Lessons From New Orleans

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Taming Lake Pontchartrain to accommodate a below-sea-level metropolis may be easy relative to restoring the confidence of investors that New Orleans is worth the risk of rebuilding. Dry land is only one of many factors that attract investment; law and order are far more important.


Until last week, New Orleans seemed to have ample protection for investments, loans, and insurance policies. Since the hurricane, images of wanton gunfire, looting, uncontrolled fires, and incapacitated police officers have raised doubts about law and order in New Orleans. The distance between civilization and a Hobbesian jungle in that city can now be measured as several hours without evidence of authority.


Local governments cannot communicate well with their own emergency workers, much less emergency workers from other states. Television cameras transmit information around the world often that is unavailable to local police officers. The chain of command for National Guard and military units patrolling New Orleans is often unclear.


We could resign ourselves to defeat in times of crisis, but, because we’re Americans, we will determine to be better prepared next time. Here are two areas where the federal government should prepare decisively.


First, it should take responsibility for ensuring that emergency workers from different government agencies can communicate with one another. A fire department employee may identify a house with people needing rescue services, but it does little good when the fire department cannot communicate with the local police department or the Coast Guard with boats operating around the city.


This is not an easy task. There are tens of thousands of local governments in America, many with their own emergency teams with uncoordinated but secure communications equipment. Add layers of state and federal agencies, all of which have independently managed secure communications systems, and it is surprising that anyone can speak with anyone else.


The federal government has long been aware of this problem and has been trying for the past decade to improve it. Federal efforts have focused on increased cellular wireless spectrum for local governments and greater coordination of communications equipment in that spectrum. The events of the past week and of September 11, 2001, show that these efforts alone have not been sufficient.


In times of a widespread crisis such as a hurricane, wireless services should be only one part of the government’s communications arsenal. In many cases, satellite services are necessary as well, but few state and local government agencies use the often more expensive satellite services.


Even if every local government agency in America had all of the communications spectrum and equipment it needed, including satellite services, there would remain a complicated coordination problem of enabling thousands of different secure and often encrypted systems to communicate with one another. Resolving this problem should be the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security.


The second task for the federal government is to coordinate support from outside a distressed state more forcefully. Even if different government agencies can communicate with one another, there remain sticky issues of who is in charge in times of crisis. Stories over the past week indicate delays resulted from the time required for military and emergency responders from outside Louisiana to be deputized by the state to act as law enforcement officers. Regular federal troops were not legally authorized to serve in Louisiana until late in the week.


Surely a sailor walking down Broadway should not be able to arrest an individual unless properly authorized by the state of New York or New York City. But in times of profound emergencies, such as the past week, some federal agency should coordinate command and control responsibilities among different government agencies. Emergency units from outside the state ready to respond during a crisis should not unnecessarily be delayed.


If the federal government were to take these two steps – ensure communications among government agencies, and more clearly coordinate command and control of resources during a crisis – we would be better able to save lives and maintain law and order even during large-scale emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina. And businesses would have reason to invest in the rebuilding on New Orleans.



A former FCC commissioner, Mr. Furchtgott-Roth is president of Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises. He can be reached at hfr@furchtgott-roth.com.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use