Chapter Chapter 4
Section From response to Recovery - Federal Coordination
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From response to Recovery
Federal Coordination
After a week of crisis, Federal, State, and local officials began transitioning to a more organized and sustained response. As requirements eased and material flowed into the region, Federal departments addressed those problems that had afflicted their response during its first week. The establishment of JFOs in several States across the Gulf Coast in the following weeks enhanced the Federal response by providing the coordination and management that had been largely absent.199 On September 5, Secretary Chertoff appointed Vice Admiral (VADM) Thad Allen to the position of Deputy PFO. At that time, the Louisiana JFO was still a temporary office near the Louisiana Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge, almost eighty miles from New Orleans. However, to gain greater visibility of the disaster area, VADM Allen stood up a “PFO-Forward Headquarters” in New Orleans on the USS Iwo Jima on September 7.200 The PFO-Forward rapidly increased the effectiveness of the Federal response by providing a Federal unified command close to the disaster scene. On September 9, Secretary Chertoff appointed VADM Allen to replace Michael Brown as PFO for Hurricane Katrina.201 Director Brown returned to Washington to assume his duties as FEMA Director, rather than managing the field operations for Katrina.202 On September 21, VADM Allen was given additional authorities when he was appointed FCO, in addition to PFO.203 VADM Allen’s appointments ultimately proved critical for energizing the JFO and the entire Federal response to Hurricane Katrina.204
The formation of Federal coordination entities also improved law enforcement operations. On September 6, the two Senior Federal Law Enforcement Officials (SFLEOs) 205 each representing the DOJ and DHS, respectively, established a Law Enforcement Coordination Center (LECC)206 in New Orleans to help coordinate law enforcement personnel operating in the city and surrounding parishes. For the first time during the hurricane response, New Orleans now had a unified command for law enforcement comprised of the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana State Police, the National Guard, and all Federal law enforcement personnel.207 Improved coordination, combined with increased Federal law enforcement assistance, strengthened public safety and security in New Orleans. On September 12, the DOD stated that there was “ v ery little criminal activity” in New Orleans, and that the “military presence deters criminals before damage can be done.208 By September 13, the City of New Orleans reported law enforcement and military personnel had successfully reestablished security in the City.209
Improved security and the deployment of additional Federal personnel also facilitated search and rescue operations, particularly in New Orleans. By this point, most of the people stranded on rooftops had been rescued, so operations focused more on door-to-door searches. Rescue teams completed primary ground searches in New Orleans on September 12, and spent the next two weeks entering buildings to locate trapped survivors and deceased victims. 210 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams completed all Mississippi assignments on September 10 and ended all operations in Louisiana twenty days later.211
Lessons Learned:
The Department of Homeland Security should develop an integrated public communications plan to better inform, guide, and reassure the American public before, during, and after a catastrophe. The Department of Homeland Security should enable this plan with operational capabilities to deploy coordinated public affairs teams during a crisis.
The DHS Public Affairs Office established a Joint Information Center (JIC) in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, September 6, to provide accurate and timely information on the Federal response and relief efforts as well as to counter misinformation.212 The formation of a second facility in New Orleans three days later improved the flow of accurate information back to the Baton Rouge JIC. These JICs helped to stem the spread of rumors and unsubstantiated reports that had plagued public information efforts during the first week after landfall.
Federal and State officials struggled to locate, recover, and identify the hundreds of deceased victims. While mortuary affairs is generally a State and local responsibility, the NRP is unclear about the appropriate Federal role, leading to substantial confusion.213 FEMA established body collection points at Gulfport, Mississippi, and St. Gabriel, Louisiana, in the days following Hurricane Katrina’s landfall.214 From August 31 to September 4, FEMA also deployed ten Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORTs) and both of its Disaster Portable Morgue Units (DPMU) to help State and local personnel identify and process bodies at those collection points.215 On September 1, FEMA reached a verbal agreement with Kenyon International Emergency Services, a disaster management contractor, to retrieve and transport bodies.216 However, difficulties finalizing the agreement with Kenyon hindered body recovery efforts on the ground.217 Frustrated Kenyon executives withdrew from their agreement with FEMA; this led FEMA to request that DOD take over the body recovery effort until another contractor could be found.218
Disagreement between Federal and State officials over body recovery responsibilities continued for weeks after landfall. Federal officials maintained that body recovery was ultimately a State responsibility with the Federal government providing support only.219 In a September 13 press conference, Governor Blanco expressed her dismay and blamed FEMA for failing to “break through the bureaucracy” to finalize a contact with Kenyon International. On September 13, Governor Blanco directed the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to sign its own written contract with Kenyon, even though the Governor believed that “recovery of bodies is a FEMA responsibility.220 The deployed DMORTs performed well in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Though they found themselves in the midst of a catastrophic disaster and caught in a public political dispute, they carried out their mission with great professionalism and compassion.
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