Reply #12: WP-Administration (Chertoff) Faulted on Katrina (blistering GAO Report)

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020100712_pf.html
Administration Faulted on Katrina
GAO Report Blames Bungled Response on Failures That Started at the Top

By Spencer S. Hsu and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 2, 2006; A05

Responsibility for the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina extends widely but begins at the top of the Bush administration, which failed before the storm to name a White House, homeland security or other senior aide to take command of disaster relief, congressional investigators reported yesterday.

Four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, administration officials did not establish a clear chain of command for the domestic emergency; disregarded early warnings of a Category 5 hurricane inundating New Orleans and southeast Louisiana; and did not ensure that cities and states had adequate plans and training before the Aug. 29 storm, according to the Government Accountability Office.

"A single individual -- directly responsible and accountable to the president of the United States -- should be dedicated to act as the central focal point to lead and coordinate the overall federal response," GAO chief David M. Walker said, summarizing the preliminary findings of 30 pending Katrina-related studies.

The blistering report contains the first assessments of the government's performance after Katrina. It is the first of a series of reviews in the coming weeks that are expected to fix blame and refocus scrutiny on the administration's handling of the nation's costliest natural disaster, which killed 1,307 people and caused more than $150 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast.
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