Ill Communication

As the Wall Street Journal reports, some government agencies and media outlets knew that the levees protecting New Orleans had given way by Monday, Aug. 29. "Yet it wasn't until Tuesday that most people across the country, apparently including Mr. Chertoff, realized that any levees at all had been breached." So, why the gap? The article focuses more on the media side, but this bit about the government is interesting:

Officials with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers said last week that one canal breach came to the attention of corps personnel early Monday, Aug. 29 and another by midday. But the "fog of war" and "massive logistical problems with communications in the hours after the storm hit" created some confusion, said John Rickey, a spokesman for the corps.

A New York Times post-op (which, among other things, contains a harrowing section about violence in the Convention Center), reports this about the FUBAR communications:

Telephone and cellphone service died, and throughout the crisis the state's special emergency communications system was either overloaded or knocked out. As a result, officials were unable to fully inventory the damage or clearly identify the assistance they required from the federal government. "If you do not know what your needs are, I can't request to FEMA what I need," said Colonel Doran, of the state office of homeland security. […]

FEMA attributed some of the delay to miscommunications in an overwhelming event. "There was a significant amount of discussions between the parties and likely some confusion about what was requested and what was needed," said Mr. Knocke, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

It will be interesting to assess how much of the crossed wires was due to technical failure, how much was bad planning for back-up systems, and how much was because humans reacted poorly to a stressful and chaotic information flow.

UPDATE: Commenter Justin Raimondo points to this passage in a long Washington Post article:

The federal disaster response plan hinges on transportation and communication, but National Guard officials in Louisiana and Mississippi had no contingency plan if they were disrupted; they had only one satellite phone for the entire Mississippi coast, because the others were in Iraq.

Comments

[Crusader Rabbit]

I'm voting for #3, but for a different reason. Based on my experience in southern Louisiana, I'm guessing the folks in charge in N.O. just weren't getting enough spiff to make it worth their while to respond to anything. They were just holding out for a better offer.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

The governor was blistering mad? She should be hounded from office like Brother Brown. Bet that won't happen.

I may be lame, but the WSJ link doesn't seem to go where it should.

[Matt Welch]

Winey -- Thanks, fixed.

[mewsifer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702462.html

I find this an interesting compliment to poor Governor Blanco and the rest of the LA State government. Not precisely about "communications" but maybe about why they ended up being so needed.

[Shannon Love]

I think the best model for disaster communications is the Army's Battle-net. It lets military units build up their own ad hoc communications net as needed without any centralized direction. I also think that airborne systems that could function like cell phone towers would be a could idea.

Of course, all the wizbang technology in the world won't save you if people are careless. For example, the New Orleans police and emergency communication system had no backup power for any of their repeaters. Once they lost main power they lost their communications. The political leadership has to take disaster planning seriously or were screwed.

[mewsifer]

Having read the NYT piece twice: Why do I have the feeling that this might have worked out a whole lot better if Gen. Honore had stormed into the state operation "blistering mad" ? With authority to take over everything?

You're right of course, Shannon, but good commo can't really compensate if there's no unity of command, which there obviously wasn't here.

That's what strikes me: if you think of the response as a military operation, it has almost every basic mistake in it that a new 2LT would know not to make.

[dead_elvis]

Speaking of ill communication, what's the deal with proxy.blogads.com? It takes forever for H&R pages to load waiting for them. Safari tells me "can't find host" in the activity window.

Please fix. The usual problems are bad enough.

[Justin Raimondo]

"The federal disaster response plan hinges on transportation and communication, but National Guard officials in Louisiana and Mississippi had no contingency plan if they were disrupted; they had only one satellite phone for the entire Mississippi coast, because the others were in Iraq."

-- Washington Post, Sunday, September 11, 2005; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/10/AR2005091001529_pf.html

[Happy Jack]

Just to satisfy TallDave, and since the topic is communications, FEMA has been a little slow with requested generators and radios.

[mewsifer]

I doubt that TallDave, or anyone elsse for that matter, is going to be satisfied with a posting from Gov. Blanco's office, anymore than they would be from whitehouse.gov

[Coachacola]

Having grown up on the Gulf Coast next to Louisiana, visiting there was always a little like going to a third world country. It doesn't surprise me that they were ill-prepared for such a major storm. The governor and mayor should both resign.

