Preparation Is Key to Disaster Response
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By Lawrence P. Farrell Jr.
The strident blame game and the frenetic, political tap dancing
that followed Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have overshadowed the
serious conversation that we need to have about the painful lessons
from our inadequate response to these disasters. It is a discussion
that is important to all levels of government, but should be of
prime interest to the Department of Homeland Security, as it continues
to develop its organizational structure and refine its procedures
for disaster response.
It’s
often been said in management circles that plans are only good intentions
unless they immediately translate into effective action.
This observation has come into sharp relief as administration and
military officials pondered the lessons of these two mega storms.
Military professionals know first-hand how difficult it is to respond
to any contingency without a detailed, well-rehearsed plan, with
a cadre ready to implement it and rehearsed provisions to call upon
outside support. In short, the military’s forte is good planning,
backed up by hard training and rehearsal against anticipated events.
And even though the military rarely executes exactly against the
postulated contingency, teamwork, leadership and command-and-control
are honed through these exercises.
Without necessarily pointing fingers, the problems we saw in the
aftermath of Katrina clearly resulted from an inability to execute
timely emergency-response plans at all levels—local, state
and federal.
It was clear local and state resources had been overwhelmed by
the unprecedented flooding, but why weren’t federal resources
and support coordinated sooner?
By the Department of Homeland Security’s own account, its
computer simulations had predicted that local first responders could
not cope with a crisis of that magnitude. Only when National Guard
and active-duty military units began arriving on the scene was there
some semblance of order and organization along the devastated areas
of the Gulf Coast.
Amidst the outrage and finger-pointing that followed the storm,
several lawmakers and homeland security experts called for the federal
government to make the Defense Department the lead agency for disaster
response.
The reasons driving these recommendations are obvious: What distinguishes
military units from every other organization is not just their meticulous
planning, but also their ability to train hard against their plans
and the ability to adjust when responding. The military’s
secret to success lies in its commitment to rehearsal and training.
So when it comes time to go into action, the soldiers, sailors,
airmen and Marines have confidence in their team, their leadership
and their ability to deal with the unexpected.
That spirit of preparation, readiness and professionalism needs
to spread throughout the other agencies that also bear responsibility
for disaster response and relief.
The now infamous “Hurricane Pam” simulation led DHS
to conclude a year ago that a hurricane scenario in New Orleans
would require massive federal intervention, but there was no “next
step” taken. In retrospect, command post exercises would have
helped to identify responsible actors for critical elements of the
plan, as well as deficiencies in planning and resources. And the
“hotwash” that follows every military exercise would
have identified areas to tighten up.
A major lesson from Katrina is that putting the military in charge
is not the answer. There must be procedures in place for the local
authorities to call upon federal resources, and those command-and-control
procedures have to be practiced and trained with all levels of government
participating.
Nor does throwing money at the problem solve things. Resources
already exist in the U.S. government, the states and cities. What
they all must do is agree on how to go about coordinating the response,
so that when an emergency arrives, a “war room” can
be set up at the site of the disaster, and leaders at all levels
know what is expected of them. That’s planning and coordinating
with the existing resources: it does not necessarily require additional
resources.
The rising clamor of decision-makers calling for the military to
take a primary role in disaster response may be missing the mark,
as was noted recently by Adm. Timothy J. Keating, head of U.S. Northern
Command. It is not just a Posse Comitatus issue, Keating said, referring
to the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act intended to keep the Army from conducting
domestic law enforcement.
The key question that must be answered is what capabilities are
needed to respond to a disaster—command-and-control, communications,
search-and-rescue, humanitarian assistance, medical care—and
set up explicit mechanisms for the local authorities to call upon
the military to deliver those capabilities. “We are more interested
in what the country would need … and against that need, we
provide a capability,” Keating said.
The lessons from Katrina, to be sure, will continue to shape homeland
security policies and programs. On a promising note, the Department
of Homeland Security just awarded $30 million in “competitive
training grants” to 15 organizations—including several
universities and non-profit agencies—for training initiatives
that are focused on preparing the nation to prevent, deter, respond
to, and recover from incidents of terrorism and natural disasters.
The training programs developed from the grants will strengthen
preparedness training for first responders, public officials and
citizens, according to DHS. “These training programs will
raise substantially the ability of our first responders, public
officials and citizens to meet the challenges we face as a nation,”
said Matt A. Mayer, acting executive director of the Office of State
and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness.
This is certainly an important first step toward ensuring that
the government can respond to disasters, and assuring an anxious
public that the agencies with the power and the resources not only
have a plan of action, but also know how to expeditiously execute
that plan the next time we face a catastrophe.
Please email me your comments to Lfarrell@ndia.org