Washington, D.C. -- In response to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's plan to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka issued the following statement:

"Any plan to repair the systemic failures in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must include the establishment regional offices - as required in the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Having a permanent, consolidated DHS office in the Gulf Region may have prevented some of the response failures to Hurricane Katrina by establishing a stronger preexisting relationship between DHS and state and local officials and by providing one DHS point of contact.

"For my state of Hawaii, instituting a regional structure is critically important because it is located 5000 miles from DHS headquarters in Washington, DC. That is why I am renewing my request that DHS include a Pacific regional office located in Hawaii. Our state has no neighbors that can provide materiel support, facilitate evacuation, or mitigate the effects of a catastrophic incident. The only outside help will come from the federal government. As I've told former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge and Secretary Chertoff, a DHS Pacific regional office will enhance the federal presence in the Pacific and improve coordination between the many DHS entities present in Hawaii.

"I plan to discuss Hawaii's specific homeland needs with Secretary Chertoff tomorrow when he testifies before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee."

MEDIA ALERT: Secretary Chertoff will testify before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15, 2005, at 11:15 am in 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building. This hearing will be the 20th and final hearing in the Committee's Hurricane Katrina investigation.