Letters

The sluggish response to the crisis of Hurricane Katrina was shameful [Sept. 12]. There seemed to be a lack of organization and little coordination among federal, state and local authorities. The Gulf Coast contains vital ports for oil and natural gas and should have been given a high priority in U.S. defense planning against terrorism. The government's unpreparedness makes me extremely skeptical of the effectiveness of the Department of Homeland Security. It certainly didn't seem to have made plans for evacuation and disaster management in this major urban area. The scale of the disaster may have been unprecedented, but I thought...