Aftermath

In the after math of Hurricane Katrina, it was obvious to the public and the world that our response plans were not ready for a disaster of that magnitude. Thousands of people were left without power, food, shelter, and direction. This was unfortunate because we are suppose to be the most sophisticated and advanced country in the world, but yet when a disaster struck in our own backyard, we seemed helpless. So after Katrina there were many changes and modifications to our response plan.

One of the biggest problems during the aftermath was communication; there were so many different groups at different levels doing the same and different things with no coordination between them. The local would be doing one thing while the state was doing another and no knowledge of what the other was doing. So in response the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set up a Multiple Joint Field Office (JFO). In the event of a Disaster the Secretary of Homeland Security is to designate a JFO weather it be temporary or permanent. The responsibility of the JFO is to provide a place in the disaster area for the federal, state, and local executives to coordinate the recovery process. They coordinate all operations in the disaster area for better execution.

Since coordination was another problem with the response along with communication the DHS went on to clearly identify the roles of the Principal Federal Official (PFO) and Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO). The PFO’s responsibilities are simply the “day-to-day” operations, but it said he may not be “dualhatted” from his job. This means he is not aloud to be distracted or work on anything else besides his job, that

would possible take away from his over all goal. While the PFO deals with the day to day operations it is the responsibility of the FCO to coordinate. It is his responsibility to coordinate all the federal