Anngelique
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I was just reading this very interesting transcript on Fox. I am snipping just a small portion so please take the time to read it in it's entirety. I am FLOORED by what I have just read.
This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume," September 7, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
GARRETT: It works through other agencies. But it has been moved into the Department of Homeland Security. In this crisis, it is a bit a victim of its own bureaucratic boastfulness.
Earlier this year, the new national response plan, released by the Department of Homeland Security, promised this: Seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local and state capabilities. In the minds of many Americans, this one did, and FEMA, at least initially, in the minds of some, didnt not respond enough.
HUME: Yes, and the word "seamless" doesnt exactly spring to mind.
GARRETT: No, it does not.
HUME: But look, I mean, theyre down there. The Red Cross, for example, is there.
GARRETT: Standing by, ready.
HUME: Standing by, ready. Why didnt FEMA send the Red Cross into New Orleans when we had all of those people there on that bridge overpass and elsewhere?
GARRETT: At the Superdome (search), at the convention center...
HUME: Lack of water, right. Why not?
GARRETT: First of all, no jurisdiction. FEMA works with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other organizations, but it has no direct control to order them to go one place or the other.
Secondarily, the Red Cross was ready. I just got off the phone with one of their officials. They had a vanguard, Brit, of trucks with water, food, hygiene equipment, all sorts of things ready to go, where? To the Superdome and the convention center.
Why werent they there? The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security told them they could not go.
HUME: Now, this is the Louisiana this isnt the Louisiana branch of the federal Homeland Security? This is...
GARRETT: The states own agency devoted to the states homeland security. They told them, "You cannot go there."
Why? The Red Cross tells me that state agency in Louisiana said, "Look, we do not want to create a magnet for more to come to the Superdome or the convention center. We want to get them out."
So at the same time local officials were screaming, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The Red Cross was standing by ready. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security said, "You cant go."
HUME: All right. FEMA does presumably, at some point, have some jurisdiction over some military forces. Of course, the first-responders there are the National Guard (search). Why didnt FEMA send the National Guard in? You heard that cry from many people.
GARRETT: FEMA does not have jurisdictional control over any states National Guard. Only the governor does.
The governor, in this case, Kathleen Blanco (search), a Democrat, did use the Louisiana National Guard for some purposes, did not deploy them in massive numbers initially. And they were not used to move any of these relief organizations in. And they could have been, for the very same reason I talked about earlier. The state decided they didnt want the relief organizations where the people needed it most, because they wanted those people to get out.
But even today, we know that Governor Blanco has now decided that a mandatory evacuation may not be necessarily after all. But we can go into that later.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168799,00.html
This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume," September 7, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
GARRETT: It works through other agencies. But it has been moved into the Department of Homeland Security. In this crisis, it is a bit a victim of its own bureaucratic boastfulness.
Earlier this year, the new national response plan, released by the Department of Homeland Security, promised this: Seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local and state capabilities. In the minds of many Americans, this one did, and FEMA, at least initially, in the minds of some, didnt not respond enough.
HUME: Yes, and the word "seamless" doesnt exactly spring to mind.
GARRETT: No, it does not.
HUME: But look, I mean, theyre down there. The Red Cross, for example, is there.
GARRETT: Standing by, ready.
HUME: Standing by, ready. Why didnt FEMA send the Red Cross into New Orleans when we had all of those people there on that bridge overpass and elsewhere?
GARRETT: At the Superdome (search), at the convention center...
HUME: Lack of water, right. Why not?
GARRETT: First of all, no jurisdiction. FEMA works with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other organizations, but it has no direct control to order them to go one place or the other.
Secondarily, the Red Cross was ready. I just got off the phone with one of their officials. They had a vanguard, Brit, of trucks with water, food, hygiene equipment, all sorts of things ready to go, where? To the Superdome and the convention center.
Why werent they there? The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security told them they could not go.
HUME: Now, this is the Louisiana this isnt the Louisiana branch of the federal Homeland Security? This is...
GARRETT: The states own agency devoted to the states homeland security. They told them, "You cannot go there."
Why? The Red Cross tells me that state agency in Louisiana said, "Look, we do not want to create a magnet for more to come to the Superdome or the convention center. We want to get them out."
So at the same time local officials were screaming, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The Red Cross was standing by ready. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security said, "You cant go."
HUME: All right. FEMA does presumably, at some point, have some jurisdiction over some military forces. Of course, the first-responders there are the National Guard (search). Why didnt FEMA send the National Guard in? You heard that cry from many people.
GARRETT: FEMA does not have jurisdictional control over any states National Guard. Only the governor does.
The governor, in this case, Kathleen Blanco (search), a Democrat, did use the Louisiana National Guard for some purposes, did not deploy them in massive numbers initially. And they were not used to move any of these relief organizations in. And they could have been, for the very same reason I talked about earlier. The state decided they didnt want the relief organizations where the people needed it most, because they wanted those people to get out.
But even today, we know that Governor Blanco has now decided that a mandatory evacuation may not be necessarily after all. But we can go into that later.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168799,00.html
