Undeliverable: Your Message Did Not Reach Some or All of the Intended Recipients
Undeliverable: Your Message Did Not Reach Some or All of the Intended Recipients
Last night on the PBS Newshour, Gwen Ifill asked Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff what were the major problems that caused the administration to react so poorly to Hurricane Katrina. Chertoff answered:
The second thing was a lack of awareness of what was going on, on the ground. Now I was a decision-maker. And I was constantly struggling to get an accurate picture of what the circumstances were in New Orleans. Part of that was a lack of communications equipment.
Newsweek reveals one reason why Chertoff was struggling to get proper information about the scope of Katrina’s devastation:
Congressional investigations of government responses to Hurricane Katrina have revealed that two of the nation’s key crisis managers, the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security, do not use e-mail. … The House committee established to investigate Katrina was “informed that neither Secretary Chertoff nor Secretary Rumsfeld use e-mail,†reported Reps. Charlie Melancon and William Jefferson.
In an age of blackberries, instant messaging, and other forms of instant communication, it’s embarrassing that our senior political leaders are not taking advantage of these technological advancements to literally save people’s lives.
Chertoff testified yesterday that DHS is instituting changes to prevent another Katrina: “We are acquiring more satellite equipment and more communications equipment to be able to deploy to our state and local emergency operators so they can communicate with us.†What good does it do if people on the ground have the best communications equipment but the decision-maker isn’t getting their communications? Rumsfeld and Chertoff need to step into the 21st century and experience all the wonders of the internets.
UPDATE: We’ve created a dramatic reenactment of what a FEMA official on the ground would have experienced when trying to email Secretary Chertoff during Hurricane Katrina:
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50 Responses to “Undeliverable: Your Message Did Not Reach Some or All of the Intended Recipients”
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At least the wheel didn't fall off his rotary phone
February 16th, 2006 at 12:42 pmAnd are we supposed to believe that among the many pieces of equipment he lacked was a damn TV???
It was all over the news! Turn on The Weather Channel, CNN, even their good friends Fox News Channel were covering the hurricane 24/7. How could he not know what was going on on the ground unless he just didn't want to know?
February 16th, 2006 at 12:42 pmAmazing.
But I bet these guys don't use e-mail for other reasons, like no evidence of what they said, or didn't say. This allows less accountability.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:43 pmImagined quote by Mike Brown:
February 16th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
They don't use the grey matter between their ears either so what good would e-mail do?
February 16th, 2006 at 12:48 pmPigeons? Thats too hitech for this admin. The problem was that smoke signals were undeciperable in the gale force winds. Only afer the winds went away were they able to communicate, hence the 24 hour delay.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:49 pmthey don't use emails because they're afraid of being spied on ... by themselves
February 16th, 2006 at 12:49 pmU.S. Rejects U.N. Report on Gitmo
February 16th, 2006 at 12:51 pmYOU AMERICANS ARE THE ARSE HOLE OF THE WORLD
THERE WAS ONE PERSON WHO COULD HAVE CUT THROUHG ALL OF THE RED TAPE AND COULD HAVE MADE THE BEUACRACIES GONE AWAY, BUT AS WE KNOW, HE WAS ON VACATION AND COULDN'T BE BOTHERED.
When the world was watching in horror as one of the largest hurricanes in recorded history, Katrina, ripped across the gulf states:
George Bush went and had Cake in Arizona with John McCain on August 29, 2005:
Then he went and played guitar with a country western star in San Diego on August 30, 2005. Don't forget cool custom presidential guitar.
Then George Bush did a fly-by, because he wouldn't want to be on the ground with the people looking up to him for leadership:
Then George Bush and Michael Brown got serious about hurricane Katrina on September 2, 2005, by posing in the helicopter hangar photo-op and saying "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job.":
Then he posed for a photo-op in Jackson Square on September the 16, with his shirt buttoned crooked:
On September 16, 2005 Bush promised the people who ere devastated by hurricane Katrina and he has not followed through.
CNN
September 16, 2005
Bush: 'We will do what it takes'
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/15/bush.transcript/
But, that hasn't happened has it.
Yahoo!
February 11, 2006
Hurricane Victims Losing Hotel Rooms
And we also find out from Michael Brown that:
Yahoo!
February 11, 2006
Brown: I Warned White House As Katrina Hit
August 29th is when Bush was eating cake, not listening to Brownie.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:51 pmAnyone wanting to purchase the DVD of CNN broadcasts footage of Katrina, or for that matter 9/11 or anything else, about $50-$60 an hour TV broadcasts.
Is there any one with a few thousands of dollars who want to purchase the broadcasts? I stayed all night and watched Katrina make land fall, where were the Bush administration officals. Eveyone said screw the gulf coast and went to bed?
