Administration of George W. Bush, 2005 / Sept. 25

Remarks on Arrival in San Antonio, Texas September 24, 2005

The President. Mr. Mayor, thanks—[in- is now responding to the storm that’s af- audible]—and the Judge. It’s good to see fecting east Texas. I briefed today up in you all, thanks. It’s good to be back in Colorado about the Federal Government’s San Antonio. response to the storm and then went to The country and the world has seen the Austin to be briefed by the State officials, great compassion of the Texas people after to make sure that we’re working in concert Hurricane Katrina. Over 300,000 people with the State. And then tomorrow morning moved east to west, and they found home General Clark is going to come over and here in Texas. And the city of San Antonio, brief me once again about how the Federal Mr. Mayor, and Judge, was—really rose up Government is helping the State of Texas with great compassion. And I cannot thank and Louisiana recover. you enough and the people of this city But at any rate, it’s good to be back enough, for providing safe haven for people here. I’m proud of my fellow Texans, and whose lives were turned upside down by I’m proud of the people of the San Anto- this horrific storm. And it made me so nio. proud to be from the State of Texas, to Mayor Hardberger. Well, we’re mighty see the Texans rise to the occasion. glad to have you here, Mr. President. Again, I want to thank you, Mayor, and Thank you for being with us. thank all the—— The President. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Phil Hardberger. Thank you, Mr. Thank you all. President. The President. ——houses of worship NOTE: The President spoke at 4:26 p.m. at and community groups and individuals who Randolph Air Force Base. In his remarks, love their neighbor like they’d like to be he referred to Mayor Phil Hardberger of San loved themselves. Antonio, TX; Bexar County Judge Nelson W. We’re now dealing with another storm, Wolff; and Lt. Gen. Robert T. Clark, USA, and the State of Texas is prepared for and commander, Joint Task Force—Rita.

Remarks During a Briefing on Hurricane Rita in San Antonio September 25, 2005

[The briefing is joined in progress.] The President. Your point is, on a The President. Yes, having said that about Katrina, had there been a better coordi- Katrina, there were still some amazingly he- nated effort between Guard choppers— roic efforts in pulling people off roofs. I Coast Guard choppers, regular Army chop- don’t know how many sorties were flown pers, it would have been less dangerous? in Katrina, but there must have been thou- Maj. Gen. White. It would have been sands of sorties. a better orchestrated plan. You wouldn’t Maj. Gen. White. Well, as I left last have seen a lot of—for instance, one of Wednesday, it was close to 18,000 sorties the things that we’ve learned out of that— flown. Now, sir, that includes every agency, we had someone that needed to be res- and it’s a lot of the airlift in there too. cued, and that comes up on the net. Five

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helicopters show up at the same place to I went to NORTHCOM, was to better un- get one person. That’s the sort of simplistic derstand how the Federal Government can thing we’d like to avoid, and we’re not plan and surge equipment, to mitigate nat- maximizing the use of our forces to best ural disasters. And I appreciate very much, efficiency. General, your briefing, because it’s pre- Certainly, that was a train wreck that we cisely the kind of information that I’ll take saw in New Orleans, and I know everybody back to Washington to help all of us under- is jumping in, trying to help at one time, stand how we can do a better job in coordi- and that’s the right thing to do. But if nating Federal, State, and local response. we can have a national plan that would The other question, of course, I asked address the search and rescue at this mag- was, is there a circumstance in which the nitude, is what we’re out to try to do. Department of Defense becomes the lead The President. Good. agency? Clearly, in the case of a terrorist Maj. Gen. Mayes. Sir, if I might add, attack, that would be the case, but is there I would say that it wouldn’t necessarily a natural disaster which—of a certain size make it less dangerous. I would tell you that would then enable the Defense De- that the professionalism and the plan came partment to become the lead agency in co- together. I believe that all participants ordinating and leading the response effort. would agree that with the fog that we had That’s going to be a very important consid- and the weather that we were battling, eration for Congress to think about. nighttime, all the things that went into that Okay. environment, that I’m not sure we can make it less dangerous. There may be a NOTE: The President spoke at 7:30 a.m. in factor there, but the main point would be, the headquarters of the Air Education and with a national plan, we’ll have a quicker Training Command at Randolph Air Force jump-start and an opportunity to save more Base. Participating in the briefing were Maj. people. That would be my input there. Gen. John White, USAF, member, Maj. Gen. Lt. Gen. Clark. A national plan, good M. Scott Mayes, USAF, member, and Lt. training against the plan, gets you to this Gen. Robert T. Clark, USA, commander, state faster in extremis. And that’s the goal. Joint Task Force—Rita. A portion of these The President. Part of the reason I’ve remarks could not be verified because the come down here and part of the reason tape was incomplete.

Remarks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana September 25, 2005

The President. Thank you all. The Gov- home. It’s important that there be an or- ernor and I just got briefed by Admiral derly process. It’s important there be an Allen on the progress here in Louisiana. assessment done of infrastructure, and it’s There’s still assessment on the damage of important for the people of the affected Hurricane Rita. One of the things that is areas of Louisiana to listen carefully to the important for the citizens of this State to Governor and local authorities about the do is to listen to the Governor about when proper timing of return home. it is okay to return back to your homes. We also got briefed on the levees in New I know a lot of people want to get back Orleans. There is flooding, obviously, in the

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