Learning lessons while terrorists watch

By Aussiegirl

In today's The American Thinker Joseph C. Myers has some excellent ideas on what went wrong and what we need to do before the next disaster strikes. Let's stop pointing fingers at democrats or republicans and get something done to fix this dangerous problem of inept and inadequate response to emergencies. Read the whole article, because Meyers makes some excellent points and suggestions.

"But now, as a nation, we cannot just feel sorry for ourselves. We also must focus on fixing the problems in our catastrophe planning-and-preparation system. But first, let's understand a very important point.

The terrorists are watching our response. They are identifying new vulnerabilities -- and they are unlikely to give us 96 to 48 hours' warning before conducting a weapon of mass destruction attack. Katrina is as close a drill to a nuclear weapon event as we could ever hope to exercise.
Bottom Line: Our federal crisis planning and response system is too reactive, and too oriented on responding to support requests from state and local officials. It must be made more pro-active, directive and placed at the trigger-pull ready.

How Bush 41 Did It

One lesson I thought we had learned from Hurricane Andrew is that after a major disaster, the local and even state governmental system can become rapidly overwhelmed and paralyzed. It is a near certainty that local government and police will be in a "not mission capable" status. Therefore the early entry of military forces with other state and local police forces marshaled into the destroyed zones is imperative, not only to stabilize the situation, but to show citizens that their government still stands and they haven't been abandoned. During the week after Andrew struck, as the local circumstances deteriorated, the first Bush administration realized - almost too late - that it needed to mobilize a robust military force and put it into the affected area. The 10th Mountain Division was deployed and rapidly established command and control, logistics support and - just as important - established a flow of information to local citizens critical to bringing comfort and hope to traumatized communities.
We fell short of this standard in New Orleans."

LTC Joseph C. Myers is the Senior Army Advisor to the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB. He has spent much of his career with US Southern Command and has served as an exercise planner and coordinator for peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.