Subj : Re: Hurricane recovery
To   : richardw
From : Frank Reid
Date : Thu Sep 08 2005 23:40:00

  Re: Re: Hurricane recovery
  By: richardw to Newborn on Thu Sep 08 2005 11:08:00

 > I disagree.  We need one response team capable of dealing with whatever
 > disaster comes along.  The response is similiar *irregardless* of the
 > cause.  Provide a means of evacuation, food, medicine, shelter, and
 > apparently some baby-sitting at gun-point may be required as well.
 > 
 > I don't see the need to fund 2 seperate agencies.  Everybody today seems
 > to think we need a BIGGER government than the monolith we have now!
 > ugh!

In a perfect world, I'd agree, but I think this disaster clearly exposes the
monolithic nature of a large bureacracy along with its inherent inability to
respond/adapt dynamically.  Yes, no one anticipated a storm on that magnitude
(or the destruction it would cause), and no matter how well you plan, you will
always have something you didn't expect.  But, collectively, we didn't even put
up a good fight on Katrina.

I support a couple of the DHS agencies (formerly independent) directly, and I
will say that there are still *significant* bureaucratic obstacles in response
and coordination.  In theory (and on paper), combining all those departments
makes good sense.  However, in reality, they just don't work seamlessly
together.

I think someone probably modeled the organization after the (obviously very
effective) military.  Our military can put "bomb on target" in a matter of
minutes after someone in D.C. conceives the idea.  We were obviously equally
effective in responding to Katrina, once engaged.  But there's a big difference
between the autocratic military chain-of-command that facilitates that kind of
response and the bureacratic flow that governs most agencies, particularly
those which dispense funds rather than simply consumes them!

I'm unconvinced that the former FEMA (as a standalone agency) would have done
any differently in this disaster, mainly because of the scope.  But I suspect
we wouldn't have seen people suffering from dehydration while in earshot of
emergency personnel, while relief agencies were being denied access to the area
by, essentially, a peer organization.  During emergencies, orders must be able
to flow horizontally as well as vertically, and bureacracies just don't
facilitate that... so why make it taller?

---
 þ Synchronet þ BBS Doors (www.bbsdoors.com)

.