"Witt Report" Fraudulent, Plagiarized ?
Did an overly money-hungry James Lee Witt hire an icompetent to write his famous report supposedly condemning Indian Point? Is his ghostwriter, Madhu Beriwal guilty of the failed New Orleans plan, and the drowning deaths of 1000 people? Here's an article from Sourcewatch--Truth in Media.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Madhu_Beriwal
Madhu Beriwal
From SourceWatch
Madhu Beriwal is founder, president, and CEO of Innovative Emergency Management (IEM) of Arlington, Virginia.
Contents
· 1 Big Political Contributions
· 2 Other Activity
· 3 Related SourceWatch Resources
· 4 External Links
· 4.1 Articles & Commentary
GOP Contributions
Beriwal is "a big-time contributor to Politicians.. She's given thousands of dollars to pols, including Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana, the National Republican Congressional Committee, former Arkansas Sen. Tim Hutchinson. Vitter was the largest recipient of funds from Beriwal." [1]
Other Activity
Madhu Beriwal, President of Innovative Emergency Management (IEM), had no experience in hurricane emergency management. Yet the FEMA contracted out New Orleans evacuation planning to IEM. They were paid $500,000 to come up with an emergency evacuation plan for New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina. They spent it on a hurricane simulation called Hurricane Pam that was marked with bitter in-fighting between state and local emergency management officials. They never came up with the evacuation plan. Over a 1000 people drowned due to IEM's failure to simulate a major hurricane hit on New Orleans properly.
Beriwal is also author of the NY Power Authority's Witt Report [2], a review of Indian Point nuclear power plant's evacuation plan. Prior to ghost writing the Witt Report, she had no prior experience in nuclear emergencies, and in fact simply copied entire chapters of the EPA radiation manual, as the substance of her (and Witt's) report. In an article for September 2003 Homeland Protection Professional [3] Madhu summarizes her advice. "People will be people" she says. Implying they are wary of government authority and will do things their own way - in panic. She seems to be blaming the victims for their misfortune. At any rate, it gives Beriwal a way to not do a competent job, and then say that people will mess themselves up anyway, so why bother.
James Lee Witt [4], who subcontracted the NY job (and others?) to Beriwal's firm, was FEMA Director under Bill Clinton and later private consultant for Florida's Governor Jeb Bush , and for Nextel Corporation. Witt spent the months after Katrina riding around Mississippi & Louisiana in a 55 foot luxury RV, stopping to sell Nextel phone contracts to municipal authorities in areas where phone service was out. His money making disaster profiteering resulted in his cynically bestowed nickname "Master of Disaster". While thousands mourned dead loved ones, lost homes, and slept on cots in the streets, Witt made over 3 million dollars from his "Fuss-Bus" travels during the immediate post-Katrina weeks. Another big open question is why no one is doing anything about IEM's complete and total failure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Also called into question is the veracity of the plagiarized "Witt Report", and whether Beriwal had the expertise required to put out such a document. It might even be said that thousands pinning their opposition to Indian Point on Witt, have pinned their beliefs on a fraud. Concerned citizens should be asking tough questions about Madhu Beriwal and IEM.
Related SourceWatch Resources
· FEMA contractors
· "Hurricane Pam" simulation
External Links
[edit]
Articles & Commentary
· Wayne Madsen, "FEMA Privatized Hurricane Disaster Recovery Planning for New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana. Firms that received the contract are big GOP contributors," Global Research, September 7, 2005.
· Tim Padgett, "Preparing for the Worst. Madhu Beriwal, who helped New Orleans plan for a hurricane disaster, reflects on failures and lessons," Time, September 12, 2005.
