Letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency Requesting Information on National Hurricane Center Communications Regarding Hurricane Katrina

The Honorable R. David Paulison
Acting Under Secretary/U.S. Fire Administrator
Office ofthe Director
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20472

Dear Under Secretary Paulison:

I write because of my committee's jurisdictional responsibilities over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and more specifically over the National Weather Service (NWS) and its National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The oversight responsibilities of the Science Committee make it imperative that the committee fully understand the depth and substance of the communications between the NHC and local, state and federal emergency response, including FEMA. It is impossible to fully assess the Federal preparedness for Hurricane Katrina without understanding specifically what the NHC's representatives were telling the participants in the HLT briefings in the two days prior to Hurricane Katrina making landfall....

Related Subcommittees

• Environment, Technology, and Standards (109th Congress)

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