Quote:
Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
****The local officials are already enacting their plan before any federal agency gets there. As the federal help arriving on the scene, you simply do what the local officials tell you to do. You fill needs they have identified, because they are far more familiar with their situation than you are.***
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Well, we have an honest disagreement. I think your emergency plan is deeply flawed. It rests entirely on the assumption that "local officials are already enacting their plan." If they are not, or if there is no plan, the whole response breaks down, with awful consequences.
Nor do I think that DHS/FEMA should be regulated to a role of doing whatever some Deputy Mayor tells them to. FEMA is the professional emergency manager. The locals may or may not have their act together in that regard, and they surely don't have a $6 Billion budget like FEMA.
The Governor asks for the President to declare an emergency. That triggers federal authority to act. Once declared, FEMA should be responsible. They have professionals, they have $6 Billion, and they will and should be accountable.