Federal officials are taking steps to reduce fraud and waste in relief efforts

Homeland Security officials are readying a plan to revise their disaster aid prov-isions in order to reduce fraud and waste and to more effectively handle events like hurricanes.

The plans look worthwhile as far as they go, but what is really needed is a method that streamlines the jurisdictional and authority lines for handling these problems.

The response to Hurricane Katrina encompassed two separate failures of the government.

In the first, authorities failed to respond adequately to the storm, to evacuate people from the area before the storm and to rescue those trapped there.

The second failure involved the mismanagement of relief efforts. Congressional auditors believe that between 10 percent and 20 percent of the assistance given directly to hurricane victims was given to those who made fraudulent or incorrect claims. There was also rampant fraud by contractors involved in the response. This fraud consumed up to 10 percent of the $19 billion spent by the federal government in the wake of the hurricane.

The Department of Homeland Security is working on a new plan to evacuate southern Louisiana and a package of reforms in the way it handles direct aid to victims.

Instead of providing $2,000 in direct cash assistance, it will only provide $500. It will also force victims to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency before receiving cash or free hotel rooms.

Trimming these negotiable benefits is likely to reduce fraud. The plan also includes other worthwhile changes.

But the biggest reform needed is to streamline the jurisdictional obstacles that seemed to slow the initial response to the disaster.

Local, state and federal authorities fought during and after the storm about which agency was responsible for which action and policy.

All levels of government must be able to respond more quickly and with greater coordination to the next disaster.

Federal officials and the military, which is best equipped to handle much of the disaster relief, need to have a plan they can act on immediately, without waiting for requests to come through local and state channels.

The time for negotiation and permission from state and local authorities should come in the preparation for disasters, as state leaders work with federal officials on a plan that will be implemented by all agencies as a disaster strikes.

The jurisdictional boundaries served to protect politicians from accountability, but they didn't protect the people of New Orleans. The system needs greater changes than the amount of cash aid given to victims.