CNN is reporting that the Senate committee investigating Katrina has determined that FEMA is broken beyond fixing. Tomorrow they will recommend that FEMA be abolished and rebuilt fresh anew, reporting directly to the President.
CNN Report
AP report
This is truly a sad report that the agency who under James Lee Witt appeared to be turning into a useful organization under the Clinton administration has in such short order - 5 years - turned into such a disaster that the Senate feels that it cannot be repaired. In addition to the abolishment of FEMA, the panel is making 86 additional recommendations on how to remedy the state of emergency preparedness in the nation.
What other agencies would get similar report cards under Bush's tenure? Intelligence? DHS? Education? Where does that leave us just a few months ahead of the 2006 hurricane season that we have an agency that a bipartisan commission feels is so ineffective as to be worthless?
"The United States was, and is, ill-prepared to respond to a catastrophic event of the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina," the recommendations warn. "Catastrophic events are, by their nature, difficult to imagine and to adequately plan for, and the existing plans and training proved inadequate in Katrina."
This should be good for another couple of points in Bush's incompetence polling.