Interesting article re: NOLA, Homeland Security & Evacuations - 2003

[johnnie]

I was looking for something else and found this. It's interesting to note on how much the city's security team utilized the National Guard and other branches of the military into their evacuation plans.

I wonder where all the troops were at during the evacuations before the hurricane hit? How much did bush's war impact the ability of the city to evacuate even more than the 80% that they did? I also wonder how much it effected the aftermath of the hurricane? Obviously it did effect it, not only before but after. Adding this to the complete ineptness of georgie following the disaster, a large part of the "blame" should be put on that idiot.



":New Orleans, famed for its Mardi Gras festival--which draws 1.5 million revelers--is also home to five major universities, nuclear power plants, petroleum facilities and refineries, chemical plants, and seaports, all of which require heightened security attention in the post-9-11 threat environment. New Orleans also has infrastructure elements such as reservoirs, pipelines, and electrical power systems to protect. On top of that, says Colonel Terry Ebbert, director of New Orleans' Homeland Security and Public Safety Department, "We're the only city in the United States that's below sea level, so especially in high-water periods of the year, a breach of our levee system would be catastrophic."

<snip>

"Louisiana is strengthening homeland security in a number of ways, says retired Colonel Jadwin (Jay) Mayeaux, Jr., the division chief for operations and homeland security within the homeland security division of the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness (LOEP). One initiative is the Rapid Response Force, a group of more than 1,200 National Guard soldiers in 11 teams in nine metropolitan areas, including New Orleans. This on-call force can respond immediately to a crisis and reinforce on-site personnel, says Mayeaux."

Another initiative is the Special Reaction Team (SRT), three groups of National Guard soldiers (most of whom work for civilian law enforcement agencies) who "help train and work as a cadre for the Rapid Reaction Force," according to Mayeaux. They can assist and augment civilian authorities and train soldiers in MP tasks. Both groups have been called in to assist New Orleans several times (most recently during college basketball's Final Four weekend) to help the city beef up its law enforcement efforts.

<snip>

"Partnerships. The new homeland security division is reaching out in other directions as well. New Orleans is the home of the Navy and Marine Corps reserves, as well as a Navy personnel center, all potential partners in any emergency response effort. Ebbert meets with them--as well as representatives from 71 federal agencies in the city. They exchange ideas about issues such as emergency response plans."



More:
http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/001489.html

[johnnie]

1. Kick

Sorry to kick this, but I think it shows that New Orleans had evacuation plans and the personnel to carry out those plans.
If georgie and his cronies wouldn't have left this country wide open by sending all those troops to Iraq, this would not have been as much of a mess as it is.

I hear a lot of talk about how New orleans had no plans to evacuate, and this talks about some of those plans.

If it drops again, I'll let it go.