Homeland Security Faces Staffing Crisis

FEMA struggles to keep Houston, Galveston supplied

(NEWSER) - Federal officials were working yesterday to move emergency supplies and fresh water to distribution centers in beleaguered Houston, where residents were struggling to cope with continued flooding, blackouts and looting. Millions are still without power and a curfew is in force, reports the Houston Chronicle. Officials in Galveston, meanwhile, appealed for evacuated resident to stay out of the devastated city. More»

(NEWSER) - Federal aid will soon be pouring into Southern California: President Bush today declared a state of emergency for the fire-scorched region. Wildfires ripping across seven counties have forced half a million people to evacuate. “We extend our prayers and our thoughts” to them, Bush said. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and FEMA officials will head to California today, the LA Times reports. More»

Agency didn't announce toxin find until 2 years after people moved in

(NEWSER) - FEMA was too slow to deal with reports of toxins in trailers used to house Hurricane Katrina victims, potentially posing a “significant health risk” to thousands along the Gulf Coast, a Homeland Security report says. Residents of the trailers had reported bloody noses, headaches, and worse as a result of exposure to formaldehyde, a carcinogenic gas, USA Today reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the completion of the border fence between the US and Mexico, Fox News reports. Environmental groups, an Indian tribe, and the city of El Paso brought the challenge, contending that a fence will cut off access to the Rio Grande for religious, cultural, and municipal purposes. The Obama administration had encouraged the court to reject the case. More»

(NEWSER) - The recent Homeland Security report detailing right-wing extremist recruitment of veterans is “true, true, true,” Charles M. Blow writes in the New York Times. But “conservatives reacted by throwing a knee-jerk hissy fit,” suggesting that vets “were being vilified by a partisan document.” Instead of playing politics, writes Blow, we should be figuring out how to save our soldiers. More»