You want to see the real Bush on 9/11 buy the footage of all the TV broadcasts and review the entire broadcasts for the entire month of Sept. Then and only can you see what they did and did not do. You get to see the lie after lie that Ari spoke to make the image of Bush 9/11 avenger.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:58 pmLast night, National Geographic Channel televised a scathing assessment of the Katrina Disaster including photos of Bush and what he was doing at the precise moments things were going to hell in New Orleans and the Gulf coast.
Great journalism! And it showed how the media had it wrong as well. Catch it in the rebroadcastst this week.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:01 pmEasyRider,
True that. It didn't take any special communications equipment. All it took me was the FM radio in my car to know how bad it was or a TV equipped with rabbit ears. You didn't have to even have basic cable or CNN. My local stations had Katrina coverage all day for days on end.
Another bullshit excuse.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:02 pmThese guys ("Rummy", "Skeletor") know about NSA, DHS. ETC. and their communication-tracking/information-retenion abilities AND the vulnerabilities of email concerning sercurity AND the ghosts of emails being held on a server or in a computer somewhere. No, the fewer the records of communication, the better for these guys....especially when they are so incompetent and email records could be so damaging.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:02 pmIt was only after Andrew Card gave Bush a tape of television reports that Bush heard about the coming hurricane.
Now we have it where in the Cheney shooting incident,
there was a phone call from someone in Cheney's staff
that called Andrew Card, Andrew then called Carl Rove,
then after they talked a while, they told Bush right
before he went to sleep for the night.
A closer look at Andy Card and his "control of information" given to Bush that should be conducted. Card is withholding information from Bush -- maybe under directions from Bush -- maybe not.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:02 pmBush doesn't use email either. Doesn't want a record.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:03 pmI remember the sequences very well. That's the reason I've come to the conclusion that W has advavced Alzheimers. That bulge in his pants is not his manliness, it's Depends.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:03 pmHardy Haberman,
I'll check it out. As you can see, I am all over Bush for his response to Katrina. It is his fault. He could have been a hero. He could have told everybody cut that red tape and worry about it later, but he didn't. He did nothing. Well, you can't say he did nothing. He had cake with McCain while pushing Private Social Security Accounts and played guitar in San Diego while comparing the Iraq conflict to World War II.
Bush could have been a hero, instead, once again, he was a zero.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:05 pm**CHIRP CHIRP***
(that's the sound coming from the right side of the aisle now as everyone is trying to think really hard how to spin the fact that some of the top level people in the government are still in the technological dark age)
February 16th, 2006 at 1:09 pmAndy,
Condi has publicly stated that she doesn't use e-mail either.
How many more of our top leaders don't use e-mail because they don't want a "paper" trail.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:12 pmIn one of the areas of the country that has (because of the oil platforms and related business) such great reception of satellite phones I was also surprised that Brownie testified that he took into the field a std cellphone and that Chertoff couldn't reach him. Funny, I would have thought a sat phone was a no brainer after a hurricane.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:12 pmObviously neither does Bushiva...
...use e-mail that is...
...according to Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald,
he keeps "inadvertently" deleting the darn things...
February 16th, 2006 at 1:12 pmMaybe someone could tell us where NPR got this story then:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4849706
Which includes this: In daily e-mails -- known as National Situation Updates -- sent to Chertoff...
And perhaps Chertoff might consider his testimony to the House, and how he caused the incredulity of the likes of Melcanon.
http://www.melancon.house.gov/news.asp?ARTICLE3337=4608
But in the interests of being helpful, and having a bit of fun, let's suggest an email address for Rummy (and Chertoff if you insist):
wheres_my_f*cking_armored_humvee@...
February 16th, 2006 at 1:15 pmstuff_happens@...
what show was that hardy (11)
here was there line up last night (all i saw on it was an el nino special that will replay on 2/21)
February 16th, 2006 at 1:18 pmMessage received and understood American Public:
I'll try and brush up on my semaphore for next time.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:18 pmoops
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/PT/daily/20060215.html
February 16th, 2006 at 1:19 pmYes, let's take a look at what happens when a right wing crony uses e-mail:
Michael Brown Katrina e-mails:
CNN
November 4, 2005
'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged
You can read all of the e-mails here: Michael Brown E-mails
How about Michael Scanlon, Jack Abramoofs buddy calling the religious right "whackos" in his e-mails:
You can read all about it here: Wikipedia Michael Scanlon
Private communications revealed as a result of the Congressional enquiry into Scanlon and Abramoff's consulting business demonstrate a contemptuous attitude to both clients and supporters. Indian Clients were refered to as "troglodytes" and "monkeys", Christian Conservatives are considered gullible "wackos" who can be manipulated to vote on demand:
"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees ... Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them."
