Feds: We're Ready This Time

The federal response to Hurricane Katrina was sharply criticized, but with another hurricane barreling toward the Gulf Coast, the secretary of Homeland Security insists things will be different when Hurricane Rita roars ashore.

Michael Chertoff

Texas Gov. Rick Perry

"I talked to both the president and Secretary Chertoff (Tuesday)," he said, "as well as many conversations between our homeland security and state emergency management folks. We have a good team put together. We've worked closely with the federal government in the past in (practice) exercises.

"Look, a Category 4, Category 5 storm is going to be catastrophic. Everyone understands that. But this state is as prepared as humanly possible. And we have a plan. We are putting it in place as we go. I want the people on the Gulf Coast to know that everything is being done appropriately for them to react calmly and this will all turn out all right.

"Texas is probably as prepared as any state in the nation, partially because we have had to deal with disasters of substantial size over the course of the years, just in the last three or four years."

Perry said that the government has had more than 150 emergency exercises since Sept. 11, 2001. He also said he has pre-positioned more than 5,000 National Guard troops and 1,000 Department of Public Safety troopers, and has aviation assets in place.

"The city of Galveston's already started a mandatory evacuation," he said. "So, it's evacuating those individuals, particularly in nursing homes, assisted living, that cannot take care of themselves who is my biggest concern at this particular point in time."

Chertoff deflected hints by former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown that officials in the White House dropped the ball after Katrina, turning deaf ears to his pleas for help.

"I think that in fact people were listening and moving very quickly, as quickly as they could to deal with what was an unprecedented situation," Chertoff said. "Of course, New Orleans presents certain challenges that are unlike those presented in Texas because the geographic configuration of the city is a bowl and it's essentially cut off, except for a few highways.

"What we're trying to do in Texas is take account of the fact that the landscape is different. We've got a broader stretch of coast to worry about, but we don't have a stretch of coast that's cut off from most of the land. And so we're working very closely with state officials to make sure that evacuation plans in place are going to be working properly."

Asked about continuing reports of bureaucratic bungling by FEMA, and whether the agency needs drastic changes, Chertoff said, "One of the things we are in the process of doing and will continue to do is look back and see what things worked well and what things didn't work well."

And on accounts of aid workers being forced to fill out paperwork rather than being put to work, Chertoff said, "That's the kind of stuff we have to cut through. I've been cutting through a lot of that stuff personally. I know the president has been cutting through a lot of that personally, where people are getting bogged down in excessive paperwork. That's the kind of stuff we're going to get rid of and we're going to force things to happen.

"Again, we want to make sure that things that are delivered are delivered in the right place at the right time in a coordinated way, but we don't want to have a lot of red tape."

Rita's anticipated arrival means moving many people evacuated to Texas after Katrina out of harm's way, again.

"Obviously, Texans have opened up their arms and their generous homes and my thoughts and prayers obviously with are with those individuals day in and day out," Perry said. "I think we have shown a great compassion. We will continue to do that in the system in every way that we can, all the while realizing that their safety is most paramount here. And being able to move them out of a storm that is coming into the shelter that they're in is the most important thing at this time."