Katrina: The Buck Stopped There, Mr. President

Distilling the complexity of the inter-agency response to Hurricane Katrina into a few hundreds words is fundamentally an impossible task. There are some key facts that one might start with in making the attempt.

First, in the disaster plan for the City of New Orleans, the role of the Mayor is described as “the full spectrum of actions to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover” from incidents involving all hazards (City of New Orleans, 2004, p. 1; DHS, 2004, p. 8).

The Governor of the State of Louisiana is described as being charged with management of state resources to “prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from incidents in an all-hazards context” (DHS, p.8).

Finally, the President of the United States is responsible for “responding effectively and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and efficiently to all incidents of national significance”. (DHS, P.15.).

In Retrospect, Mayor Nagin should have been in the command seat in New Orleans and history demonstrates he was overwhelmed. On can, in hindsight name many decisions that he could have managed more effectively. I personally cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to be on the ground in this situation even if Mayor Nagin had been perfectly prepared. Mayor Nagin, however cannot be held responsible for the entire State.

Governor Blanco, according to accounts, deployed the national guard quickly, achieved national emergency declaration under the Stafford Act and mobilized busses statewide to assist in the evacuation. The Governor appears to have exhibited strong leadership with the possible exception of refusing joint task command that might have gotten more cooperation from the Federal Government. Governor Blanco, however, cannot be held responsible for the way the crisis unfolded in Biloxi Mississippi.

President Bush, according to his press secretary, and in the White House report to Congress states that;

On August 29, 2005, Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The White
House circulated an internal memo that a levee breach in New Orleans had occurred, while FEMA Director Michael Brown briefed the President of the potential devastation of Katrina at a morning a morning meeting. During that same day the President called DHS Secretary Chertoff to discuss immigration, shared a birthday cake and photo-op with Senator John McCain, traveled to California to a senior center to discuss the Medicare drug benefit (White House, 2006).

In attempting to answer this question, I am unable to put out of my mind the words of President Truman, "The buck stops here."

References:

City of New Orleans. (2004). Comprehensive emergency management plan. Retrieved
December 10, 2008, from www.cityofno.com/pg-46-18-general-evacuationguidelines.
aspx

U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2004). National Response Plan. Retrieved
September 18, 2008, from www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/nrp_fulltest.pdf

White House. (2006). The federal response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons learned.
Retrieved December 12, 2008, from WWW-
learned

Cotton, G. (n.d). Hurricane Katrina: An evaluation of governmental leadership and the disaster surrounding the city of New Orleans. Retrieved from ProQuest: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database.