Posted on 09/06/2005 5:56:44 PM PDT by bobsunshine
WASHINGTON - The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region - and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.
Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.
Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged. Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."
The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina. "Governments at all levels failed," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Brown's memo on Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the rescues, establish communications and coordinate with victims and community groups, Knocke said.
Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said.
'Time for Blame'
"There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work," Knocke said. "Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts."
Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."
"FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days.
Knocke said the 48-hour period suggested for the Homeland employees was to ensure they had adequate training. "They were training to help the life-savers," Knocke said.
Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. "You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote.
The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should step down.
After a senators-only briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other Cabinet members, Sen. Charles E. Schumer said lawmakers weren't getting their questions answered.
"What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is what is the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wrong in the past," said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said the administration is "getting a bad rap" for the emergency response.
"This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe," Stevens said. "People have to understand this is a big, big problem."
Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government's request for help evacuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon. The president of the Air Transport Association, James May, said the Homeland Security Department called then to ask if the group could participate in an airlift for refugees.
Huh? I don't see it. His full resume just shows how politically connected he was. And unlike Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, et al., Brown has no actual achievements beyond his political appointments. He was, and is, a lightweight who does not deserve a position of such responsibility. Imho, this is a weakness of GWB. He's too ready to give authority to the incompetent. Norm Mineta, anyone?
Then try opening your eyes. The bio does a nice job of tying together his relevant experience. He has plenty of achievements - you're being completely dishonest to say otherwise.
That explains why his performance at the task sucked then.
" Of course he had political connections. So did Rumsfeld, and Condi, and Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell, and Tom Ridge, and Tommy Thompson...
The difference, is that those folks are competent.
" Brown was and is WELL qualified to be FEMA's head.
The snow job disappeared in the heat.
No fact shall be allowed to intrude upon their minds and generate a independent thought.
I just got a completely different impression after reading his resume posted by you.
Unqualified is a mild term.
and not a single poll gives any credence to their assertations
Every time you post your drivel, I'll be helpfully including this reminder link until you have the gonads to address it.
I'm so fed up with all the local and state gov. trying to blame FEMA and Bush for their failures. Some of you FReepers are swallowing the Hillary Clinton koolaid and it makes me sick.
The politicans in my state have endangered my life and my families lives by not having the balls to get the job done. They allowed the looting and killing to spread. Now, some of the evacuees who could be responsible for rapping and slitting the throat of a seven year old, and gang raping a five year old could be in my community.
Crime in the rural areas is spreading outwards from where some of them are lodged. I'm alone all day, with no neighbors near. When I go after my disabled daughter after school, I have to walk a quarter of a mile down a deserted dirt road with woods all around me. Today when I go after her, I won't be alone. I'm sitting here at my desk with my doors locked(never did it before) a .45 not 12 inches from my reach and a 12.ga 10 feet away. This afternoon, I'll have that .45 tucked into my waistband.
Because of my local and state governments incompetence, this is the way things are for me now. They allowed things to get out of hand and are now blaming FEMA and Bush for their failures.
So you bet I'm pissed.
Then I can, mildly and without qualification, say that you were not objective when you read the resume.
That't right--how any $millions$ were mistakenly given to Miami/Dade county residents when the hurricanes MISSED THEM. Total chaos in Fema.....
List a few of his "achievments," then.
Your post #561 has nothing to do with prepositioned compensation for the cokehead's dome plan. The dome happening occurred w/o compensation. Or, are you going to argue that FEMA did compensate and what happened at the dome was their best efforts?
They're on the bio. Read it again yourself. You just don't like what you read. I can live with that, and I'm quite sure Mr. Brown can as well.
You are correct, as are all the people noting that FEMA is not supposed to be a first-responder -- they're not even supposed to be in-field until about 96 hours after the disaster occurred.
FoxNews had to issue a sort of correction a little while ago. Fox to its shame (with Catherine Herridge) had jumped on this FEMA "memo" report as some sort of smoking gun, too.
Fox's clarification was that the FEMA memo wasn't nearly as significant as the media were making it out to be because the persons Brown was addressing in it were only VOLUNTEERS -- not paid, trained rescue personnel.
Neither were you, obviously.
Hey Sandy, am I psychic or what?!? LOL.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478886/posts?page=561#561
Every time you post your drivel, I'll be helpfully including this reminder link until you have the gonads to address it.
But you'll notice some of us are quite good at backing up our opinions (and we tend to be on one side of the Brown argument) with data, while some others on the other side struggle greatly to come up with anything at all.
The media broadcast the location over and over again, but FEMA could not find them. Similarly, FEMA was commandeering buses from people who wanted to escape the city, but FEMA did not now that the bus passengers were left behind to their own devices?
Anyway, we have to agree to disagree. IMHO, Brown should go back to being a lawyer.
If I were FEMA Director, I'd be working furiously with the officials who actually have jurisdiction over that debacle.
And just because folks suffered doesn't mean LEOs, volunteers and others weren't busting buns to try to help them. It's a frickin' natural disaster of epic proportions. Planning and coordination only go so far.
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