Feds go for the guns
The AP & Washington Times articles have spurred much discussion this morning among NIUSR members.
Here are the articles:
AP - US Military Could End Up Leading the Fight Against Mother Nature
Washington Times - Bush Seeks To Federalize Emergencies
Lets hear from you, using the [comments] link below.
posted by Jamie Imus @ 11:19 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
One of the few articles I've seen on the subject. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Bush and FEMA took most of the heat for the response failures, yet any changes are denounced as a "power grab."
Several people have mentioned the "Posse Comiatus" Act, but this applies only to prohibit federal troops from assuming law enforcement powers and says nothing about rescue. Same with Article III of the Constitution, unless the feds want to quarter their troops in citizens houses.
I would say it boils down to this: unless we get serious abut fixing things at state level (some states do very well; some, like Lousiana, do not), AND we expect the feds to bail us out, we need to give them the power to do it. This does not necessarily mean the military would be in control or even involved. Personally I'd like to see something like Tim is suggesting -- a federal overhead team that can come in if necessary. But I don't seen anything like that being discussed -- it's just too easy to send in the military since they're already there and ready to go, rather than spending all that time and money trying to get a new system in place.
Slim
Actually, there are Federal Overhead Teams, outside of FEMA(though requested through FEMA) that respond to most major disasters designated for Federal Support. These are the US Forest Service Type I Overhead NIIMS Teams. They were at Hurricane Andrew, the World Trade Centers and Katrina, among other incidents. However, they are way back in the background and primarily running the logistics, basing and HQ support- all the stuff it takes to keep a HQ/CP up and running for the specific State/Federal ICs at that particular incident. Outside the military, the only Federal entity we have that truly has ongoing experience in dealing with massive operations are these USFS Type I teams- due to their work in handling the Command and Control of all major forest fire scenes, which of course entail huge amounts of terrain, thousands of personnel, millions of dollars worth of ground vehicles and aircraft, multiple operations bases spread across several states and a massive logistics tail to support all of that. That said, they run the C2 at these massive project fires, but are rarely involved in the C2 at these natural disasters- perhaps they should be. Bobby
I don't believe the military should assume the lead in disaster response. As a former FEMA employee, who deployed to a several large disasters, I have been fascinated with the whole disaster response process since September 11, 2001. Most interesting to me was the development of the National Incident Management System. Why was this “one eye” NIMS invented when first responders across the country (mostly west of the Mississippi River) have been using the National Interagency Incident Management System with great success? Perhaps Bobby hit the nail on the head with the various Types of Incident Management Teams already in place with various agencies, notably the Forest Service.
FEMA has routinely struggled with rostering specialized emergency response teams. During my tenure I was a member of the Emergency Support Team (working the “incident command post” at FEMA headquarters) and a member of the National Capitol Region Emergency Response Team AT THE SAME TIME. Both of these teams could have been activated concurrently. This was pure madness. As I understand the Forest Service model, everyone in the agency has an opportunity to be on an incident management team regardless of agency rank.
Despite the noble efforts of beaureaucrats to roll out a new disaster management system why not enlist the experts? Get the Forest Service involved in all levels of Federal response, not just fires. They were utilized in New York after 9/11, in Texas after the Space Shuttle disaster, and in numerous hurricanes in 2004. Recruit Homeland Security and FEMA personnel that understand the training and rigors of disaster deployments and get them trained to the NIIMS (that’s with “two eyes”) National Wildfire Interagency Coordinating Group ICS levels along with specific task training and then get them deployed as trainees on any available incident or event. I suspect it will take several years, if not decades, to properly roster an appropriate number of emergency response teams able to handle the number and complexity of national level incidents and events.
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