homes. Money and gifts.are pouring in from non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Individual acts of heroism by helicopter crews and other volunteers who helped pull people off the roofs of flooded homes are too numerous to count.

 

So that brings lesson number six: While America's critics cry shame about the less-than-adequate governmental response to the needs of a poor and predominantly black community, Americans acting on their own are picking up the slack. That kind of individual initiative is what has made the U.S. a great country.