To the editor:

How is it that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the very federal agency created to respond to disasters, responded so incompetently to Hurricane Katrina? Three top FEMA officials including its director had little or no experience, training or expertise in emergency response or disaster response. Instead, they were political appointments.

Apparently it didn’t occur to President Bush (or, alternatively, it didn’t matter to him) that these positions were critically important and that the people in them should be trained professionals in emergency management. Bush likes to characterize himself as compassionate. He was so compassionate toward the millions affected by the hurricane that it took him two days to cut short his vacation after the hurricane hit. Let’s not forget that Bush ran in 2004 on a platform that centered on how he was the candidate that would make America safe. How safe do you feel now?

Julie Waters,

Lawrence