We take these allegations very seriously. |
We were already operating under the National Response Plan. |
We were racing against the clock and now it's clear the clock beat us. |
We'd like to get to the point where we're not just training people and releasing them. |
We'll apply these lessons learned from Katrina and these other various reviews to the way forward as we get ready for June. |
We're in the process of participating in a large after-action report. We're deeply committed to finding out what worked and didn't work, and apply those lessons learned going forward. |
We're talking about an ultra-catastrophe, where the need is such that the military's training and assets would meet an immediate need in support of Homeland Security coordination of the federal government's responsibility and recovery efforts, |
We're the first to admit that there's more that we want to accomplish. But I think it's disingenuous to make the suggestion that somehow only marginal progress has been made. |
We're very close, and we hope to be able to be talking more about this with the public in the very near term. |
We've been forthcoming throughout this process. |
We've had a regular dialogue with first responders and discussed some of these issues with them. We're clearly an all hazards department and have taken significant measures to enhance preparedness and recovery capability since Sept. 11. |
While the situation in the Superdome was nightmarish and not satisfactory to anyone involved, it was not a life-and-death situation and we had to focus our priorities where we could, |
will respond in written form to the governor and address in great detail the concerns that he's raised as soon as possible. |