"It's a military preparedness issue," Mr. Cleland said.
"Since war talk started, they are a lot more willing to discuss emergency preparedness issues".
He said the "Greek people will embrace the world with open arms" this summer in Athens, skipping over the preparedness issue.
In it, Mr. Siegelman, a Democrat, stated that after reading the accounting office report, he would not permit the incineration until preparedness issues were resolved.
"Vice President Gore is trying to sweep the military preparedness issue under the rug so he can be held blameless," she said.
One of the strongest flashes of irritation from Mr. Clinton came when he defended his administration's record on military and preparedness issues.
Beyond any improvements in forecasting and communication, getting even closer to zero deaths would require additional steps, said Stephen Flynn, president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington research group that studies preparedness issues.
"Workforce management challenges have been a long standing issue at FEMA," said Chris Currie, director for emergency management and national preparedness issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
On the other hand, because El Niño enhances our ability to predict the climate conditions expected in these same regions, one can take advantage of that improved predictability to help societies improve preparedness, issue early warnings and reduce possible negative impacts. 2. Do El Niño and La Niña significantly affect climate in most regions of the globe?
The US Secretary of HHS has been meeting with states (http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/convening.html) to review pandemic preparedness issues.
