Now this is rich: there's a LTE in the New York Times this morning authored by Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins in response to this editorial of Nov. 24 in which possible reforms to FEMA are outlined.
Check out the things Lieberman and Collins are taking credit for.
First, the Senators admit that Katrina wasn't all Brownie's fault, and it certainly wasn't Bush's fault for restructuring FEMA as a part of Homeland Security. Indeed, the problems FEMA faced was one of magnitude:
But our 2005-06 investigation into the failed response to Hurricane Katrina found that FEMA had never faced a catastrophe the magnitude of Katrina and would have been unable to respond effectively regardless of whether it was in or out of the Homeland Security Department.
So, after the 9/11 attacks, precisely when Homeland Security was created, no one was preparing for a massive catastrophe, natural or otherwise?
These are the reforms that have apparently taken place:
To reform FEMA, we wrote legislation in 2006 elevating it within D.H.S. and providing the administrator direct access to the president in emergencies.
Most important, the legislation required top FEMA officials to have emergency management experience, and it united preparedness and response functions so the same people could work with state and local officials to prepare and respond to catastrophes.
Great. So horse trainers no longer qualify as FEMA officials. Uniting preparedness and response functions is just simple common sense and it is astounding to me that it took so long to do so. Clearly, though, there are deeper problems.
Really, this is the part that gets me about the letter:
The agency still needs improvement, but our reforms are working: FEMA’s response to the 2008 hurricane season was effective. Lives are saved when skills, resources and missions are united — not dispersed.
Who are they kidding? Was it not on Rachel Maddow last night where I learned that 2 1/2 months after Hurricane Ike, only 100 yards of the 30 miles of destruction along the Texas coast have been cleaned up? So, where's the success? People are still living in trailers, both there and in New Orleans. Please, don't make the case for "effective response" if these are your parameters.
This is why Lieberman should not be Chair of Homeland Security.