Disturbing.
ABC News: Documents Show Katrina Warnings Ignored
On Aug. 27, two days before the storm made landfall, FEMA had prepared a slide presentation for White House officials. The FEMA slides said a Category 4 storm surge "could greatly overtop levees and protective systems." It's unclear who at the White House received this briefing or how its contents were distributed afterward.
Hours before the storm made landfall, the White House Situation Room received a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security in which experts predicted flooding "could leave the New Orleans metro area submerged for weeks or months." The report also said that hurricane damage could cost $10 billion to $14 billion.
At a hearing today, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said the White House has maintained a "refusal to answer" stance regarding questions and document requests by congressional investigators looking at the federal government's response to Katrina.
"Almost every question our staff has asked federal agency witnesses regarding conversations with or involvement of the White House has been met with a response that they could not answer on direction of the White House," Lieberman said.
After the storm hit, every official told us they couldn't know it would be so bad. I am not trying to be flippant, but I saw a documentary on Discovery Channel two years ago that outlined the dangers of a major storm hitting New Orleans, and a scenario that was presented included levee breaches. Even I knew that that could happen. The response to Katrina could have been better, and now there's no question that people at FEMA, Homeland Security and the White House knew what might happen, so why wasn't it better?
Brown was advised by agency lawyers not to answer specific questions about whether he'd spoken to President Bush and Vice President Cheney in the days leading up to the storm.
As a voter and a taxpayer, I want Mr. Brown to answer these questions. So do people living in tents and trailers on the Gulf Coast.
On Aug. 27, two days before the storm made landfall, FEMA had prepared a slide presentation for White House officials. The FEMA slides said a Category 4 storm surge "could greatly overtop levees and protective systems." It's unclear who at the White House received this briefing or how its contents were distributed afterward.
Hours before the storm made landfall, the White House Situation Room received a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security in which experts predicted flooding "could leave the New Orleans metro area submerged for weeks or months." The report also said that hurricane damage could cost $10 billion to $14 billion.
At a hearing today, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said the White House has maintained a "refusal to answer" stance regarding questions and document requests by congressional investigators looking at the federal government's response to Katrina.
"Almost every question our staff has asked federal agency witnesses regarding conversations with or involvement of the White House has been met with a response that they could not answer on direction of the White House," Lieberman said.
After the storm hit, every official told us they couldn't know it would be so bad. I am not trying to be flippant, but I saw a documentary on Discovery Channel two years ago that outlined the dangers of a major storm hitting New Orleans, and a scenario that was presented included levee breaches. Even I knew that that could happen. The response to Katrina could have been better, and now there's no question that people at FEMA, Homeland Security and the White House knew what might happen, so why wasn't it better?
Brown was advised by agency lawyers not to answer specific questions about whether he'd spoken to President Bush and Vice President Cheney in the days leading up to the storm.
As a voter and a taxpayer, I want Mr. Brown to answer these questions. So do people living in tents and trailers on the Gulf Coast.
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