10/27/07 New Orleans Times-Picayune: Storm readiness shortfalls kept secret Storm readiness shortfalls kept secret

Officials say disclosure would be security risk

New Orleans Times-Picayune – Saturday, October 27, 2007

By Bill Walsh

WASHINGTON — The state of Louisiana and the Bush administration are refusing to disclose analyses that would let the public know where gaps exist in the government’s hurricane preparation and response plans, including evacuation, medical services and shelters.

Citing national security concerns, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused to turn over “gap analyses” conducted on 18 coastal states, from Maine to Texas, that are susceptible to hurricanes. FEMA officials say that because the reviews discuss “critical infrastructure,” they are not available to the public under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Louisiana emergency preparedness officials first referred questions to FEMA and then declined to provide further information about ongoing problems in planning for hurricanes. “This is a FEMA project,” said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Response.

The Times-Picayune first asked for the gap analyses in June after FEMA Director David Paulison announced at the start of the 2007 hurricane season that the state-by-state reviews were part of the agency’s new approach to ensuring disaster readiness.

After the much-maligned federal, state and local responses to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FEMA decided to review “core readiness capabilities” in six major areas: evacuation, medical services, debris removal, commodities, sheltering and fuel. Modeled after an assessment developed by New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, FEMA asked coastal states to identify gaps in their preparedness and to ask the federal government for help in advance.

Paulison has mentioned the “Gap Analysis Initiative” at news conferences and in congressional testimony since the process was launched in March. But his agency has refused to provide specifics.

“FEMA agreed with the states not to release this data due to the potential release of critical infrastructure data,” James McIntyre, a spokesman for the agency, said. “In addition, we find the data to be of a sensitive nature that could be misused if widely available.”

Specifics withheld

This summer, FEMA agreed to provide background to The Times-Picayune on the six categories that are the focus of the analyses. But officials declined to provide specifics about ongoing problems in any state. One official said the information has been confined to a “small group,” and even some “higher-ups” at the Department of Homeland Security had not seen it. A survey of FEMA oversight committees in the House and Senate found that none had seen the analyses and some were not aware of their existence.

The officials said the reviews were far more comprehensive than any before. For example, instead of merely asking states to ensure that elderly or homebound residents have a means of getting to a shelter, the analysis bores down to a deeper level of detail. According to the officials, it asks who is going to pick up the residents at home, where the staging point is, how they will get from the staging point to the shelter, whether the shelter has the medical equipment necessary and how the person would get back home.

Government not fully ready

Despite the detailed planning, there is disagreement about how ready the government is. Even as FEMA officials this summer made assurances about the availability of shelters, improved communications and ready supply of commodities, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security expressed doubts. At a July 31 House hearing, Deputy Inspector General Matt Jadacki said gaps remained in availability of supplies, staffing, federal-state coordination, communications, financing and the development of the National Response Plan.

“If we had another catastrophic event, we’d have some improvement but we’re not there yet in probably hundreds of areas,” Matt Jadacki, deputy inspector general, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

When pressed for specifics by Chairman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Jadacki said it would take six months to develop a comprehensive analysis of the gaps in disaster readiness and 90 days to develop a report-card style review.

“I think it would be very helpful to provide a list of exact needs to be done in order for the American people to be assured that their government will be able to respond in a way they can be confident,” Kucinich said.

Louisiana officials agreed in July to provide details of what it had requested of FEMA as far as supplies, equipment and expertise. With the heaviest part of hurricane season still ahead, the idea was to identify gaps in readiness by examining the kinds of federal assistance the state needed. Through this week, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness still has not provided the list of FEMA requests.

After Hurricane Katrina, political activist Ben Smilowitz began analyzing disaster preparedness by closely watching the news conferences, hearings and reports to match recommendations with concrete action. His “Disaster Accountability Project” is tracking 540 recommendations and “most have not been done,” he said.

He said he is not surprised at the state and federal government’s refusal to disclose the remaining problems in readiness.

“It is very typical,” he said. “The reports welcome criticism, and it is something the agencies don’t want. It is the same thing they say about evacuation routes for nuclear accidents. They make those classified as well. There is clearly a public interest.”