A report prepared for the House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and released Thursday says that the American Red Cross frequently doesn’t live up to its promise to deliver short-term relief during large scale disasters, that the agency is hampered by bureaucracy, and that this pattern has continued for at least the last 20 years.

“The Red Cross has pulled the wool over our eyes. Despite its reputation for being a reliable and trusted organization, a closer look at its performance in disaster relief reveals an inefficient group hampered by mismanagement and bureaucracy,” Thompson said.

The 12-page report (PDF) says that the Red Cross has exhibited a pattern of delayed response to disasters and excessive bureauracy, all the while taking money donated to disaster relief efforts and keeping it. The report also alleges that the Red Cross gives substandard service to minorities and poorer areas.

A Government Accountability Office report (PDF) released Tuesday also shows that the Red Cross failed to provide service to the hardest-hit areas after Hurricane Katrina, leaving smaller charities such as the Salvation Army and locals to fend for themselves, and that these charities were frequently unable to provide adequate service.

The Red Cross, for instance, raised over $1.5 billion dollars after Hurricane Katrina, through November 18, comprising over half of all charitable donations, according to the GAO report.

The Red Cross is a “federal instrumentality” created to comply with the Geneva Conventions, according to the House report.

“The Red Cross is currently mandated, pursuant to Emergency Support Function #6 of the National Response Plan (NRP), ((PDF) to assume the role of providing food, shelter, emergency first aid, disaster welfare information and bulk distribution of emergency relief items to disaster victims during Incidents of National Significance. The NRP defines such an incident as ‘an actual or potential high-impact event that requires a coordinated and effective response by an appropriate combination of Federal, State, local, tribal, nongovernmental, and/or private-sector entities in order to save lives and minimize damage, and provide the basis for long-term community recovery and mitigation activities.’ The Red Cross is the only nongovernmental organization with primary agency responsibilities for these ‘mass care’ duties under the NRP,” the House report says.