Federal officials scrambled to respond to criticism about the many failures of government - including, it needs to be noted, at the local and state levels - after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. It turns out that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have acted too hastily in attempting to appear more responsive to the needs of New Orleans residents.

In 2007, the Corps installed huge hydraulic pumps around New Orleans. The machinery is intended to pump millions of gallons of water out of the below-sea-level city in the event of flooding such as that during Katrina.

Now, however, the Corps plans to spend $430 million to replace the pumps by 2012.

According to an investigation by the federal Office of Special Counsel, the Corps simply bought the wrong pumps in 2007. The office found "little logical justification" for the agency's choice in hydraulic pumps instead of direct-drive units. The counsel's office, relying on an independent engineering review, stated that the direct-drive pumps could have been purchased "more quickly, more reliably and without pump ... replacement," according to a published report.

Why, then, did the Corps waste millions of dollars in taxpayers' money on the pumps that are to be replaced? That is an investigation that the Office of Special Counsel should launch immediately. Mistakes - or worse - of the type involving the pumps are not acceptable.