United States National Response Plan
In December of 2004, the Federal government, via the Department of Homeland
Security issued its United States National Response Plan. Thanks to an
excellent diary by georgia10, I am now fully enlightened that the National
Response Plan is essentially a contract that the government signs to ensure
that "Incidents of National Significance" receive right and proper Federal
support. The President's role in this is to:
"...lead the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary
resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National
Significance."
Further, under the President's oversight as spelled out above, Federal
agencies are expected to provide:
* initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own
authority and funding;
* alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of
resources;
* proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic
incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources.
The National Response Plan also lays out the circumstances by which the
Federal government can expedite and circumvent certain restrictions and
regulations when incidents of national significance are declared.
On Friday, August 26, 2005, Louisiana Governor Blanco formally requested
that the President declare a state of emergency as hurricane Katrina
approached. On Saturday, August 27, The President complied and issued this
Statement of Federal Emergency. When the President signed this document, he
invoked Title V of the Stafford Act which deemed hurricane Katrina an
Incident of National Significance and transferred responsibility to the
President of the United States .
At best President George W. Bush is guilty of dereliction of duty.
Somewhere in the middle of the severity scale he's guilty of criminal
negligence. At the severe end of the spectrum he's guilty of involuntary
manslaughter through his failure to execute the duties prescribed by the
National Response Plan. Each and any of these offenses shows a disregard of
Constitutional duty.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/14/65628/3078
Join Us At
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Air_America/