This from the WSJ.com's Washington Wire:
AS HURRICANE SEASON looms, FEMA copes with its own disaster.
The agency says major improvements have been made since its bungled 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina, but employees say otherwise. In a 19-page letter this week to Washington Del. Norton, head of the House Transportation panel overseeing emergency management, Leo Bosner, local head of the FEMA union, says "problems have gotten worse." He criticizes management and mentions racial discrimination and sexual harassment. FEMA denies the allegations and asks Bosner for specifics.
Aside from union woes, FEMA lacks adequate tracking and warehouses for food and hasn't finished updating a guide for responding to emergencies. Criticism flies as $40 million of emergency food spoils and FEMA announces the much-awaited National Response Plan won't be ready by the June 1 start of Hurricane Season. Meanwhile, New Orleans remains a big concern with still-vulnerable levees and many residents living in mobile homes. The city, however, has dramatically improved its own evacuation plans.
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