The larger point is this: We’ve invested over half a billion dollars in New York since this department was stood up. We’ve given New York more money, by more than double, than any other city in the country. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
The second thing we did was said, OK, we’ve now identified the risk, but what do you want to do with the money? Because it’s not enough to have risk; you’ve got to have a meaningful use for the money we give you. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
We’ve certainly learned a lot of lessons from Katrina, from Rita. Rita was better than Katrina. We’re doing a better job planning. We’re closer – more closely aligned with the Department of Defense. These things would be positive things if we were to have another attack. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
We’ve done it in intelligence sharing and certain elements of security. There were parts of the department, in fact, that worked very well in Katrina, like the Coast Guard and TSA. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
Well, I think first of all there was a failure to have real, clear information at our disposal. There was a real lack of situational awareness. We didn’t have the capabilities on the ground to give us real-time, accurate assessments of the physical condition of the city. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
Well, I’m not excusing the fact that planning and preparedness was not where it should be. We’ve known for 20 years about this hurricane, this possibility of this kind of hurricane. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
Nobody leaves a hotel without getting a full measure of three months of rental assistance. So no one has been evicted – no one who’s eligible has been evicted from a hotel without getting a significant amount of money to find – to pay for their rent. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
So that’s why I said, if you look at the average, you would see the money New York got this year was in line with the average across the prior three years and substantially more, by a country mile, than the money given to any other city. Michael Chertoff Read Quote
And it seems to me correct then, and I think it’s correct now, that job one is get the planning done, make sure the buses are there. When that’s done, it’s completely appropriate to go around and tour around and look at the damage. Michael Chertoff Read Quote