A week ago a tragedy happened in Texas. The initial news about the deaths (and destruction) from the flash flooding was bad. With each passing day it’s gotten worse. Not just the death toll which will wind up being a hundred or lives more than was estimated during the first 24 hours, but also about the scope of the local, state and federal governments contribution to the loss of life. That includes in the critical first few days AFTER the flooding hit. Incredibly, some journalists are actually posing some tough questions about the Trump administration. It seems like a given their responses to questions and criticisms has made them look all the worse.
I wrote what I realized was an insanely long article this afternoon about this. Screw that. I want to keep it as simple as getting a federal Disaster Declaration and FEMA unleashed to do what it can do so well used to be. For the record twenty years ago I worked two stings with FEMA in the Winchester, Virginia NSPC. I was hired on as one of well over 400 temps (they did the same creating one in Texas of similar size) and started off taking applications over the phone. Then got moved to Helpline work. As call volume decreased our ranks shrank, until in early 2005 forty of us were offered a chance to become actual Federal employees. So I (again) raised my right hand, swore the oath to the Constitution and presto, I was a Disaster Temporary Employee of FEMA.
Of course it wasn’t that simple. The paperwork (the good ole SF-86 for security clearance) for one thing. But also the training. A LOT of training but eventually I was even qualified to go work in the field at actual disaster sites. (Not everyone takes that step) Being a “Temp” I too was eventually laid off for the season. But seeing Katrina sitting there in the Gulf of Mexico I knew the call was coming and I went back. My point is that while I’m sure I’ve forgotten some stuff we got really, really good training. So I’d like to explain some things.
Like I said I want to make this simple. FEMA was created back during the Carter administration. It would become widely known and respected. Enough so that Clinton elevated it to Cabinet status. Of course, Bush 43 came in with his ‘whatever Clinton did we’re doing the opposite’ attitude and FEMA was downgraded. Worse, it got folded into DHS. Like the Secret Service it’s never been quite the same since, but it did have it’s share of successes. Conservatives of course hate having a federal govt. program that works well and that the public believes can be counted on. And in the worst of circumstances.
They’ve tried to mess with funding of course. The authorizing legislation, the Stafford Act pretty much guarantees Congress has to allocate whatever money FEMA needs. So conservatives tried demanding “offsets” as in cutting other federal expenditures (for liberal stuff of course!) when a disaster hit blue state. Lots of hypocrisy was noted when this would happen. But conservatives still want to kill off FEMA. They’ve altered tactics to an old standby. Screw up a working agency/program then pull out the bullhorns to bitch about how messed up it is, and used their own freaking sabotage to gut it.
Here’s how it’s supposed to work, and has worked so well so often in FEMA’s history. A Governor makes a formal request for a Disaster Declaration for affected counties or parts of counties. The President signs it. In as little as a few hours this can get done and disaster relief workers and supplies can move in to help. Not anymore. Hell, Arkansas Gov. Sanders who served Trump faithfully made an entirely justifiable request and flat-out got turned down! It was a sign of things to come.
What we’ve learned this week is that Noem, ever Trumpty’s servant found a new way to muck things up. As CNN reported she implemented a sweeping rule that any contract or grant over $100k had to be personally signed off on by her. That delayed surging resources including teams that might have found and rescued people who survived the initial onslaught of water couldn’t deploy. How many people, clinging to tree branches above the water, or what was left of some house or shack, going without food or water for over a day or even two succumbed? We’ll never know. And Noem, or Trump don’t care. Gov. Abbott is starting to care because it turns out for years this was a situation waiting to happen. The worst hit area is after all known as ‘Flash Flood Alley!’
It’s not the first time a political figurehead has injected themselves into a disaster response. Remember Katrina and Baby Bush’s “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job?” This isn’t on that scale, but if Noem is going to be involved in what until now have been routine decisions about spending what by federal disaster standards are small sums i shudder at what things will be like when a major hurricane hits.
One thing I learned in FEMA training that struck home was the importance of a clear chain of command out there in the field. Perhaps it was time time in the Marines that made this stand out but when things are crazy having someone with clear command authority giving those in the thick of the actions is vital. As the Travolta character says in the movie Broken Arrow (to the money man) sharing command “Is NEVER a good idea.” That’s why the system was set up to immediately assign an Incident Commander who would have total authority to set priorities and appoint deputies to manage various aspects of the rescue and recovery. Some DC asshole intervening (again I refer you to the best known example – Katrina) costs. Lives and more.
If you ‘read government’ and are so inclined you can read a lot of details about implementation of emergency/disaster response here on the FEMA website. However all you really need to know is this: The system is designed to be be simple to implement. From there the reins are supposed to be turned over to a seasoned professional with tons of disaster relief experience, both in the field and in administrative stuff including liaising with other agencies and states regarding disaster relief. They in turn appoint key deputies who report only to them. And, as I said within hours, sometimes only an hour or two they are on their way to start doing what they do. Complex stuff that require people who actually know shit about what the hell they need to do. NOT amateurs who only care about photo-ops and/or political grandstanding.
Their work is anything but simple. However the process of putting them in place so they can unleash FEMA to do what it’s proven it can do so well is simple. Or used to be…
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If you put incompetent people in charge of things, then things will be performed incompetently.
Exhibit A. The Texas ‘Flash Flood Valley’ flash floods.
Oh! Who could have predicted this?