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_____ Top stories _____ • Feds must fix disaster plan • A smoother route • Do we truly act as beasts toward our fellow men? • Sept. 22, 2005

Agreat portion of the past three weeks has been consumed by a quest to assess blame for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina. But that search must only continue as part of an effort to fix the problems that exacerbated this disaster.

Already, much of the blame has fallen upon the federal government -- some of it warranted. The federal government seemed slow to acknowledge the severity of the disaster, and its lead department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appeared ineffective from the top down.

But local and state agencies made their share of missteps, too. New Orleans lacked a cohesive evacuation plan. Mayor C. Ray Nagin summarized the strategy in The Wall Street Journal: "Get people to higher ground and have the feds and the state airlift supplies to them -- that was the plan, man."

And Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco turned the hurricane response into a political battle, refusing to give control of National Guard troops to the federal government because she thought the request was politically motivated. If the president was trying to build political capital in the midst of the disaster, shame on him; but how much time was lost because Blanco -- a Democrat -- tried to prevent him from taking credit?

These are the sorts of things that must change, and the federal government has the resources and the responsibility to make sure they do. President Bush began the process last week. In his address to the nation, Bush said disaster preparedness will be a "national security priority." It has to be. More hurricanes will strike, and the prospect of a major terrorist attack still is very real. Bush also called upon the federal Department of Homeland Security to make sure every major city has up-to-date plans for responding to any kind of disaster.

To change anything, though, there must be cooperation at all levels. The federal government must dedicate itself to fixing what went wrong, not just trying to avoid blame. Turf wars and political posturing must be set aside. Leaders like Nagin and Blanco must work with the federal government, not against it. There must be an end to resistance such as was seen earlier this week when Nagin said citizens could return to New Orleans despite warnings from federal authorities that it wasn't safe. Nagin later changed his mind, and will keep residents out for now.

President Bush told the nation last Thursday that "this government will learn the lessons of Katrina." It must, and it should guide local and state governments, too. The nation's security demands it. Already another hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, and we can be assured our enemies are watching, too, emboldened and excited by the clumsy, fractious response to Katrina.