The 911 Commission documented the intelligence failures prior to the 911 attacks. NASA suffered from a similar malaise leading to Challenger and Columbia. The Corps of Engineers seems to be suffering from many of the same problems.  What is it about our government bureaucracies that produces this type of outcome?

The Corps initially hung its hat on the idea that the flooding occurred because the storm exceeded design limits and they were not authorized by Congress to do any more. The emerging story is that the storm surge and wind fields were within design levels but inadequate engineering and maintenance was responsible for the failures.

As we rebuild to achieve protection for next year and beyond it's important to know the truth. The Corps claims to be unafraid of the truth. Does that mean they are actively seeking it? Even more critical is what they will do should they find the truth.

March 2006 Update - The Corps continues to fumble.
In a final draft report issued by its Interagency Performance Evaluation Team last week the Corps blamed the 17th Street canal levee failure on a failure that was not anticipated in the design criteria used. Within days the NSF produced a report that the Corps had tested exactly that failure in 1986. Why didn't the design criteria anticipate this failure mode and why wasn't the design changed before construction?

In April 2006 Lt. Gen Carl Strock seems to have admitted that the design was flawed. This is important, honorable and actionable. We'll keep watching.