[Happy Jack]

mewsifer-perhaps this, notice the date, plus the date of the letter in the above link, then read this.

The picture will come into view.

[Happy Jack]

Oh, I should have added this for a proper timeline of the communication problems.

[mewsifer]

In Blanco's letter (and published letters from a governor to a president of opposite parties are always as much posture as anything else), Blanco asks for the entire world, essentially.

Her letter is Sept 2, so an instant response to the letter by FEMA presumably would not have solved commo problems on August 29th!

Moreover, the news report you linked cited 175 generators with fuel along with radios as things delayed as of 8 September, and then goes on to quote:

"Those items would be helpful, said Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, with the Louisiana National Guard, but he added, "The mission's getting done without all this."

So it's rather hard to see where those items fit in the priority list. IF these were the only things requested, I might cast an eye at a 6+ day delay in delivering that equipment - but not in light of everything else she asked for.

They really needed robust communications before the storm hit.

[mewsifer]

"They really needed robust communications before the storm hit."

And you second post makes that doubly clear! My goodness, what a mess they had. That's why I listed the WP article above. LA has gotten tons of money over the last decades and they needed to use some of it to deal with these problems before they happened; if everything gets destroyed, there's no way anoyne's going to rebuild it for them in a week.

[Another citizen]

The governor was blistering mad? She should be hounded from office like Brother Brown. Bet that won't happen.

I see you and raise you a Chimpler.

[jf (movie critic)]

Chimpler

The guy is an incompetant boob, but you betray yourself when you make comments like that. Go back to Democratic Underground, where they love that crap.

While I'm at it, the people who think they are so clever by making the sarcastic "but Kerry would have been worse" statements every other thread forget one thing: Kerry may not have been worse, but he never did a damn thing in his life to show he'd have been better. If he had, you'd have been able to subtract one Bush vote and add one Kerry vote here in Ohio. Hell, maybe two, although my girlfriend was just generally scared by Kerry.

[jf (music critic)]

Furthermore, that song "Succumb" from your link, Mr. Another Citizen, is more properly termed "noise", or perhaps "ass". Just because one has a computer and midi software doesn't mean one has to use it.

[Another citizen]

I don't think they want me back a 3d time.

[Chuck]

CNN's live reporters were saying Monday night (the 29th) that water levels in the city were still rising. I turned to my wife and said, "There has to be a levee breach. No way the water should still be rising otherwise." The whole world knew by Monday night at the latest that there was a problem with the levees.

[Douglas Fletcher]

If you don't like the government, next time there's a hurricane, call a rapper.

Actually I think we need a serious bipartisan effort to sort all this out and ensure that it doesn't happen again in the future.

Did I say that out loud?

[SR]

"The guy is an incompetant boob, but you betray yourself when you make comments like that."

You do realize that "Another Citizen" was being sarcastic, right? Several Bush supporters here constantly accuse the Bush critics on this blog of calling him various names, even though when they have been challenged on this point they have utterly failed to find a single instance when a Bush critic here actually used those names.

[Ironchef]

I, personally, think there would have been less violence, if, just maybe, people stopped committing those acts of violence.

"goddamnit, Katrina made me pull the trigger"

[Dave Taghon]

The plain truth is that New Orleans is (was) a city built BELOW sea level and next to an ocean. Does anyone recall being a child and digging a hole in the sand at the beach and watching it fill with water? It seems the no one at the Army Corps of Engineers ever played on the beach.

[Phil]

Dave, have you ever heard of the Netherlands? Do you know why it's called the Netherlands?

[joe]

"Actually I think we need a serious bipartisan effort to sort all this out and ensure that it doesn't happen again in the future."

Second. Let the chips fall where they may.

[jf]

SR:

Sorry, the sarcasm was difficult to see. Also, it's funny what you said, because R.C. Dean appears to be far and away the worst offender when it comes to Chimpler/McBushitler etc.

[sven]

What is amazing to me is that people don't seem to give the hurricane enough credit in this situation. It was a nasty storm that caused one of the bigger disasters in the country, and there should be some recognition of the chaos that's going to come along with that. If you can't see that then you're either naive or a partisan hack focused too wholeheartedly on that agenda of yours.

