America’s emergency response system is entirely ineffective. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a typical bureaucracy. It can deal with small problems, but it has no capacity to quickly move enough assets to respond to big crises.
This is not a new problem. Almost 20 years ago, I was co-chairman of a Business Executives for National Security Study Group which spent a year studying how to dramatically improve our emergency response effort. We warned about our systems’ deficiencies in a 2007 report requested by Congress after the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Our report, “Getting Down to Business: An Action Plan for Public-Private Disaster Response Coordination,” had nine major recommendations for a better emergency response system. We recommended an approach which relied on existing large private logistics systems, such as Walmart, FedEx, UPS, Costco, Target, Amazon, and others. These companies have substantial resources — and they practice delivering huge volumes of goods to the American people every day.
- Presidents Trump, Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR
President Trump is rapidly growing a sense of Republican teamwork in Congress, state legislatures, and with governors across the country. If he keeps this pace, President Trump will clearly be in the same league as Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. All three built enormous national majorities. - Newt’s World Episode 824: Cutting Waste in the Federal GovernmentNewt talks with Charles Thorngren, CEO of Legacy Precious Metals, about DOGE’s efforts to cut wasteful spending in the federal government.
- Hamas’ Unconditional Surrender Is the Only Acceptable Option for IsraelThese are not people with whom we can negotiate, so turn to the lessons of history for dealing with non-negotiable opponents.
- The Emerging Revolution in Health Care and LearningWhether you are interested in health or learning, you should visit Omaha and go to the Davis Global Center.
- An Intolerable Judicial DictatorshipJudge Boasberg is the most recent example of judicial absurdity, but he certainly isn’t alone. In the last month, 15 judgements have been issued by district court judges who decided they knew better than the elected President of the United States how to run the executive branch.
