Collins Says Panel Will Probe 'Inadequate' Initial Response ; the Committee She Chairs has Been Asked to Lead the Congressional Investigation.

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Calling the federal response to Hurricane Katrina "woefully inadequate," Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday the committee she chairs will explore why the initial responses failed and how to correct them for future disasters. "The first obligation of government is to protect its citizens. In its initial response to the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, particularly in Louisiana, governments at all levels failed in this obligation," said Collins, R-Maine and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

"Katrina," she said, "was a disaster that scientists, emergency management officials and political leaders had anticipated for years. Yet the initial response was woefully inadequate."

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Collins Says Panel Will Probe 'Inadequate' Initial Response ; the Committee She Chairs has Been Asked to Lead the Congressional Investigation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asked her committee to lead the congressional review. The timing of the investigations is somewhat se...

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