And for you people that would point out to me that this doesn't seem to be the case in Florida when it's hit by storm after storm, then I say to you I hadn't considered that before I started typing.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

If you don't like the government, next time there's a hurricane, call a rapper.

Doug. Why would one call a rapper when the Salvation Army and the Red Cross are standing by?

Of course, that only helps when they aren't prevented from helping by, er, the government.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Another Citizen, I'll call, but you'll lose because the mayor and the governor and that idiot Landrieu are so abysmally ineffective and incompetent that they couldn't even evacuate their own bowels, much less the city of NO.

GWB and Brother Brown OTOH were technically correct (like not entering a burning building to rescue someone because they don't want to trespass).

That, however, doesn't get them off the hook. Those two were watching the same TV coverage the rest of us were and sat on their hands. I fault GWB for not taking a leadership role. He's the got dam president for Chrysler's sake. If Blanco wasn't co-operating GWB should have called an immediate press conference and said so. Then he should have told the American public that he was jumping on his white horse and riding in to save the day, technically legal or not. That part slays me, ummm, we couldn't go in until the lame-ass governor said it was okay.

Or he could have said something like this.

When I was a younger man someone I knew walked past an apartment with a big picture window. Inside was a big ass guy holding a chick by the throat up against the wall getting ready to hit her in the head with a big hammer. He ran inside and took the hammer away from the guy without thinking twice. Possibily saved the girl's life, prevented some mayhem, talked the guy down (kept him out of jail). btw, it was all about her not giving him the car keys.

GWB would have called the cops instead.

It goes to character and courage and instinct and morality and what's right. The way GWB handled this makes me want to spit.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

they had only one satellite phone for the entire Mississippi coast, because the others were in Iraq.

So what? The entire American army in Europe in the War to End All Wars had no radio contact at all.

The obvious point here is for Justin to get in an anti-Iraq comment, which is fine, he is very much anti-war and we all know that.

But let's get past that and ask the obvious questions. Like, if you don't have a 5,000.00 satellite phone, how come you can't get in a Humvee, or a jeep, or a Waverunner, or a Ford F-250 and make the rounds? Where are all those crank up field phones we used back in the Stone Age? Every unit has a Regimental Runner or two. They are called Runners for a reason. Why are you so incompetent that you can't think on your feet?

OMIGOD, only one satellite phone? Well, guess we're all gonna die. I call BS on that, we're Americans not a bunch of winey (LOL) losers.

[joe]

"The entire American army in Europe in the War to End All Wars had no radio contact at all."

And they had doctrines and operations built around that limited communication capacity.

As opposed to the modern military, which relies on it.

Gee, my great great grandfather didn't have pneumatic tires on his donkey cart, so I guess I drive my Civic to work on its rims.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Joe, when I was in the military we were taught to improvise not whine. And, no you wouldn't drive your Civic to work on the rims. You might call in sick, but if it was important enough to be there you'd call a cab, or a friend, or take a bus, or walk, or run. That is the point, the other options.

There are many other options in the military communications basket besides satellite phones. They include conventional battery powered radios of various kinds. They also include, as I pointed out, physical movement from place to place by runners. Does it make it more difficult to communicate without sat phones? Well, maybe. But does it make it impossible? No way.

Besides that, I wonder how many sat phones are allocated to any stateside NG unit that isn't in combat anyway. Those frigging things are expensive and unreliable and I find it just a bit of a stretch to believe that NG units would ordinarily have them sitting around the compound for the weekend warriors to use to phone home to the old lady.

Complaining that all the sat phones are in Iraq is just an excuse. Aside from that (rightly or wrongly) we are actually fighting a war in Iraq, so that would be the ideal place to deploy your resources I would think.

[Dave Taghon]

IN response to Phil wondering if I've ever heard of the Netherlands, yes I have Phil and I stand by my assertion that the wisdom of the Army Corps of Engineers may be in doubt. The Netherlands are not subject to hurricanes andor tropical storms and therefore the levy system much easier is to manage. Thats not to say that region is impervious to severe flood damage but that hurricanes and the like are much less a factor to consider. UNLIKE New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers have a long history of getting their asses kicked trying to control the waters of the Mississippi Delta in the best of weather never mind a cat 5 hurricane. I still think the hole in the sand filling with water is a valid point and one the Coprs needs to be reminded of.