Has terror hurt disaster relief? Some say bureaucracy slows FEMA [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565137.stm

The Bush administration's focus on fighting terrorism over the past few years has weakened the federal government's ability to respond quickly to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, some experts said yesterday.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- traditionally the lead federal organization in disaster relief efforts -- has been subsumed into the mammoth U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then hit with budget cuts and an exodus of veteran staffers, these experts say.

Now, FEMA officials are shouldering much of the public blame for the slow federal response to the devastation caused by Katrina, a reaction that many disaster management experts say isn't fair to the agency.

"I'm afraid that the president may use all of this to put the nail in the coffin for FEMA, when FEMA is not to blame," said Bob Freitag, a 20-year FEMA veteran who now is director of the University of Washington's Institute for Hazard Mitigation Planning and Research.