Reply #13: By "their" you should specify Bush/Brown, not imply all of FEMA [View All]

Bush has fucked with FEMA from day one of his administration - in fact, even before he took office, when he decided to name his former Texas chief of staff/campaign manager, Joe Albaugh, as Secretary of FEMA (back before 9/11 - when the head of FEMA enjoyed Cabinet level status).

Albaugh's "brief" was to gut and destroy FEMA, because the GOP attitude was, "Hey, if you don't have enough insurance and personal wealth to survive a disaster, that's your personal problem, and not the government's."

Albaugh was a vicious prick from the day he showed up at FEMA, cursing out and humiliating the FEMA professionals from the top down. He drove out hundreds and hundreds of professionals with invaluable institutional knowledge of how to work with state agencies and how to anticipate/prepare/mitigate etc., all kinds of natural disasters and epidemics. People took early retirement and/or went to jobs with state or private relief agencies. These professionals were not replaced. In addition to the normal amount of political appointees (a handful) which all presidents put in place, Bush placed many political types (such as inexperienced relatives of big donors) into several levels of upper and middle level management. When Katrina hit, there were 900 unfilled job slots in D.C. headquarters alone, not to mention unfilled job slots in the regional branches. Budget moneys and job slots initially designated for FEMA, were switched over to the black hole known as the Department of Homeland Security.

Katrina was the biggest disaster ever to hit the U.S., and FEMA was already underfunded and understaffed to deal with run-of-the-mill disasters. Nevertheless, as Katrina approached, the remaining, beleaguered FEMA civil servants (as opposed to Bush's people) did as they always do in the face of an upcoming disaster. All of the regional staffs around the country (7 regions) packed up and were ready to head for NOLA the week BEFORE THE HURRICANE MADE LANDFALL. All they needed was the expected go-ahead from the head of FEMA (Brown). Turns out Brown was told by Chertoff NOT to allow the staff to go to NOLA. Chertoff held off on that approval until 2 days after the hurricane hit.

You know, I expect posters on DU to be politically astute. How can anyone here NOT be aware that Bush has gutted every single federal agency under his control, so that the GOP can say, "See, government doesn't work - we have to privatise." It has come to light with FEMA because the MSM couldn't keep that agency's failures out of the news. But believe me, the same thing has happened at EPA,NOAA, Treasury, Education, - all of the agencies.

People here, sitting in the comfort of their homes and offices have one helluva great time trashing FEMA. Meanwhile, my FEMA friends are living under exhausting, primitive conditions at Greensburg, Kansas, starting out working 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, and having to sleep in tents in the Kansas summer heat. I'd sure like just once to ever read on DU, a thread of appreciation for the majority of FEMA workers - as if anyone here could appreciate the physical and psychological stress of working under the conditions they face in their chosen profession, let alone the mountain of crap and stress that Bush has laid on them for the past 6 years.