$1.4 Billion Went to Fraudulent Aid for Katrina Victims (AP Article)

I'm betting some of these guys got ice as part of their aid packages.

Yeah, but it was old, stale ice.


Who was the dummy that bought season tickets to the Saints games?

I told the Mrs. that one of the guys took our dream trip to Hawaii with our portion of the tax money. She was not amused.

The same thing happened with funds from 9-11. Many of the ones who got caught were convicted of fraud.

It could have been worse; they could have bought Detroit Tigers or Detroit Lions tickets.

It is my understanding that FEMA is a small agency that organizes and places other (larger) agencies, their personnel and resources where it is needed. FEMA itself is not equipped to handle emergencies, doesn’t come with emergency equipment, tracking computers, blah but relies on the established resources of the other agencies and departments that do have the tools, equipment and man power.

With limited power, limited resources of its own I doubt FEMA could have actually prevented people from abusing the system.

Of course to get retribution for the 1.2 billion dollars will most likely result in 10 billion dollars spent in arrests, prosecution and sentencing I think the best thing to do is use this as a learning experience and come up with ways to make the system more fool-proof and abuse proof in future.

Laying blame, or making a scapegoat will not retrieve the monies – it will generate another pit to throw money into.

Katrina is an eye opening experience, there is a great deal there we learned – if we learned. It would be prudent to cut our losses and apply energy, time and forums toward solutions before the next big disaster hits

We are spending trillions for a war where we personally will not get a return on the investment – A trillion is a thousand billion.

As a lesson, 1.2 billion is money well spent.

"It is my understanding that FEMA is a small agency that organizes and places other (larger) agencies, their personnel and resources where it is needed."

Yes, it is a Management agency, and it was the management of the response to Katrina that failed miserably. FEMA under Clinton was, by all accounts, an internationally respected agency, proving that the job can be done properly. Under bush, however, the agency is a colassal failure. Because of the hiring of political hacks who had no meaningful experience in emergency management, many very capable employees resigned.

"With limited power, limited resources of its own I doubt FEMA could have actually prevented people from abusing the system."

Of course, there will always be abuses of any system. Were there complaints of abuse approaching this magnitude prior to bush's appointees running FEMA? At the present time, there are people in Florida living in FEMA trailers who are entering their 3rd hurricane season. Katrina hit near the end of their second season, so the immensity of Katrina cannot be blamed.

The job of emergency management was done well less than a decade ago. What happened in that time to cause such a failure?

FEMA has more than 2,600 full time employees. They work at FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C., at regional and area offices across the country, the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, and the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. FEMA also has nearly 4,000 standby disaster assistance employees who are available for deployment after disasters. - FEMA.gov

Over two thousand employees, and none capable of seeing the absurdity of trucking ice from the East Coast to Iowa to aid people in New Orleans?