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Hurricanes and Homeland Insecurity

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photoAfter 9-11, the federal government vowed it would make sure the country was better prepared to respond to the next calamity. It created the Department of Homeland Security, put a color-coded alert system into place, made big promises to states to help fund local emergency preparedness efforts.

Then, along came Katrina. This time, the attacker was Mother Nature, not Al-Qaeda, and she came with plenty of warning. And the post 9-11 response? Excruciating, clumsy, slow and inadequate, and it is getting the attention of the nation's top terror analysts.

What does one big hurricane tell us about U.S. readiness to handle another terror attack on the country?

Guests:

Juliette Kayyem, lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, former member of the National Commission on Terrorism;Brian Bennett, Time Magazine

Stephen Flynn, senior fellow at The Council on Foreign Relations, author of "American the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism"

Roger Cressey, president of Good Harbor Consulting, held senior cyber security and counterrorism positions in the Clinton and Bush administrations

This program aired on September 5, 2005.

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