Department of Homeland Security: F is for Failure

Department of Homeland Security: F is for FAILURE

The United States of America has gone through many changes since the coordinated attacks on September 11, 2001.  One of those changes was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an agency that was suppose to protect the country against all threats, to prepare for Terrorist or National disasters.  The federal government (read: Bush Administration) shuffled around different agencies, making them part of the DHS.  One such agency was FEMA.  Ready for anything that the world can throw at the US right?

Absolutely wrong.  The DHS has been revealed to be an utter failure.  On July 13, 2005 the DHS posted their agenda.  On this date they showed themselves for the failure that they are, it would just take Katrina to show the rest of the world.  What was this agenda you ask?  Well:
“The six-point agenda will guide the department in the near term and result in changes that will:
1.  Increase overall preparedness, particularly for catastrophic events
2.  Create better transportation security systems to move people and cargo more securely and efficiently
3.  Strengthen border security and interior enforcement and reform immigration processes;
4.  Enhance information sharing with our partners
5.  Improve DHS financial management, human resource development, procurement and information technology
6.  Realign the DHS organization to maximize mission performance. ” (emphasis added)
Let’s see how they do when judge by their own stated goals.

Was the DHS prepared for the catastrophic event of a Category 4 Hurricane hitting Louisiana?  You know, that event that has been talked about for the past few decades?  It took almost a week to get the relief effort in gear.  That is counting all of the work that the American Red Cross, the National Guard, heck Wal-Mart put into providing relief before the DHS came in and screwed things up.  What happen in that long period without the federal government intervention?  Death, destruction, rape, and murder.  If the federal government was actually prepared it would have been in the mix a lot earlier.  

A better transportation system?  Not a chance.  There were water drops from helicopters.  You might think this was a good thing, guess what, the packaging broke on contact with the water below.  The cases broke open spilling the bottles into the river that is New Orleans.  Making thirsty, desperate people trying to get individual bottles out of waist deep water, what, is this some kind of sick sport?

Communication between the different agencies trying to help was non-existent in the beginning.  Did the DHS re-establish this?  No, Verizon decided to get in there and fix the wireless connections.  Doesn’t the US Government own the most satellites in the (out of) world?  What about all the Satellite Phones that they have?  How is there a lack of communication ability for these people?

So much for maximizing performance.  Unfortunately, there have been many global disasters over the years that the DHS could have learned from.  Does anyone remember the Tsunami?  What about the massive Iraqi deployments of the US military that the Bush Administration has ordered?  If  Bush’s administration can plan for the temporary housing and feeding of close to 200,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen, they could have done the same for Louisiana.  Tents & cots for sleeping; telephone trailers with their own generators; a simple spreadsheet database program recording the names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, and next of kin information for everyone trucked and bused out of Louisiana.  With the federal government’s massive move towards laptops it would have been easy to have one (preloaded with that simple spreadsheet database) on each bus and truck that left the devastated area.

Instead there are just those suffering and those preventable deaths that are now facing the rescuers working in Louisiana.