Re-written National Response Plan “a step backward”
Bruce Baughman, Alabama’s very recently retired director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (and 32 year veteran of FEMA), received high marks for the state’s response to Katrina, but offers harsh words for the Bush administration’s re-write of the National Response Plan, calling it a “step backward.”
“Where’s the beef?” asked Baughman, who is Alabama’s emergency management chief. “I don’t have any problems with a framework . . . but it’s not a plan . . . and it’s not national. Who are we fooling here?”
He is not alone. The lead on the story…
A decision by the Bush administration to rewrite in secret the nation’s emergency response blueprint has angered state and local emergency officials, who worry that Washington is repeating a series of mistakes that contributed to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago.
Not saying at all that the comments are ill-deserved, but this is characteristic of the kind of piling on that the administration is getting.
(R) Jeff Sessions (1-19)
(D) Vivian Figures (33-1)
(D) Artur Davis (1-49)
(R) Mike Hubbard (13-1)
(?) David Bronner (OFF)