Here's that e-mail:
February 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pmHmmmm.
Here's that e-mail:
February 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pmWeird, just go here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wackos.jpg
February 16th, 2006 at 1:25 pmLack of communications equipment?
Another fvcking lie.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:28 pmDoesn't use email? That's the lamest thing I've heard today, and you wouldn't believe the lame shit I hear every day. How about a phone? TV? Radio? Talking to friends? Talking to strangers? I could go on...
February 16th, 2006 at 1:37 pmThis is all a lie by the media. They all use email. In fact, I was able to get their email address:
GW: hotprez42@whitehouse.gov
February 16th, 2006 at 1:41 pmCheney: triggerhappy@jimbeam.com
Rummsfeld: army_you_got@pentagon.gov
Condi: prettyshoes@statedepartment.gov
Chertoff: notmyfault@biggestbureaucracyever.gov
Mike Brown: iloveararabianhorses@fema.gov
Abramoff: moneyforvotes@lobbyist.com
DeLay: abramoffwho@house.gov
McLellan: somebodypleasetakemyjobicannottakeitanymore@whitehouse.gov
They are not the only ones not using or read emails. Consider Rice's testimony before Congress about 9/11 and not recieving and reading emails about OBL. Clark sent emails and Rice claimed not to know of them.
Where is the Blackberry backup tapes of these disconnected officials? Some one knows what these liars are speaking to each other.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:45 pmbobcat_grad,
Lie by the media? Who exactly are you accusing of lying? Reps. Charlie Melancon and William Jefferson were told that "neither Secretary Chertoff nor Secretary Rumsfeld use e-mail".
Of course everyone has an email address; the question is, do they actually use it?
February 16th, 2006 at 1:50 pm#33 humor...anyways, something tells me that we, as taxpayers, are paying for them to have all the tools, regardless if they are anything more than a paperweight with Golden Tee
February 16th, 2006 at 1:52 pmGregor,
bobcat jokey.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:52 pmHey, Gregor Samsa, turn your sarcasm/humor filter off.
You missed my joke. (read the email addresses in #31)
February 16th, 2006 at 1:53 pmGregor, Bobcat_grad was showing joke email addresses.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:55 pm#37 - Jane,
February 16th, 2006 at 2:03 pmAnd I just sent all of them a two word Cheney quote.
something tells me that we, as taxpayers, are paying for them to have all the tools, regardless if they are anything more than a paperweight with Golden Tee
Comment by bushllit — February 16, 2006 @ 1:52 pm
You can be certain of that; all the equipment all government agencies use is payed with taxpayers' money.
We are paying for their tools, and then some -like expensive golfing trips, budget pork, Iraq's ill-fated reconstruction projects, etc. Not to mention the miscelaneous "discovery" trips.
February 16th, 2006 at 2:08 pmHey, Gregor Samsa, turn your sarcasm/humor filter off.
You missed my joke. (read the email addresses in #31)
Comment by bobcat_grad — February 16, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
ooops.... sorry about that.... that's what happens when I try to do too much at the same time...
February 16th, 2006 at 2:09 pmWalt, did your "two-word Cheney quote" go through to any of those addresses? That would be pretty funny!
February 16th, 2006 at 2:15 pmall you Americans are a piece of SHIT
February 16th, 2006 at 2:22 pmGoto Hell all of you Americans
February 16th, 2006 at 2:23 pmDoes Chertoff use cell phones?
Does he have an exec assistant or a secretary or both who can get in touch with him when he is needed?
February 16th, 2006 at 2:27 pmTommy, #43, we Americans are already in the hell of George Bush's making.
February 16th, 2006 at 2:36 pm#41 - Jane, No they bounced.
February 16th, 2006 at 3:00 pmWe can joke. We can be deadly serious. We can be anything we chose to be so long as we begin to understand that this has government has to us all to go f... ourselves. We no longer have the right to criticise anything that the admin does and if get a little out of hand, we should to expect to be swuashed like a bug. This is the america that we live in today and it will ge worse.
February 16th, 2006 at 3:10 pmbilljpa@aol.com
Tommy, do us a favor and post this at FreeRepublic or any other right wing site. You got the wrong side here buddy. We aren't Bush lovers.
February 16th, 2006 at 3:21 pmMaybe, with all this lack of instant communications systems, Shirtoff should have taken a few moments and watched a little television.
Perhaps then he would have seen what was going on.
February 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pmthere is a seperate network....
February 16th, 2006 at 10:14 pmand it aint http://www.