State is in charge per a Presidential directive of 2005.

When some of the dust has settled, both State and DOD should send some bright people over to DHS to have a close look at the Incident Command System. This had its genesis in the ’70s in California wildfires, where multiple agencies and NGOs at different levels had difficulty cooperating. Sound familiar?

Today it is a US domestic standard, been embraced by other nations, and recommended by the UN as an international standard. USCG has had it translated into, I think, eight languages, and distributes it widely. It’s their major-incident bible; maybe why they seemed to be the only ones during Katrina who seemed to know what they were doing.

Establishment of this system, or a variant, for US international disaster response would be a laudable goal for both the striped-pants brigade and the uniforms.

A second laudable goal might be some preplanning. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to establish that, say, Caribbean basin nations are at risk for hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic events. Figuring out in advance what we can and will do, and setting up a few action menus would save time and circumvent some indecision.

No doubt the press relations by USAID is woefully poor. There is a top USAID official on the ground – with former Haiti experience as USAID director and also former Ambo and fluent French speaker. There are 800 Office of Foreign Disaster Response officials on the ground. Here is a bit of background on the top USAID official on the ground – On January 15, the Administrator appointed Ambassador Lewis Lucke as Coordinator for Disaster Response and Reconstruction in Haiti , with overall responsibility for managing USG support for the disaster relief and reconstruction effort on the ground and coordination with our partners in Haiti . He is based at the Humanitarian Assistance Combined Coordination Center established to coordinate relief and reconstruction efforts with the U.S. military, UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti , Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Department of State (DOS), NGOs, Government of Haiti, and foreign governments.

From 2004 to July 2006, Lewis Lucke served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland . Prior to joining the DOS, Ambassador Lucke was a career Senior Foreign Service Officer who served for 26 years with USAID.

Ambassador Lucke was the first USAID Mission Director to Iraq , where he managed a $4 billion reconstruction and economic development program in 2003-2004. The program was USAID’s largest ever and the largest reconstruction effort funded by the United States since the Marshall Plan.

From 1978 to 2006, Ambassador Lucke served in the U.S. Foreign Service in 10 countries: Mali , Senegal , Costa Rica , Tunisia , Bolivia , Jordan , Haiti , Brazil , Iraq , and Swaziland . He served as USAID Mission Director in his last five posts in Bolivia , Jordan , Brazil , Haiti , and Iraq . Ambassador Lucke is fluent in French

You win the concert tickets. Some of that ‘top cover’ includes bi-lateral legal status in case US military personnel have to fire upon/detain a Haitian national. Among other things, which you have outlined. Some of the “advantages” I alluded to above.

Besides, NGOs hate US military, no matter how many times we save their lives. (And, it seems, even moreso after we do…?)

If State wants to run the show, let ‘em earn it.

Myriad reasons why State should be in charge.

How well they do? Another story.

State has been a dismal flop of late, certainly in Iraq during my time there, and AFG, by tales told, as well.

Matt Armstrong’s comments above, and Galrahn’s, are pertinent. The State Department hasn’t exactly been positioned for success institutionally. Some good folks, but miracles are hard to do.

http://xbradtc.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/this-is-frustrating/