FEMA internal memos not as damning as you might think
Tags: fema, michael brown, brooks altshuler, patrick rhodeFrom Memo: FEMA had problems before Katrina
FEMA struggled to locate food, ice, water and even body bags in the days following Hurricane Katrina, a frantic effort punctuated by bureaucratic chaos, infighting and concerns about media coverage, according to memos obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
"Biggest issue: resources are far exceeded by requirements," wrote William Carwile, the top Federal Emergency Management Agency official in Mississippi in a Sept. 3 e-mail to a state official. "Getting less than 25 percent of what we have been requesting from HQ daily."
The memos underscore how FEMA was overwhelmed and underprepared for Katrina. The e-mails - 25 pages in all - represent a partial response to a request for documents by a House panel investigating the government's slow response to the storm…
Excerpts of other emails follows. There don't appear to be any big smoking guns in them, despite the worrisome second paragraph above. I'll update this if I find the full text of the memos, or leave a link in the comments.
It does, however, have this:
As Katrina approached, FEMA officials bristled at pressure from the White House to activate a group of strategy advisers as outlined in the National Response Plan that was issued by Homeland Security in January.
"This is the job of long-term recovery … in the NRP and FEMA is the lead," wrote FEMA deputy chief of staff Brooks Altshuler in an Aug. 28 e-mail to Rhode, which was forwarded to Brown.
