Security

Kay Bailey's "Disaster"

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, I’d like to introduce you to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. You may not be familiar with it. Which is why you proposed Kelly Airfield*** as the home of a new National Disaster Response Center. Hutchison plans to offer an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that asks for a […]

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, I'd like to introduce you to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. You may not be familiar with it. Which is why you proposed Kelly Airfield*** as the home of a new National Disaster Response
Center.

Php5wnizdam

Hutchison plans to offer an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that asks for a study of the issue, which she said is the first step toward a final decision. The study sought by Hutchison, to be completed by next March, would determine whether a disaster center is feasible
— including whether existing structures could be used, construction costs, the estimated number of employees and other issues…

“San Antonio and Kelly Air Field is an ideal location for this type of center to provide coordinated response activities from local, state and federal governments and the military,” Hutchison said in a statement.
“Texas has a lot of experience dealing with disasters, and the capacity and strategic location of Kelly Air Field will bring the assets and resources together to improve disaster response and recovery for our nation.”

I’m not so sure about this one. We already have a National Disaster Response Center. It’s called the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I know. I know. FEMA sucks. But, I don’t think this legislation solves anything. We’ve already created several new layers of federal emergency response: DHS, U.S. Northern Command. Do we really need another?

Plus, given DHS’s manning woes, are we really going to be able to staff this thing with quality people? And why San Antonio? FEMA Region Six HQ is in
Denton TX right outside of Dallas.

This is a good example of learning the wrong lessons from
Katrina. We don’t need more organizations;
we need to fix the ones that we already have. Senator Hutchinson’s a smart lady, and I’d like to see some smarter legislation. How about a fix FEMA amendment?

***Bonus Trivia Note: Kelly Field was where my grandfather LTC (ret) E.W. Alexander got his start as a flying sergeant. He enlisted in 1938 in Company L of the 9th
Infantry at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and retired from the USAF in 1968. How’s that for upward mobility?