By Richard Pera, American Military University
If you ask someone from Louisiana to characterize the federal government’s response to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, you would likely receive a viscerally negative reaction. Indeed, commenting on the post-Katrina response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a spokesperson for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco uttered these now famous and often-quoted words in a New York Times article: “We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food, and water… They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart.”
Fast forward seven years for a very different assessment of the federal government’s response—this time to Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the New Jersey coast. During an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie praised the federal response: “The President has been outstanding and so have the folks at FEMA.”
This was a remarkable turnaround.
Full Story: Emergency and Disaster Response: Is the U.S. Better at It Now?