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U.S. Hurricane Response Prompts Questions on Coping With Potential WMD Attacks
As U.S. officials grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, they are wondering about the government’s ability to respond to a WMD attack, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, April 15). Despite drills and other preparations for a mass casualty event since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the difficulty in responding to the hurricane has indicated that the United States may not be adequately prepared for such an event. “It’s very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government and the local government when it comes to a major catastrophe,” President George W. Bush said yesterday. “And the reason it’s important is that we still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure that we can respond properly if there’s a WMD attack or another major storm,” he said. Bush has ordered an investigation into the hurricane response, and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that the military has units studying “lessons learned” from the disaster, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, Sept. 7).
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