Innovative Emergency Management

A year ago, I wrote at length about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s inadequate and inept response to Hurricane Katrina. By doing too little too late, F.E.M.A. turned a natural calamity into a man-made disaster.

The Bush administration tried to deflect criticism by arguing that the Louisiana state government and the city of New Orleans were primarily responsible for the mistakes which led to the deaths of more than 1,500 people. Katrina, however, hit three states, making it a federal problem from the very beginning. And as details emerged, it became clear that the administration had ignored warnings from hurricane experts and civil engineers. In remarks eerily similar to the claim five years ago that nobody had anticipated the use of airliners to attack buildings, George Bush, Jr. claimed that nobody had anticipated a breech of the levees holding Lake Pontchartrain. In fact, a White House teleconference video proved that he had been warned of precisely that eventuality.

But the deeper story of F.E.M.A.’s failure remained hidden until this week, when Democracy Now aired a report by Greg Palast on the emergency evacuation plan prepared before Katrina struck.

The government contracted a private company, Innovative Emergency Management, to generate the plan. After all, as the right-wing is so fond of saying, private enterprise is more efficient than government. I.E.M. received $500,000 for their efforts.

Unfortunately, the exact nature of their efforts is unclear. F.E.M.A. reportedly contends that they never received an evacuation plan from I.E.M. When Palast visited I.E.M. headquarters in Baton Rouge to request a copy of the plan, company officials responded by calling security.

Perhaps one day I.E.M.’s work will become known. In any case, another hurricane season is upon us; and there will be hurricanes next year and the year after that and the year after that. So the government has hired a firm to analyze what went wrong in 2005. It’s a little company in Baton Rouge called Innovative Emergency Management.

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The United States of Amnesia pt. 1

NBC and FOX, September 11, 2001

Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

The audio file accompanying this post, and the images below, come from NBC and FOX television reports on the crash of United Airlines Flight 93.






Some of the statements on those broadcasts were difficult to reconcile with the apparent nature of the tragedy. How could a plane dive into the ground and produce a debris field with a radius of three or four miles? Why did a witness at the site say he saw "nothing that you could distinguish that a plane had crashed there"?

My luck was no better. I couldn’t see any sections of wings or fuselage. I couldn’t see the crumpled hulks of the plane’s engines. I couldn’t see the severed and charred tail section of the plane lying nearby like a toppled cross of accusation. I couldn’t see any indication of the raging fireball produced by the plane’s fuel. I couldn’t see any drink trolleys or passenger seats or suitcases. I couldn’t see any bodies. I couldn’t see any evidence of a plane crash at all.

Obviously, I was wrong, just like the reporters and the witnesses. The plane must have crashed with such force that it buried itself in that small hole and was reduced to dust. I guess back then, I didn’t know much about plane crashes.

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The United States of Amnesia pt. 2

CNN, April 19, 1995
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the attack on the Murrah Building



I can recall watching television coverage of the rescue effort and seeing medical workers running from the building when other bombs were discovered. It was terrible to imagine that a survivor in the wreckage could die because help was delayed.

But as it turned out, there were no other bombs. The only bomb involved was the one that had been sitting in a truck parked in front of the building. I guess in Oklahoma back then, the Department of Justice; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the Oklahoma City bomb squad didn’t know much about bombs.

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The United States of Amnesia pt. 3

KNOP Radio, 12:30 p.m., November 22, 1963
Dallas, Texas





Why were people, including police officers, running to the fence on the grassy knoll at the northwest end of Dealy Plaza? After all, the shots came from the sixth floor of a building at the northeast end of Dealy Plaza. I guess in Texas back then, they didn’t know much about guns.