WAS KATRINA A CATASTROPHIC EVENT?

On August 30, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
designated Hurricane Katrina "an incident of national
significance," and thereby activated the National Response Plan
(NRP).

But did the Secretary also designate the Hurricane as a
"catastrophic event," a special sub-category of emergency
situations that entails the expedited deployment of emergency
response capabilities?

The answer to this question is mysteriously hard to find.

Catastrophic events permit "an accelerated, proactive national
response" and may include "mobilizing and deploying assets before
they are requested via normal NRP protocols," according to the
Catastrophic Incident Annex to the National Response Plan.

"A catastrophic event is any natural or manmade incident, including
terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass
casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the
population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale,
and/or government functions."

"All catastrophic events are Incidents of National Significance."
However, not all Incidents of National Significance are
"catastrophic events."

So did the Secretary designate Katrina a catastrophic event, or not?

DHS won't say.

"When asked if Chertoff exercised his catastrophic incident
authority in response to Hurricane Katrina, DHS spokesman Russ
Knocke said it was too early to make a determination," wrote Chris
Strohm in Government Executive Daily Briefing on September 8 in
perhaps the only news story to address the issue. See:

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0905/090805c1.htm

The answer to this question would help clarify whether the faulty
government response to Katrina was a failure of planning or of
personnel, or some combination of the two.
--

"I'll have those god-damned ******s voting Democratic for the next 200
years." - Lyndon B. Johnson, proud left-wing liberal racist democrat