9/11 Commissioners Post Katrina: Communities "Not As Safe" As Previously Thought

An article in the Christian Science Monitor last week is a cause of concern for those of us at the local level. Former commission chairman Thomas Kean and vice-chairman Lee Hamilton told the CSM that some victims of Katrina died needlessly because several 9/11 Commission reforms were not adopted including:

1. Make clear who the person in charge in national emergencies is. Katrina response had the same problems as 9/11 response; no one knew who was in charge.
   
2. Require states to develop a detailed command-and-control plan, linking those developments to receiving federal funds.
   
3. Allocate Homeland Security funds on the basis of priority rather than dispensing funds to all states regardless of risk.
   

If "everything has changed after 9/11," as we are often told, how is it that we still have not adopted the Commission recommendations that would help make our local communities safer in response to the change?