Former FEMA director BROWN getting grilled

[theski]

On Cspan 1....... Damm

[Haminal10]

Update from CNN

Brown says he's been made Katrina scapegoat
Ex-FEMA chief blames Homeland Security for slow response

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown told a Senate panel Friday that he feels he's been made a scapegoat for the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.

"I certainly feel somewhat abandoned" by the Bush administration now, Brown said in testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

In the hours after Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast on Monday, August 29, Brown said he bypassed his boss at the Department of Homeland Security and communicated directly with the White House about the disaster.

He described how he "got around DHS" by dealing with President Bush's top aides instead of going to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

He also contradicted comments by Homeland Security officials that they were unaware of flood dangers in New Orleans, Louisiana, the day that Katrina made landfall.

"For them to now claim that we didn't have awareness of it, I think is just baloney," he said. "They should have had awareness of it because they were receiving the same information that we were."

Brown said FEMA held daily video conference calls on the storm's impact.

He said, "The record indicates that on numerous occasions" a senior Homeland Security official was "in on those conversations."

"I find it a little disingenuous that DHS would claim that they were not getting that information," Brown said.
Executive privilege not asserted

The government's decision to fold FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security led to his agency's failure during Katrina, Brown testified.

"There was a cultural clash which didn't recognize the absolute inherent science of preparing for disaster, responding to it, mitigating against future disasters and recovering from disaster," he said during an opening statement before the Senate panel, which is looking into the government's response to the hurricane.

"And any time you break that cycle of preparing, responding, recovering and mitigating you are doomed to failure. The policies and decisions that were implemented by DHS put FEMA on a path to failure."

Before answering questions from the committee, Brown asked the panel's chairwoman, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, for guidance on executive privilege.

Brown said his attorney sought guidance from White House counsel Harriet Miers on whether the administration wanted Brown to invoke executive privilege and keep his communications with administration officials private.

Collins said she spoke with Miers on Thursday night and made clear that Brown would be directed to answer questions unless the White House wanted to invoke executive privilege.

Brown said the White House did not ask him to apply the privilege.

By not doing so, the White House is effectively allowing the former FEMA chief to share internal communications, Collins said.

Brown's testimony coincides with fresh questions about how much the administration knew about the disaster on the day Katrina hit.

Democrats released a new batch of FEMA e-mails Thursday, some of which indicated that government officials were notified that day that there were dangerous breaks in New Orleans' flood protection system.

According to documents, messages filtered back to Washington, and by late that Monday morning both the White House and Homeland Security headquarters had heard there was already significant flooding in the city. (Full story)

Brown received much of the blame in the days immediately after the storm when many New Orleans residents gathered at the Louisiana Superdome and convention center helplessly waiting for government assistance while most of the city was flooded. He also came under intense criticism over his qualifications to lead FEMA.

Brown resigned September 12, three days after he was replaced as the chief of the Katrina response.

Others facing questions Friday before the Senate panel include former FEMA Chief of Staff Patrick Rhode and two officials from the Department of Homeland Security -- Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert Stephan and Director for Operations Coordination Matthew Broderick.

This could get interesting.

[Sea Skimmer]

He really is a scapegoat, FEMA legally couldn’t do a damn thing until a state of emergency was declared, and the utter moron Louisiana calls a governor waited two days after the storm hit to do that. In any case, FEMA is not intended as a first responce agency, thats the job of state and local goverment.

[Durandal]

He really is a scapegoat, FEMA legally couldn’t do a damn thing until a state of emergency was declared, and the utter moron Louisiana calls a governor waited two days after the storm hit to do that. In any case, FEMA is not intended as a first responce agency, thats the job of state and local goverment.

Scapegoat or not, he had no business being in charge of FEMA in the first place.

[FSTargetDrone]

He really is a scapegoat, FEMA legally couldn’t do a damn thing until a state of emergency was declared, and the utter moron Louisiana calls a governor waited two days after the storm hit to do that. In any case, FEMA is not intended as a first responce agency, thats the job of state and local goverment.

Scapegoat or not, he had no business being in charge of FEMA in the first place.

Now now, what makes you say that? He's a personal friend of his holiness George The Lesser, and clearly that makes... him... um... qualified...

[tharkûn]

Scapegoat or not, he had no business being in charge of FEMA in the first place.

Giving the deputy head of FEMA the bump up to head of FEMA isn't all that uncommon. The problem was that he got the acting-deputy position and the senate glossed over his confirmation in the first place.