On BBC a NorthCom Lieutenant Commander takes the rare risk of publicly criticizing the president for his mind-numbingly long delays in sending in the military to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina
Attached is a link to the video clip, and my transcription of the relevant portion of the audio
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MY TRANSCRIPT:
Q: "I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities are being slot to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relief work?"
A: "NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida - because as you remember it crossed that bottom part of Florida - and then we were planning once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call 'Defense Coordinating Officers' to work with the states to say "what do you think you will need" and we set up staging bases that could be started - we had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall its search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. We had things ready. The only caveat is we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion - we have to wait for the President to give permission."