Federal Team Ready and Waiting This Time

A Category 5 hurricane would presumably command the federal government’s attention any time, but as Rita powered toward the Texas coast Wednesday, the Bush administration was doing its best to appear calm and collected while mobilizing as if its core credibility were on the line.

Indeed, Washington was so jittery over the possibility that the federal government might repeat the errors of Hurricane Katrina that some Republicans reacted with alarm when President Bush spent part of the day taking care of routine business -- delivering a boilerplate speech at a GOP luncheon and attending a lengthy meeting on his stalled Social Security plan.

“Why he spent 45 minutes on Social Security today floors me,” said a GOP lobbyist close to the White House, expressing concern over what he called “a perception that no one is in charge.”

But White House officials said Bush had spent much of Wednesday on hurricane business, including continual updates on Rita’s progress. The time devoted to previously scheduled activities may have been intended to project a sense of calm.

Similarly, throughout the government agencies that have a role in responding to natural disasters, officials seemed intent on appearing placid. But with memories of Katrina still fresh, there was little evidence of the tentative, wait-to-be-asked approach that contributed to Washington’s faltering response to the storm that devastated New Orleans and the eastern Gulf Coast three weeks ago.

“This is a huge hurricane and it’s headed toward important national assets, so the focus had to be very sharp,” said Morrie Goodman, a former spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “But what is also at stake is the reputation of FEMA and the reputation of the president of the United States. If this falls through the cracks, our nation will have no confidence in its government’s ability to help them when they need it the most, and President Bush would be hard pressed to find his footing.”

Signs that Washington meant to do better this time were visible across the government.

FEMA officials were not relying on the doubtful proposition that local telephones would keep working, as happened before Katrina. Instead, they had five military communications teams poised to move wherever Rita struck.

The agency also reassured nervous lawmakers that it had 10,000 operators standing by to handle storm claims. And, rather than wait to be asked for help by local officials, FEMA said it was taking a lead role in coordinating transportation plans for moving people away from danger.

“I think they have come to their senses,” said Richard Krimm, who worked at the agency for nearly 20 years before retiring in 1998. “If they had done for Hurricane Katrina what they are doing now, you wouldn’t have had the debacle in New Orleans.”

This time, Krimm said, Bush seems to be taking a page from the playbook of former President Clinton, who was keenly aware of the potential political fallout from natural disasters.

“We are determined to learn the lessons of Katrina, and that’s why we have been assessing what’s been working and what hasn’t been working and taking steps to address those issues,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

“We want to make sure that we are better prepared and better positioned to respond to Hurricane Rita, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

In that spirit, by late afternoon, Bush had formally declared Texas and Louisiana disaster areas, a technical step necessary to quickly start the flow of federal aid.

And the Department of Homeland Security was expected to declare Rita an “incident of national significance,” the government’s highest emergency designation, very soon -- a step not taken until a full day after Katrina hit the eastern Gulf Coast.

Coast Guard and Pentagon planners are preparing in much the same way they did for Katrina, by placing helicopters, ships and other equipment on standby.

What’s different this time, officials said, is the degree of presidential attention, the widespread sense of urgency, and a determination to prevent the government from a repeat performance in fumbling.

White House officials said Bush had participated in meetings and briefings Wednesday on Rita and the ongoing Katrina relief effort. He was briefed in the morning by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other officials on Rita preparations and Katrina recovery efforts.

The president later met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and attended afternoon briefings on Katrina’s effects on the energy industry and the potential additional impact of Rita, as well as on the housing needs of Katrina evacuees.

Some Republicans said they were worried that Bush was not doing enough to assure critics that the administration would manage the Rita response better than it did Katrina. They said there was a great deal of anxiety among congressional Republicans about a confluence of bad news: the two storms, high gasoline prices and the continuing problems faced by Katrina evacuees.

Administration officials took issue with such characterizations. McClellan said the president was satisfied that federal officials were coordinating effectively with their state and local counterparts on Rita preparations.

Nonetheless, Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), reflected some of the anxiety, saying, “Because of the Katrina disaster, we’re being doubly cautious as Hurricane Rita approaches.”

Rita appeared to be a public relations dilemma for the administration.

At the same time the White House sought to assure Americans that it was exercising more oversight as the new storm bore down, it avoided characterizing its initial involvement in the Katrina response as insufficient.

McClellan emphasized that Bush was focusing much of his time and attention on Rita, but he said the president had done the same as Katrina gathered in strength in late August. “It was something we were taking very seriously as well,” he told reporters.

Chertoff expressed confidence that a clear chain of command had been established in Washington and on the ground. He said he had assigned Coast Guard Rear Adm. Larry Hereth to coordinate the Rita plans.

The administration’s decision to assign Hereth before Rita’s arrival marks another difference in the handling of the two storms. Chertoff named another Coast Guard admiral, Thad W. Allen, to oversee recovery efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi days after Katrina hit and public outcry had peaked.

Administration officials described an extensive communications and collaboration effort involving the president, senior officials in Washington and federal, state and local authorities in Texas and Louisiana.

Bush said he had spoken to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco on Tuesday about the preparations underway for Rita’s expected landfall sometime Saturday.

“Federal, state, and local governments are coordinating their efforts to get ready,” Bush said. “Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for New Orleans and Galveston. I urge the citizens to listen carefully to the instructions provided by state and local authorities, and follow them.”

Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison said his agency was holding a daily video conference with state and local officials, as well as making frequent telephone calls.

“We are making extraordinary efforts to make sure we have a coordination system in place,” Paulison said.

“[We’re] talking to as many people as necessary,” he said. “We’re not making any assumptions. We’re asking questions, they’re asking questions.”

Federal officials said they were grateful for assertive action by their Texas counterparts in ordering early evacuations, which could help save lives and speed the recovery after the storm passes through.

Paulison and other civilians have said the military would play a much greater role in Hurricane Rita, but the Pentagon and Northern Command -- the military headquarters responsible for North American operations -- said the preparations that were underway were very similar to those before Katrina.

“What we did for Katrina was nothing new. What we are doing in advance for Rita is nothing new,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Paul Swiergosz said.

The most significant difference, they said, is that the large naval presence already in the Gulf of Mexico will allow the Pentagon to respond more quickly with equipment such as search-and-rescue helicopters and hospital facilities.

Times staff writers Ron Brownstein, Mark Mazzetti, Richard Simon and Emma Vaughn contributed to this report.