"The first response to any natural or man-made disaster must come from state and local authorities who have the firefighters, police officers and EMTs that go out into our various communities and respond to emergencies on a daily basis," Perry said. "If the federal government assumed control of first response to catastrophes, I believe it would add another layer of bureaucracy, create indecisiveness, lead to rampant miscommunications and cost lives."
Perry said that the federal government plays an important role in disaster response. Federal officials should make significant resources available to assist states and local communities, including assistance of the U.S. Military if needed, he said. However, the military's most vital role in a disaster is to provide specialized heavy equipment and aviation assets and the personnel to operate them, not act as first responders.
"The military has expertise in preparing for wars, fighting wars and winning wars," Perry said. "But it is not a civil first responder, and it wasn't designed to be."
Perry said that when the military assets are used for disaster response efforts, decision-making authority should remain with the state adjutant general, the commander for state and National Guard forces.
"The purpose of the National Guard is to provide a state military force to respond to disasters," Perry said. "The Guard is fully integrated into the civil response force and trains with them regularly. If anything, we need additional resources for the guard to recognize their involvement in these state missions."
"This whole debate about whether federal officials should have a more direct role in disaster response obscures the greatest issue before us, and that is what should the federal government do right now to help those still suffering from these two catastrophes," Perry said. Texas still has close to 400,000 Katrina evacuees left in hotels, shelters, and other places of last resort and 6,000 evacuees with special needs in hospitals and nursing homes with no federal plan in place to help determine what happens to them next, he added.
"Texas has a long and storied history of welcoming people seeking refuge from yesterday's troubles to experience tomorrow's opportunities," Perry said. "Regardless of where evacuees seek to plant their roots, we must be about the business of transitioning as quickly as possible from displacement to rebirth, from the uncertainty of wondering where home will be to the hope of a new day and a new life for those ready to stop being hurricane victims and ready to start being contributing members of American Society again."
Perry suggested that instead of spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on transitional housing, healthcare, and unemployment benefits for these people, in addition to the staggering cost of rebuilding their home cities, it may be wiser and more cost-effective to give displaced people housing vouchers so they can rebuild their lives right now if they choose to do so. The vouchers could be limited to housing only and prohibited from going toward various vices.
"In essence, the billions we will spend to relocate people through a series of temporary and permanent government housing projects could, in many cases, be given directly to them so they can begin rebuilding their lives today," Perry said. "I believe it would cost less to give people housing vouchers that could be redeemed on a mortgage payment, or a rent payment, than what it would cost to construct temporary trailer towns, plus pay the assistance benefits for large numbers of people congregated in the same makeshift community where there aren't enough jobs."
While recognizing that the plan was not flawless, Perry pointed out that the Texas response to Hurricane Rita is an example of precisely why the federal government need not usurp the role of states and localities in responding to disasters. "We did not wait for the federal government to come to our rescue. We had a plan, we tested that plan in numerous exercises against numerous types of disasters and we implemented that plan when Mother Nature bore down on our coast," Perry said.
Perry said that an indication of how the federal government will respond to future disasters is how it is currently responding to the ongoing threat of disaster posed by a porous border with Mexico. In the first seven months of this year, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 119,000 illegal immigrants who did not originate from Mexico, or "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) as they are sometimes called. As a result, federal officials are taking desperate measures, including busing OTMs to inland towns, dropping them off and asking them to return for a detention hearing on their honor.
"Federal officials must significantly re-examine this nonsensical deportation system that depends on the honesty of those who have already broken our laws," Perry said. "Unless the federal government changes course and adequately addresses our border problem, it's only a matter of time until the federal 'catch and release' policy leads to another terrorist attack on our nation."
Last week Perry announced a state border security plan to provide resources from the Governor's Office to increase law enforcement presence, the number of investigators, and the use of technology in the region to track and deter this threat in the absence of a legitimate and effective federal plan.
"As much as we appreciate the additional border patrol agents and new the technologies contained in the latest homeland security bill, it is not enough," Perry said. He called for the federal government to hire many more border patrol agents; expand the use of technology at and between ports of entry; authorize homeland security funding to pay for law enforcement positions and overtime; and designate the entire Texas border region a high-threat area so border communities have the same eligibility for homeland security funds as large urban areas.
"The lead role of federal officials should be preventing disasters, not managing them on behalf of states. It is vital for the federal government to keep out of this country those who would harm our people," Perry said. "Once disaster strikes, whether manmade or a natural occurrence, it is imperative for states and localities to take the lead in responding because they know their communities best."
