Wanted: Whistleblowers. Any Whistleblowers.
I was listening to MPR while driving to work this morning.
The reporter was interviewing a Mr. Borstein, a disaster recovery employee of some sort or another, who has apparently (according to the report) worked extensively with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
I'm paraphrasing very closely (once again, I have no digital recorder in my car).
The reporter - a Ms. Sullivan - related Mr. Bornstein's accounts of FEMA screwups in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I'm going to have to find the transcript (I can't at the moment), but the report seemed to be a lot of things that, depending on context, might or might not say anything about FEMA's performance. Example (again, paraphrasing closely): Mr. Borstein didn't personally see the amount of FEMA resources that he thought should have been on the scene, from his perspective. Of course, his perspective - the context of the knowledge he brings to the issue - is never really explained.
The part I thought was the biggest hooter, though, was Ms. Sullivan's description of Mr. Borstein's visit to FEMA's national command post the Saturday before Katrina struck. Again, paraphrasing closely:
Mr. Borstein was shocked to see that the staff at the command post wasn't doing the things he expected them to be doing - mobilizing National Guard units, calling up buses...
Shocking?
Maybe - except that only governors "mobilize" the National Guard for natural disasters. And as of the Saturday before Katrina's landfall, rounding up buses was supposed to be the local government's job as of the day before (and the day after!) the hurricane.
Isn't the big advantage of the mainstream media - like NPR - that they "check their facts?"
Just curious.
Posted by Mitch at
September 16, 2005 12:13 PM
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I seriously want DVR functionality for the radio in my car, (though of course it wouldn't be V for video - DRR? Digital Radio Recording?.) Both the hubby and I find ourselves looking for the "back" button on the radio.
Posted by: Sandy at September 16, 2005 11:12 AMA fun anecdote about NPR listeners -- Two weeks ago, a buddy and I were hiking in the Glacier National Park backcountry for 7 days. They have campsites with room for several tents set up and on Wednesday night (Aug. 31) we were with a couple of other groups. Talk turned to driving to the park and different radio stations to listen to -- several of the hikers professed to only listen to NPR (also professed to being democrats) with one saying her dad (a Republican) kept telling her NPR would brainwash her. This brought a derisive chuckle from the other NPR devotees. Shortly after talk turned to gas prices with on of them declaring that how could people afford to fill up their cars with the country in such a recession as anybody who listens to the news knows that the economy is in the tank!
Good 'ol NPR
Posted by: Michael at September 16, 2005 12:42 PMActually the Wall Street Journal noted leading indicators of a recession a month or two back (forgot what they were). What we are most familiar with (employment), is a lagging indicator, and I have seen in at least two non-NPR sources (again I'm fuzzy ... sorry) that this has been characterized as a weak to moderate recovery.
My guess (and this is only a guess) is that come next March there will be a confluence of events all pointing towards a mild recession, and we'll notice it summer/fall/winter but it won't become "official" for quite some time after that.
Back to the subject: I heard the interview on the way to lunch. The interviewee was Leo Borstein, a 26 year veteran of FEMA dating back to when it was founded. His duties were to gather reports in the field, collate, and send a daily email to senior FEMA officials. He did this work from some kind of national emergency response center. His last email before returning to the office Saturday had boldface type at the top of it warning about the effects of a level 4 or 5 hurricane on New Orleans, and that it was emminent. The low level of activitity surprised not only himself but also his fellow workers; this generated a lot of interoffice comment. He compared the level of activity and resources being assembled by FEMA as the equivilent amount of activity for a level 1 hurricane.
Posted by: Bill Haverberg at September 16, 2005 01:15 PMI just read today that FEMA was told in the late 90's to spend $500,000 to come with a comprehensive plan for evacuation of New Orleans because it had been long predicted that major hurricane would likely wipe out most of the city.
Posted by: Teena at September 18, 2005 06:41 PMFEMA, instead, spent their time and money on plans for a bridge. Just think how far that $500,000 could have gone if they had actually followed orders and developed the evacuation plan. Sadly, this was when the bureau was functioning better and had the funding that it doesn't have today. Maybe the release of the story at this time was meant to make those responsible for the screw-ups not look quite so bad in all of this. Who knows?