Representative Ike Skelton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Lara Battles or
Friday, September 2, 2005	Whitney Frost (202)225-2876

SKELTON BRIEFED BY DEFENSE OFFICIALS ON
HURRICANE KATRINA RESPONSE EFFORTS

Washington, DC – Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO), the Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement after being briefed by U.S. Department of Defense officials concerning the federal emergency response to Hurricane Katrina:

“I visited the Pentagon today for a briefing on the Defense Department’s role in helping with the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina. The military, including active duty, Reservists, and National Guard, and the Coast Guard are doing a magnificent job. The Department of Defense is providing a range of forces, aviation and medical assets, among other capabilities, to help the people of the Gulf states. They are also providing thousands of forces to help bring order and security so that food, water, and medical supplies can be delivered and so that people can feel safe. These efforts will help, but the terrible situation in Louisiana and Mississippi shows that there are still tremendous difficulties. There is obviously a communications problem at all levels, compounded by the fact that the hurricane completely destroyed much of the command and control infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region.

“American forces are widely deployed around the world with over 140,000 in Iraq alone. The strains on the military, and particularly on the U.S. Army, have been growing with each deployment. While the Department has assured me that the military response to this national disaster can be accomplished without disrupting rotations to Iraq, this effort will clearly increase the overall burden on our military. This is a noble effort in which our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen are engaged and we must provide every capability available to help our affected fellow citizens. But the Defense Department’s civilian leaders must look at the impact of this and future crises and the ongoing war on the military’s future readiness and overall state.

“As we respond to the national emergency caused by this natural disaster, at the local, state, and federal levels, we must learn from our successes as well as our mistakes and apply what we learn in order to prevent another catastrophe of this magnitude.”

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Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO) serves as Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. For further information, please contact Lara Battles or Whitney Frost at (202)225-2876, or check Congressman Skelton's web site at http://www.house.gov/skelton.