The federal response to Hurricane Helene is undoubtedly the worse in the history of our nation. It is a debate as to whether the failure is due to the inept leadership of the Biden-Harris administration and their senior appointees or by design of unprecedented discrimination against our citizens of the states in our Southeast.
The mainstream media is largely ignoring the total failure to date of the Biden/Harris administration response to Hurricane Helene. What can you expect from a brain dead and perpetually inept President Biden and his even more incapable and ignorant Vice President Kamela Harris. Biden remained on the beach in Delaware and Harris continued her campaign fundraising and inane stump speaking as Helene destroyed a large swath of the Southeast U.S. creating hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, ruining the lives millions of our citizens and killing more than 200.
Biden in explicably and irrationally said the folks in the devastated disaster are, area, “… getting all they need and they are very happy.” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reported that FEMA has no money for disaster relief. This latest revelation after billions of FEMA funds are being used inappropriately to house legal aliens and DEI agendas rather than to help Helene victims. FEMA denies this allegation and says their budgeted funds for housing and benefit of illegal aliens is a septate line item. Any allocation and further spending by FEMA for benefit of Illegal, criminal aliens instead to relief and support of US citizens is criminally negligent and horrendously misguided.
The media what is covering this disaster reveal the horrible deficiencies of the current federal response: FEMA is not active in the impacted areas, aid and relief is not being provided to the victims. There is evidence FEMA and other federal authorities are even delaying and denying private efforts to aid the disaster victims! Those victims lack potable water, food, physical evacuation capabilities and help, medial support, search and rescue, security of homes and businesses, engineering support for roads and other infrastructure clearance and repair, basic search and rescue, and more. All this can be provided by activating thousands of easily available and capable active military forces of all services to provide engineering, medical, potable water, generator support, food, medical capabilities, air evacuation largely totally missing to date and more. This military response commanded and controlled as described below, is readily available in the states impacted and in neighboring states by convoy and rail to the impacted areas.
Funding: $ 8 billion federal funding should be immediately diverted from the grant to our misguided proxy war against Russia fighting in Ukraine. The residual $7 billion from the ridiculous and destructive Inflation Reduction Act should be allocated to Helene relief to fund the federal Department of Defense for disaster relief. Redirect the FEMA millions to be used for DEI conferences and indoctrination as well as $1.4 billion allocated to support housing, hospital care, education, and even sex-change operations for millions of illegal criminal aliens the Biden/Harris cabal have allowed fo flood our nation. This resulting funding is woefully below the estimated $300 billion needed to rebuild the hurricane carnage, but it would be an immediately available source of funds for military and other forces relief.
This funding, and other possible reallocations, will fund the Title 10 military relief and augment the immediate allocation of Title 32 funds for the impacted states for fund their National Guard mobilization, if they choose to keep their NG on state orders under Title 32 vs. federal control under Title 10, This will enable the states to better facilitate the law enforcement capabilities of state NGs vs. federalized NGs under Posse Comitatus.
Command, Control, Communication and Computers (C4): Department of Defense should have and now should be mandated by the Biden/Harris administration to be the primary command and control centered at the operations center of the pentagon well-equipped and manned to handle such national emergencies. Within and subordinate to DoD would be cells representing the National Guard Bureau, FEMA, Departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Health, Energy, Transportation, etc. All those then subordinated agencies have categorically proven in the last week they are incapable of planning, leading or administering the essential disaster relief.
National Guard Bureau and Biden’s inadequate federal troop numbers have provided a modicum of leadership in helping with prioritizing disaster relief by states neighboring the disaster, but it is too little too late.
Significant relief by National Guard troops has been volunteered, coordinated and are on duty in the disaster impacted states by neighboring states, but this is not adequate or comprehensive sufficiently for the need. National Guard Bureau should, with coordination and direction by DoD, stood up a command center linked to the pentagon emergency operations center in Washington, D.C. This command center would adjust already established, planned and coordinated relief efforts from all state national guards along the mutual assistance model of law enforcement.
From considerable personal experience as a task force commander for the LA Riots, Northridge Earthquake, Reginald Denny Civil Rights Trial and several other California emergencies, I can categorically tell you that the soldiers of our national guard are often better only selectively mobilized enabling most to take care of their own families during an emergency such as Helene rather than report for duty. Those soldiers, again from personal experience, are quite willing to sacrifice their own family security and direct aid to serve the greater good. I did so myself too many times. However, with the discretion of their respective state governors, it may well be better to mobilize only a command and control element of the impacted state guard to coordinate the efforts of allocated and assigned guard forces from neighboring states not directly impacted by the disaster.
Establish a Corp-level command (60,000 troops) ideally and easily located at Camp Liberty in North Carolina, subordinate to the primary pentagon-based senior command. Establish further geographical subordinate division level commands (10,000 to 15,000 troops) coordinated in detail with the impacted state emergency services centers using the well-known and practiced military command structure for all would facilitate, adjust and administer the essential relief efforts.
Along with this specified C4 structure would be liaison cells from each state directly impacted by Helene or voluntarily or designated to provide resources for the disaster relief.
Those state cells would include representatives of their state emergency services and their state national guard for their ability to advocate what their governors direct and their specific disaster relief requirements.
Planning and Plan Execution:
It should be assumed that Homeland Security, FEMA, and other relevant disaster relief agencies have or should have a variety of disaster relief plans on file for hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, storm surge, and other natural disaster relief. If these plans do not exist, such plans regularly exercised, revised as needed and easily modified must be created and maintained.
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has again demonstrated the early preparedness and a plan well executed saves lives and preserves property. The Florida response to this and previous natural disasters has been so through, well-led and successful that Florida and Governor DeSantis are now offering and aiding neighboring states ravaged by Helene.
Logical planning and execution and the resources necessary for the essential relief for the areas and our citizens so badly impacted by Hurricane Helene is logical and execution manageable. However, such logical leadership and execution is totally beyond the capabilities of the Biden/Harris administration, or worse, as Victor Davis Hanson and others have alluded, is intentional…a sad, hideous, and increasingly likely possibility.
Bill Wenger is a retired commercial real estate executive, college professor, and U.S. Army Infantry Airborne Ranger Colonel. He voluntarily served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan after initial military retirement. He served 42 years commissioned service. He earned five Master’s Degrees and has taught National Strategic Planning, the Operational Level of Warfare, business and U.S. History. His latest book is on Amazon: The Key to American Independence: Quantifying Foreign Assistance to the American Revolution.
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