9/11 Commission Heads on Katrina

Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean were intereviewd by CSM and commented on Homeland Security's (I hate that name) response to Katrina:

"A number of our recommendations were in the area of emergency preparedness. Many of those recommendations have not been implemented. We believe had they been implemented that the tragedy might have been less severe in terms of human lives," Mr. Kean said at a Monitor breakfast. "Do we have to wait for another national emergency to get some of these things done?"

Hurricane Katrina has altered Mr. Hamilton's assessment of overall security. "We often said during ... the 9/11 hearings that we were safer but not safe," he said. "What struck me after Katrina was that we were not as safe as I thought we were."

Two reforms are vital in the post-Katrina world, they argue. One is to make clear who is in charge at the federal level during emergencies. The other, they say, is to require every state to adopt a detailed command-and-control plan for disasters - and link it to receiving funding from the US Department of Homeland Security.