Senate Panel Recommends Abolishing FEMA

For seven months the Senate has been investigating FEMA and what happened before, during, and after Katrina. Next week a full report will be released, and today they've issued a teaser:

WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina's latest fatality should be FEMA, the nation's disaster response agency, a Senate inquiry concluded in calling for a government overhaul to avoid future failures like those the devastating storm exposed.

Why the statement was issued today - in advance of the full report - was assuredly not random:

President Bush was visiting Louisiana and Mississippi — which bore the brunt of Katrina's wrath — on Thursday.

The report apparently recommends a new name for FEMA:

The recommendations conclude that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is crippled beyond repair by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding. They call for a new agency — the National Preparedness and Response Authority — to plan and carry out relief missions for domestic disasters.

The proposed change is already drawing criticism as being skin-deep only:

But the proposal drew disdain from Homeland Security and its critics, both sides questioning the need for another bureaucratic shuffling that they said wouldn't accomplish much.

"It's time to stop playing around with the organizational charts and to start focusing on government, at all levels, that are preparing for this storm season," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, who resigned under fire after Katrina, said the new agency would basically have the same mission FEMA had a year ago before its disaster planning responsibilities were taken away to focus solely on responding to calls for help.

"It sounds like they're just re-creating the wheel and making it look like they're calling for change," Brown said. "If indeed that's all they're doing, they owe more than that to the American public."

Of course, the devil's in the details, which we don't yet have.

Remember Esso? For the younger folk, here's what their logo looked like:

Back in the 70's (late 60's?), when they changed their name to Exxon, the joke at the time was "New name, Same old gas". Unless something more substantial comes along with the name change, the "National Preparedness and Response Authority" should adopt it as their slogan.