VL-IV (15) Tubal Nuances, pages 355/356, 370/371, 377/378

[David Morris]

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33295&ref=rellink

Louisiana governor defends decision not to federalize Guard units
By Elaine S. Povich CongressDaily February 2, 2006

Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Thursday defended her
rejection of President Bush's request to federalize the Louisiana
National Guard in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.   "I told the
president that the proper way is for me, as governor, to remain in
control of the National Guard," Blanco said.

She said while she was "pushing" for more federal troops to come into
her state, she was adamant that she would have control of the Guard.
The panel was holding its 15th hearing on hurricanes Katrina and Rita
in an effort to determine what went wrong and what the federal
government can do now to prevent similar circumstances in times of
natural or man-made disaster.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who also testified before
the panel, said the question of federalizing his state's National
Guard never came up with the administration because he made it clear
beforehand that he would not be amenable to such a suggestion.

Blanco also described being pressured with a midnight phone call from
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, intended to make her give up
control of her troops. "It was a very different kind of pressure," she
said. "I was offended."  She was pressed to sign a "memorandum of
understanding" that would federalize her Guard units and when she
asked why the hurry, she was told that the president wanted it in time
for a news conference the following morning.

Both Blanco and Barbour blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency
for not getting them the food, water and ice they needed. Barbour said
his state "took matters into our own hands. The federal government
cannot be in charge in Mississippi and they never were."


On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 3:50 PM, Robin Landseadel
<robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> If you'd like to be even more crazy/scared:
>President Regan signed Presidential Director Number 54 in April of 1984 that allowed FEMA to activate a secret national readiness exercise. This exercise was given the code name REX84. The purpose of the exercise was to test FEMA's ability to assume military authority.