Mike--I'm a senior policy adviser for my district state senator, so I am used to thinking about this stuff from the point of view of "legislative policy" vs "administrative code", etc. If I write to my congressman, I need to be able to recommend a solid policy solution. Otherwise I will be left with "what the aide who really reads this stuff" decides to do with it.
I should probably read your posts on this before asking this question, I guess, but here goes: "What would be your suggestion for a process and expected outcome?"
Please read my post but I am happy to answer your question.
For all intents and purposes, the NWS, FEMA, Red Cross, emergency management have no real accountability because they can spin BS to the politicians and, because the politicians are not scientists, they generally get away with it. FEMA has been accused with everything just short of criminal negligence in the aftermath of the hurricane in Lake Charles. Are those accusations fair? I have no idea.
That lack of accountability has to change.
Since 2012, in the wake of the Sandy mess, I have been proposing a National Disaster Review Board (NDRB) modeled after the hugely successful National Transportation Safety Board. These experts in the field would do things:
- Review disaster failures and success by all involved parties.
- Assume the responsibility for keeping accuracy stats of NWS storm warnings. This NWS being in charge of the warnings, the verifications, the warning database, and the warning stats is incestuous and needs to stop.
In my mind, the NDRB would be
forbidden to bring climate change into things. The USA already has two climate change panels and we do not need a third. They need to strictly focus on disaster response and improvement. They must have subpoena power so the agencies cannot thumb their noses at them.
I am a Reagan conservative and am strongly for a smaller, but better, government. It nearly kills me (instinctively) to propose another government agency. But, going back to Joplin (poorly warned, with 161 dead) and Sandy, the need has become obvious:
It is Time for a National Disaster Review Board, Part I
That is my suggestion. Thank you for asking!
Mike
P.S. To the meteorologists on this board: Do we want our science, our profession to be tarnished by these terrible performances?
Our science is much better than this! That is yet another reason to write congress to ask for change.
We also need to burnish our radar skills if we are in the media. If the NWS is dropping the ball, we have a professional obligation to to inform viewers and listeners of dangerous weather.
www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com
