Question

Do you think the federal government has improved its response posture since 9/11?

Has it improved Since Katrina? What made Katrina so different?

Answer 1

Seventeen years ago 19 terrorists, using four jetliners as guided missiles, killed 2977 people and enveloped the country in fear. It was the first sustained attack on American soilsince the bombing of Pearl harbour. Suddenly we were vulnerable. Not just to disease, tornadoes,accidents or criminals, but to the kinds of enemies that had always threatened others but never Americans.

Are Americans safer? Yes we're safer from the kind of orchestrated attack that shocked the Americans.

Over the course of nearly 20 months, the 9/11 Commission

investigated the facts and circumstances surrounding the

attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report, issued in July 2004,

made 41 recommendations for keeping our country safe. These

recommendations were endorsed by both presidential candidate

at the time and almost every member of Congress.

The Commission was authorized to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the attacks and to make recommendations to keep the country safe; the Commission had an extraordinary non-partisan staff, the members of which possessed deep expertise and conducted their work with thoroughness and professionalism.

Over the past years, our government’s response to the challenge of transnational terrorism has been dramatic. At the federal level, we have created major new institutions. The Department of Homeland Security itself was a massive reconfiguration of government, combining 22 agencies into a new department, with a workforce of 230,000 people and an annual budget of more than $50 billion. In total, some 263 organizations have been established or redesigned.

At the same time, the intelligence budget has surged to more than $80 billion – more than double what was spent in 2001. And throughout the national security community, a f lexible and resilient workforce has been trained to protect the American people in a new environment. The FBI, CIA, and the broader intelligence community have implemented significant reforms, disrupting many plots and bringing to justice many terrorist operatives.

Today, America is undoubtedly safer and more secure than it was a decade ago. We have damaged our enemy, but the ideology of violent Islamist extremism is alive and attracting new adherents, including right here in our own country. With important 9/11 Commission recommendations outlined in this report still unfulfilled, we fail to achieve the security we could or should have.

National security departments require strong leadership and attentive management at every level to ensure that all parts are working well together, and that innovation and imagination are championed. American agencies and their dedicated workforces enacted much change and they commend their achievements in protecting the American people.

Hurricane Katrina

Date - 23 August 2005 to 31 August 2005

Location : Gulf of Mexico , Mississippi , New Orleans , United States,

   Louisiana

Hurrican Katrina tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United states in late August 2005. The hurricane and its after math claimed more than 1800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in United States history.

Katrina formed as a tropical storm in the Bahamas on Aug. 24, 2005, first impacting the Florida coast on Aug. 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, then making landfall in southeastern Louisiana on Aug. 29 as a Category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h).

Katrina Meteorology and Forecasting

Composite image of Katrina's track and satellite images.

Composite image of Katrina's track and satellite images.Image courtesy CIMSS.

Katrina formed from the interaction of a tropical wave and the remnants of a previous tropical depression.The depression became Katrina August 24 when it was located over the Bahamas. Katrina was the 11th tropical storm of the 2005 hurricane season. Katrina turned westward on August 25th, toward Florida.

Early on August 28 Katrina underwent a second rapid intensification, strengthening from a Category 3 storm to a Category 5 storm with peak winds of 278 km/hr (172 mph). Hurricane force winds extended 167 km (104 miles) from the center and tropical storm force winds extended 370 km (230 miles) from the center. One reason for Katrina’s rapid development was the path Katrina took over the Loop Current, which provided deep warm water.

However, Katrina’s biggest impact was with storm surge and water. Due to the large size of the storm, there was a large wind field with maximum winds likely extending up to 55km (35 m ) from the center.

Things that changed After Katrina:

#Leadership:Presidents learned the importance of placing experienced emergency managers in charge of FEMA. During the Katrina disaster, President George W. Bush told FEMA Director Michael Brown, “you’re doing a heck of a job.” Ten days later, Brown resigned in disgrace.

An academic analysis found that turnover among FEMA leadership and appointees without sufficient qualifications contributed to the agency’s halting response.After Katrina and Brown's resign since then President is appointing the head of FEMA.

#Cell Phone and web:During Katrina, social media was a hobby of techie students. Facebook was not yet available beyond universities. Today, government agencies and rural Texans and Floridians use social media. People found out which shelters were open and who needed help during the storm through texts and tweets

#Early movers:After Katrina, Congress gave FEMA greater authority to move resources to a disaster zone before a storm rather than wait for formal requests from governors after the event. Before Harvey, truckloads of food, water and tents were positioned outside of the flood zone, waiting for rains to subside so they could be sent to the recovery zone. Supplies from FEMA and the Department of Defense arrived within hours, not days, after the rains ended.

#Time matters: The best time to prepare for the next disaster is immediately after the current one. Now is the time to communicate true flood risks through flood mapping, strengthen building and zoning guidance, organize community planning efforts to know what to do when the worst happens, and build new infrastructure to send water out of vulnerable areas. FEMA can be a partner in these efforts, but it requires leadership from politicians and bureaucrats at all levels of government.