Chertoff: Brownie, you aren't doin' a heck of a job, LOL:
"Chertoff absolves local officials
Congress investigates Katrina response
Thursday, October 20, 2005
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- As floodwaters rose in New Orleans the day after Hurricane Katrina, the Washington official in charge of disaster relief tried in vain to reach his "battlefield commander" to get an assessment of what was happening.
Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, told a House committee Wednesday that when he finally reached Michael Brown about 8 p.m., he angrily ordered him, "Get yourself into that command center in Baton Rouge!"
Brown, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, resigned two weeks later amid criticism that he had bungled the federal response to one of the worst disasters in U.S. history.
The anecdote is a window into the confusion at the highest levels of the federal government as desperate flood victims in New Orleans begged for help in the days after the storm. During four hours of testimony, the anecdote also reflected the image Chertoff tried to project of himself as a hands-on general whose chief mistake was relying on an incompetent subordinate.
"I became more involved in operational matters than I normally am, or want to be, given that I had a battlefield commander on the ground," Chertoff said. "From the very beginning of the hurricane appearing on the horizon, this was FEMA's domain and Mr. Brown was the head of it."
But some of the committee members were skeptical of Chertoff's version of events.
"I get the feeling you were a little detached from this. I don't get a sense your heart was in it," Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said. "It's like Pontius Pilate washing his hands of responsibility."
Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, blasted Chertoff for "complacency" because he remained at home Aug. 27 as the storm bore down on the Gulf Coast. Chertoff said he monitored the situation throughout the day by phone.
Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., went even further. She suggested Chertoff should be held criminally responsible for flood-related deaths.
"If nursing home owners can be arrested for negligent homicide, why shouldn't you be arrested for negligent homicide?" McKinney asked.
The hearing was the second held by the select committee investigating the governmental response to the Aug. 29 storm. Two weeks ago, Brown testified that he repeatedly warned Chertoff of the worsening condition in New Orleans, where thousands of people were stranded for days without supplies, but was rebuffed.
Media concerns
Internal FEMA e-mails released Wednesday showed Brown was also worried about the increasingly critical media coverage of the job FEMA was doing. Two days after the storm, he sent a heads-up to William Carwile, the federal coordinator in Mississippi.
"Expect a call from HQ regarding Bay St. Louis," Brown wrote. "CNN is asking where's FEMA. Would like to air drop or do something there."
Some of the committee members tried to steer the criticism away from Chertoff and toward Louisiana officials. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin must be held accountable for waiting until Sunday morning, the day before the Category 4 hurricane made landfall, to issue a mandatory evacuation order. Rogers said the federal government should have the power to order an evacuation if local officials don't.
"You are being accused of all these wrongs when in truth, you had no authority to evacuate that city," Rogers said. Rogers asked Chertoff whether he agreed with Brown, who called Louisiana officials "dysfunctional."
Chertoff said he didn't.
"I don't endorse those views," Chertoff said. "I know the city was totally overwhelmed. My own view is I have to get my own house in order. That's what I'm focused on."
Poor planning blamed
In his testimony, Brown attributed problems to budget cuts and bureaucratic hurdles after the agency was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. But Chertoff said most of the problems boiled down to poor planning.
He said FEMA employs an antiquated logistical system that stranded needed resources in remote locations and poor communications that left emergency workers confused about what they should be doing. Another e-mail released by the committee quoted Carwile, the Mississippi disaster coordinator, reporting on supply problems on Sept. 3, five days after the storm.
"Getting less than 25 percent of what we have been requesting from HQ daily," Carwile wrote.
Chertoff promised to create a "directorate of preparedness" to coordinate the myriad federal agencies involved in disaster response and attempt to anticipate problems before the next disaster hits.
Chertoff said he does not endorse moving FEMA out of the Department of Homeland Security. Since the disaster, many lawmakers have called for making FEMA a Cabinet-level position with the authority to draw at will on all the resources of the federal government.
Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, has said FEMA should be an independent agency. After Chertoff's testimony, he said he was more convinced than ever that the change should be made.
"He said that the problem was in planning, not in execution," Jefferson said. "The weight of the evidence is that it was both." |
