Preparing for Problems—Hurricane Irene

One thing this Administration seems to have gotten right is its relationships with the sovereign states with regard to emergency responses.  Here is a press release from the Pentagon on "Dual-Status Commanders" for Hurricane Irene.

When agreed upon by the Secretary of Defense and the governor of an affected state, dual-status commanders can direct both federal active-duty forces and state National Guard forces in response to domestic incidents. The concept is intended to foster greater cooperation among federal and state assets during a disaster.

While this may, at first glance, look like a "so what" issue, it is part of what got us into trouble with Hurricane Katrina.  The Governor of Louisiana, Ms Kathleen Blanco, was slow to declare an emergency and invite the Federal Government to step in.  And when it happened there was confusion.  The thing is, the Constitution and the Federal Law are pretty clear on this and FEMA and the President would have been legally wrong to move before the Governor invited them in.  As it was preparations were made, but not bright lines were crossed.

With this move by the Governors and the Department of Defense in anticipation of Hurricane Irene we can have "Unity of Command", a big thing in military terms.

Good move, folks.

Regards  —  Cliff