Rogers Statement on Hurricane Katrina Report

Rogers Statement on Hurricane Katrina Report

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Harold "Hal" Rogers (KY-05), chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, offered the following statement regarding the report issued by the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and the Response to Hurricane Katrina:

"Mr. Chairman, following September 11, the federal government undertook the largest reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. 22 agencies with 180,000 employees - Secret Service, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, and FEMA, among others - merged into the Department of Homeland Security. Congress stood up DHS to help us better deter, prepare, coordinate, and respond to catastrophic events and the threat of terrorism. I believe we are safer today because of this integration.

But clearly, as this report shows in detail, we are not nearly where we need to be. Hurricane Katrina was the first real test of our domestic emergency preparedness and response capabilities and to put it plainly, we failed. Not just DHS and FEMA, but every level of government from the ground up - local, state, and federal - contributed to cracks in the system that eventually caused the "levee" to break. Katrina exposed these fissures in an unfortunate way.

From the costly delay in ordering a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, to the command-control confusion at the federal level, it is apparent that we must now close these gaps. This report gives us 13 identified failures. We must now go to work in making all levels of our emergency response system efficient, effective, and forward-thinking. We must be certain that simulation exercise recommendations are followed through, that evacuation plans are clearly understood, up-to-date, and properly executed, and that communications equipment works in the eye of the storm.

Mr. Chairman, fixing these problems starts today. In a few minutes, Secretary Chertoff will be presenting the FY07 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security in my Subcommittee. I look forward to this important discussion. I have a lot of tough questions for the Secretary, particularly how these 13 failures are being addressed. I'm confident this report will immediately become part of the dialogue to improving our nation's preparedness and response functions. We all must learn from Katrina.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for taking this challenge on and I look forward to working with you in the future to face the challenges ahead."

http://halrogers.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=49