FEMA Insiders Warned Congress Of Agency’s Inability To Act In A Emergency.

ABC News is reporting that longtime emergency managers inside FEMA were convinced that the agency was not ready for Katrina. The president of the FEMA Headquarters Employees Union, Leo Bosner said, “All of us were just shaking our heads and saying, ‘This isn’t going to be enough, and the director has to know this isn’t going to be enough.’ But nothing more seemed to be happening.”

Bosner has been with FEMA since its creation 26 years ago, and says he has seen the agency systematically dismantled since becoming a part of the Homeland Security Department. “One of the big differences I see,” said Bosner, “besides taking away our staff and our budget and our training, is that Homeland Security now, in my view, slows down the process.”

The union warned Congress of FEMA’s decline a year ago in a detailed letter. State emergency managers also warned Capital Hill and Homeland Security just a few weeks ago that DHS was too focused on just one thing - terrorism.