Liberty's Blog

The Polarization of Katrina

The blame game has begun, and there is plenty enough blame to go around. There were shortfalls at all levels. In a way there has to be short comings. Any reaction so massive and unprecidented is going to have its glitches. At the national level there were shortcomings. Its important we learn what went wrong, This is how we learn and modify our plans to make them better. Glenn Reynolds notes:

Make critical infrastructure survivable: I think that one of the key failures was the collapse of the New Orleans Police Department's radio system. Here's the story on why:

Tusa said the police department’s citywide 800 MHz radio system functioned well during and immediately after the hurricane hit New Orleans, but since then natural gas service to the prime downtown transmitter site was disrupted and the generator was out. Transmitter sites for the police radio system “are also underwater with the rising water and [are] now disabled,” Tusa said.

Owners of the sites that housed police radio transmitters would not allow installation of liquefied petroleum gas tanks as a backup to piped gas, meaning generators did not have any fuel when the main lines were cut, Tusa said.

Radio repair technicians attempting to enter the city were turned away by the state police, even though they had letters from the city police authorizing their access, Tusa said.

This is absurd, and I'm pretty sure it's the major factor leading to the disintegration of the New Orleans Police Department.

What makes me uncomfortable with this, is that The 800Mhz trunk systems in this area are just as vulnerable in the same way. The trunk systems are are a centraly controlled system the central radio system is what allocates channels and bandwith when the central system goes down Mobile to Mobile systems won't work. I believe that all municipalities are going to look at their comunications and harden them with redundansies and alternate power sources.

Although the Feds had some failings I tend to agree that its not all GW's fault and there is nothing to be gained by going after his head. Ben Stein has more to say about this.

posted by Liberty @ 6:10 AM