Penny-wise, pound-foolish levee repairs

Col. Lewis Setliff, commander of Task Force Guardian in charge of repairing damaged levee systems:

"We are authorized by Congress to only restore the level of protection that existed before Katrina," he said. "We aren't allowed to do betterments, and that means no (widespread) armoring."

Not exactly the vote of confidence we need to hear from NSF engineers evaluating the Corps of Engineers plans for levee repairs:

The region won't be secure from major storm surges until Congress follows the Netherlands' lead and makes protecting New Orleans from truly big storms a national priority. Even on an expedited basis, Category 5 protection for the city alone will cost $3.5 billion and take five to 15 years to install. For all of southeast Louisiana, the figure rises to $18 billion, plus another $14 billion for coastal restoration.