Fresh Outrage

I actually don't think this is entirely new; NOAA's Max Mayfield warned the public (and presumably those in charge of emergency relief) several days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall that the consequences were likely to be dire. But having visual evidence tends to focus things:

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage — along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press — show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

This does kind of make you look like an idiot if you, say, go on TV a few days later and say "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

These briefing went on and on for days. And yet the President didn't really have a sense of what was going on in New Orleans until he "saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help" four days after landfall.

This exchange between Tweedledee and Tweedledum (one of whom, incredibly, still has a job) is emblematic:

A relaxed (DHS secretary) Chertoff, sporting a polo shirt, weighed in from Washington at Homeland Security's operations center. He would later fly to Atlanta, outside of Katrina's reach, for a bird flu event. (ed. note: what kind of event? A welcoming event? A bird flu debutante's ball?)

One snippet captures a missed opportunity on Aug. 28 for the government to have dispatched active-duty military troops to the region to augment the National Guard.

Chertoff: "Are there any DOD assets that might be available? Have we reached out to them?"

Brown: "We have DOD assets over here at EOC (emergency operations center). They are fully engaged. And we are having those discussions with them now."

Chertoff: "Good job."

In fact, active duty troops weren't dispatched until days after the storm. And many states' National Guards had yet to be deployed to the region despite offers of assistance, and it took days before the Pentagon deployed active-duty personnel to help overwhelmed Guardsmen.

Mr. Chertoff, I believe the word you were looking for is "heckuva."

This was a disaster with several days' notice, and the feds couldn't get it together. Yesterday I blogged about Western governors pushing ahead with environmental policies in the absence of national leadership. This is another example of the Irrelevant Presidency. Nation, we're on our own.