Suchergebnisse

Hurricane Katrina raised many concerns about presidential management of megadisasters. President George W. Bush has been criticized, and has personally accepted blame, for the failures and shortcomings of governmental response to this disaster. This work draws from government documents and public affairs information to analyze the facts of the event, the policies and organizational alignments in place before the disaster, and the president's performance. This study concludes that how presidents lead, manage federal officials, cope with the news media, address federal-state relations, set the boundaries of civil-military relations, define their policy agendas, and choose political appointees for responsible posts all contribute to their ability, or inability, to address the demands imposed by disasters and catastrophes. In some respects, political, policy, and managerial decisions made by the president and his administration before the disaster seriously impeded the federal government's ability to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to the catastrophe.

Hurricane Katrina raised many concerns about presidential management of megadisasters. President George W. Bush has been criticized, & has personally accepted blame, for the failures & shortcomings of governmental response to this disaster. This work draws from government documents & public affairs information to analyze the facts of the event, the policies & organizational alignments in place before the disaster, & the president's performance. This study concludes that how presidents lead, manage federal officials, cope with the news media, address federal-state relations, set the boundaries of civil-military relations, define their policy agendas, & choose political appointees for responsible posts all contribute to their ability, or inability, to address the demands imposed by disasters & catastrophes. In some respects, political, policy, & managerial decisions made by the president & his administration before the disaster seriously impeded the federal government's ability to mitigate, prepare for, & respond to the catastrophe. Appendixes, References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

The March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill into Prince William Sound, Alaska, profoundly changed America's oil spill emergency preparedness by compelling enactment of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 and inducing the oil industry to create the Marine Spill Response Organization. This study discerns both improvements and remaining flaws in the U.S. oil spill emergency preparedness since the Exxon Valdez disaster. Many organizations engaged in oil spill prevention and accident response have improved emergency planning, inspections, accident training and drills, clean-up equipment availability and deployment, and safety programs. Key federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, oil companies, and cooperative spill response groups have made many of these changes. Problems regarding spill liability, availability of rapid-response oil spill clean-up contractors, disputed environmental clean-up methods, slow conversion to double-hulling oil tankers, disputes over when officials should seek oil spill presidential disaster declarations, single vessel ownership dummy companies, and variable state oil shipping rules will continue to cause complications and vulnerabilities.