Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Christopher Cooper (Author), Robert Block (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2006

Based on exclusive interviews, the inside story of how America's emergency response system failed and how it remains dangerously broken

 

When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on the morning of August 29, 2005, federal and state officials were not prepared for the devastation it would bring--despite all the drills, exercises, and warnings. In this troubling exposé of what went wrong, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block of The Wall Street Journal show that the flaws go much deeper than out-of-touch federal bureaucrats or overwhelmed local politicians.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with federal, state, and local officials, Cooper and Block take readers inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to reveal the inexcusable mismanagement during Hurricane Katrina--the bad decisions that were made, the facts that were ignored, the individuals who saw that the system was broken but were unable to fix it. America's top emergency response officials had long known that a calamitous hurricane was likely to hit New Orleans, but that seems to have had little effect on planning or execution.

Disaster demonstrates that the incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina is a wake-up call to all Americans, wherever they live, about how distressingly vulnerable we remain. Washington is ill equipped to handle large-scale emergencies, be they floods or fires, natural events or terrorist attacks, and Cooper and Block make a strong case for overhauling of the nation's emergency response system. This is a book that no American can afford to ignore.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fatal inundation of New Orleans was no natural disaster, argues this hard-hitting investigative report. Wall Street Journal reporters Cooper and Block finger two very man-made causes of the tragedy. The first was the decades-long failure of local officials and the Army Corps of Engineers to fix New Orleans' poorly designed and constructed levees and floodwalls, which collapsed under moderate hurricane conditions. The second and more spectacular was the breakdown of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after its incorporation into the Department of Homeland Security, which cut FEMA's funding and authority and reoriented it toward the national obsession with terrorism. The result, when the flood came, was a bumbling federal response hobbled by complacent planning, miscommunication, red tape (even recovery of the dead was delayed by paperwork) and an inability to deliver promised supplies and transportation. The authors' exhaustively researched account slogs through the intricacies of this bureaucratic nightmare and goes beyond the usual pillorying of FEMA head Michael Brown to criticize higher officials in the White House and, especially, DHS. Cooper and Block manage to thread a readable, coherent story through the morass of detail and acronyms, with disquieting implications about the government's ability to cope with catastrophe. Photos. (Aug. 8)Note: Publication of Hamid Karzai's Letter from Kabul (Reviews, July 10) has been postponed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Tightly crafted, very readable . . . the best in-depth contemporary analysis we are going to get . . . Given that future catastrophes are inevitable, this book is a call to arms to demand a far more competent federal emergency response than Washington has been willing to provide."
--Stephen Flynn, The Washington Post

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Times Books (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805081305
• ASIN: B0012QMZFO
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,177,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On operational paralysis, September 3, 2006

By 

etmla "etmla1" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security (Hardcover)

If you're not angry when you finish reading "Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security," then you didn't read it carefully enough. Written by two Wall Street Journal reporters -- Christopher Cooper and Robert Block -- this book offers context for the federal government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina last year.

Anyone who's ever worked for the federal government won't be surprised to learn that operational results are often less than the sum of their bureaucratic and even well-meaning parts.

But finger-pointers take note: Highlighting the federal government's miserable performance is not tantamount to forgiving an ineffective state and local response. Identifying federal failures merely confirms that, in the end, there's more than enough blame to go around.

"Disaster" is about much more than the anguished wait of those at the Superdome or the Convention Center for days after last August's storm. It's about the bureaucratic bungling that eventually led to FEMA being utterly unprepared to handle the crisis it faced last summer.

"Disaster" is more than a history of failure of the levees and floodgates around New Orleans. It's a detailed recounting of how different arms of the federal government failed to protect an urban population for which it had primary responsibility and how, once disaster struck, that same federal government demonstrated itself to be equally incapable of offering aid.

Aside from a slow-motion retelling of the mistakes that led to the crisis that was post-Katrina New Orleans, "Disaster" is also a disturbing articulation of how national emphasis on homeland security (read: protection against terror attacks) seems to have come at the expense of preparing for the more likely scenarios of hurricanes, floods, fires and earthquakes.

Given the volume of resources hurled at the Department of Homeland Security since its formation after September 11, it may be reasonable to expect that department to handle disasters of both types, but the book's most damning message comes from its conclusion:

"When disaster strikes, we are all on our own."

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Disaster" Gets It Right, September 3, 2006

By 

Mark LaFlaur "LeveesNotWar" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security (Hardcover)

"Disaster" is a superb, authoritative work that readers of any (or no) political persuasion can appreciate. It focuses on the federal response to the disaster--a catastrophe within a catastrophe--but also gives an excellent background on the history of FEMA and of the levee system around New Orleans. I am from New Orleans. I have read many books on Hurricane Katrina and about the levees, the river, and Louisiana's environmental and ecological predicament. Cooper and Block know New Orleans (Cooper lived there 10+ years as a Times-Picayune reporter) and they know FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. This is a book of reportage: the authors manage very well to keep opinions out and let the facts speak for themselves. They show that the 80% evacuation of metro New Orleans was a resounding, unprecedented success; that the Bush administration severely and repeatedly cut federal funding for ongoing reinforcements of the city's flood protection system; and that the U.S. government through the Army Corps of Engineers failed to protect the city, whose citizens never imagined the canals' floodwalls would ever collapse. Cooper and Block also show that placing FEMA within the counterterrorist Department of Homeland Security reduces its effectiveness as a disaster response agency. Michael "Brownie" Brown had his flaws, but he at least recognized that FEMA needed better funding and more flexibility as a disaster response agency. Now FEMA is ignored down in DHS's basement while DHS secretary Chertoff, along with the administration he serves, concentrates on counterterrorism--an important job but less frequently needed than response to natural disasters. By letting the facts speak for themselves, and without directly so advocating, Cooper and Block's account makes a strong case for restoring the independence of FEMA and returning its director to the cabinet-level status that James Lee Witt was granted during the Clinton administration. This is a richly documented work by veteran reporters who have no particular agenda but the improved protection of Americans everywhere. As they demonstrate, if New Orleans is not safe, neither is any other major American city. --www.LeveesNotWar.org

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the Katrina aftermath yet, September 3, 2006

By 

oyster (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security (Hardcover)

As a New Orleanian who lost "everything" to the faulty levees, I have followed this story closely for a year, and have read as much as possible about the episode. Even so, I highlighted practically every page of this book. It did an excellent job of busting myths and providing context, in a surprisingly absorbing but factual narrative.

Here's as plain as I can put it: Cooper and Block have written the finest "top-down" book on Katrina to date, and I don't expect it to be surpassed anytime soon.

The research is impeccable, and I would love for the D.C.-area (1-time reviewers) who pan this book to give examples of the "fictions" about which they complain. Not only is "Disaster" must-reading for anyone who cares about the Katrina story but, also, for anyone who is interested in the priorities and effectiveness of the Dept. Homeland Security.

I give this work my highest recommendation.