FEMA BACKGROUNDERS….Just a note for anyone who wants to read about the rise and fall of FEMA, in deeply reported stories written long before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The following two pieces, taken together, do the best job I’ve seen of telling the story:
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“The FEMA Phoenix,” by Daniel Franklin, in the July/August 1995 issue of the Washington Monthly.
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“Disaster in the Making,” by Jon Elliston, in the September 22, 2004 issue of the Independent Weekly. (A post-Katrina followup by Elliston is here.)
Read ’em both. They tell a grim story, and neither one was motivated by any special axe to grind over Katrina.
