Synopses & Reviews
“[A] tightly crafted, very readable book . . . the best in-depth contemporary analysis we are going to get.”Stephen Flynn, The Washington Post When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on August 29, 2005, federal and state officials were not prepared for the devastation it would bring. In this searing indictment of what went wrong, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block take readers inside FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to reveal the inexcusable mismanagement during the crisisthe bad decisions that were made, the facts that were ignored, and the individuals who saw that the system was broken but did nothing to fix it.
In this award-winning and critically acclaimed book, Cooper and Block reconstruct the crucial days before and after the storm hit, laying bare the governments inability to respond to the most elemental needs. They also demonstrate how the Bush administrations obsessive focus on terrorist threats fatally undermined the governments ability to respond to natural disasters. The incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina is a wake-up call to all Americans, wherever they live, about how distressingly vulnerable we remain. Christopher Cooper is a White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and a former political reporter at The Times-Picayune. Robert Block covers the Department of Homeland Security for The Wall Street Journal and is a former foreign correspondent who has reported on terrorism and war from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Both authors live in Washington, D.C. When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on the morning of August 29, 2005, federal and state officials were not prepared for the devastation it would bringdespite all the drills, exercises, and warnings. In this troubling exposé of what went wrong, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block of The Wall Street Journal show that the flaws go much deeper than out-of-touch federal bureaucrats or overwhelmed local politicians.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with federal, state, and local officials, Cooper and Block take readers inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to reveal the inexcusable mismanagement during Hurricane Katrinathe bad decisions that were made, the facts that were ignored, the individuals who saw that the system was broken but were unable to fix it. America's top emergency response officials had long known that a calamitous hurricane was likely to hit New Orleans, but that seems to have had little effect on planning or execution.
Disaster demonstrates that the incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina is a wake-up call to all Americans, wherever they live, about how distressingly vulnerable we remain. Washington is ill equipped to handle large-scale emergencies, be they floods or fires, natural events or terrorist attacks, and Cooper and Block make a strong case for overhauling the nation's emergency response system. "A clear, coherent, weirdly compelling narrative . . . Cooper and Block have provided a considerable public service in tracing the institutional failures of the Department of Homeland Security."Susan Larson, The Times Picayune (New Orleans) “Disaster is likely the best in-depth contemporary analysis we are going to getand it does that job quite admirably. Given that future catastrophes are inevitable, this book is a call to arms to demand a far more competent federal emergency response than Washington has been willing to provide.”Stephen Flynn, The Washington Post
"A clear, coherent, weirdly compelling narrative . . . Cooper and Block have provided a considerable public service in tracing the institutional failures of the Department of Homeland Security."Susan Larson, The Times Picayune (New Orleans)
"The authors of this work explore the unusual division of responsibilities for maintaining New Orleans' levees, finding that the approach contributed to the lack of adequate levee protection for the city. The authors also examine the DHS-administered National Response Plan . . . Katrina provided two very important lessons for security professionals engaged in business continuity or crisis management planning. First, make sure your decision makers can receive information directly from the field with as little filtering as possible. Second, make sure you can trust your partnerspublic or privateto deliver what they have promised in a crisis . . . Those lessons, and others, make this well-written book a valuable resource for security officials in all sectors. The authors clearly demonstrate why U.S. government planning and response to Katrina was a disaster in itself."Lloyd F. Reese, Security Management
"The authors' exhaustively researched account slogs through the intricacies of this bureaucratic nightmare and goes beyond the usual pillorying of FEMA head Michael Brown to criticize higher officials in the White House and, especially, DHS. Cooper and Block manage to thread a readable, coherent story through the morass of detail and acronyms, with disquieting implications about the government's ability to cope with catastrophe."Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
"[A] tightly crafted, very readable book . . . the best in-depth contemporary analysis we are going to get."--Stephen Flynn, The Washington Post When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on August 29, 2005, federal and state officials were not prepared for the devastation it would bring. In this searing indictment of what went wrong, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block take readers inside FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to reveal the inexcusable mismanagement during the crisis--the bad decisions that were made, the facts that were ignored, and the individuals who saw that the system was broken but did nothing to fix it.
In this award-winning and critically acclaimed book, Cooper and Block reconstruct the crucial days before and after the storm hit, laying bare the government's inability to respond to the most elemental needs. They also demonstrate how the Bush administration's obsessive focus on terrorist threats fatally undermined the government's ability to respond to natural disasters. The incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina is a wake-up call to all Americans, wherever they live, about how distressingly vulnerable we remain.
Synopsis
" A] tightly crafted, very readable book . . . the best in-depth contemporary analysis we are going to get."
--Stephen Flynn, The Washington Post
When Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on August 29, 2005, federal and state officials were not prepared for the devastation it would bring. In this searing indictment of what went wrong, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block take readers inside FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to reveal the inexcusable mismanagement during the crisis--the bad decisions that were made, the facts that were ignored, and the individuals who saw that the system was broken but did nothing to fix it.
In this award-winning and critically acclaimed book, Cooper and Block reconstruct the crucial days before and after the storm hit, laying bare the government's inability to respond to the most elemental needs. They also demonstrate how the Bush administration's obsessive focus on terrorist threats fatally undermined the government's ability to respond to natural disasters. The incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina is a wake-up call to all Americans, wherever they live, about how distressingly vulnerable we remain.
About the Author
Christopher Cooper is a national political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, where he has also been a White House correspondent, and a former political reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Robert Block covers the Department of Homeland Security for The Wall Street Journal and is a former foreign correspondent who has reported from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Both authors live in Washington, D.C.