ForeignPolicyAfter911

Aftermath of Katrina

The blog at TPMCafe makes an interesting point--the failure at the heart of the Bush administration response to the storm was the conceptual failure that lead to the  creation of the Office of Homeland Security.  see

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/27116  The idea to create the gigantic and unaccountable Department of Homeland Security originated with Democratic Senator Joe Liberman of Connecticut and then was embraced by the Bush administration.

What did the President Know and When Did He Know It?

We will be focusing on the New Orleans disaster on February 27, 2006 when our guest will be Martin Smith from Frontline.  Take a look at this article in today's New York Times as preparation for that session. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/politics/10katrina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Battle of New Orleans II

An article from Saturday's New York Times demonstrates that the White House response to Katrina is significant for understanding our homeland security capability.  Note this quote:  "We are left with a picture of a White House that was plagued by the fog of war," said David Marin, the Republican staff director to the House Committee investigating the government's response to the hurricane. "The committee is likely to find a disturbing inability by the White House to de-conflict and analyze information--and that has consequences."  see the article http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/28/national/nationalspecial/28katrina.html?_r=1  We will be discussing this issue on February 27th when Frontline producer/reporter Martin Smith comes to class to show his documentary on the response to Katrina.