Posted on 09/09/2005 1:00:17 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command Friday.
He will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief, recovery and rescue efforts, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced.
Earlier, Brown confirmed the switch. Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort that has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: "By the press, yes. By the president, no."
"Michael Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge," Chertoff told reporters in Baton Rouge, La. Chertoff sidestepped a question on whether the move was the first step toward Brown's leaving FEMA.
But a source close to Brown, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FEMA director had been considering leaving after the hurricane season ended in November and that Friday's action virtually assures his departure.
Brown has been under fire and facing calls for his resignation because of the administration's slow response to the magnitude of the hurricane. On Thursday, questions were raised about whether he padded his resume to exaggerate his previous emergency management background.
Less than an hour before Brown's removal came to light, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Brown had not resigned and the president had not asked for his resignation.
Democratic lawmakers weren't satisfied with the move; they immediately demanded Brown's ouster from FEMA.
"The events of the last ten days have shown that Mr. Brown has repeatedly exercised poor judgment and has failed in his basic responsibilities," said a letter to Bush from Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin, Debbie Stabenow and Charles E. Schumer. "His continued presence in this critical position endangers the success of the ongoing recovery efforts. ... It is not enough to remove Mr. Brown from the disaster scene."
Republican Sen. Trent Lott, whose Pascagoula, Miss., home was destroyed in the storm, said he, too, had concluded that FEMA "was overwhelmed, undermanned and not capable of doing its job" under Brown's leadership.
"Michael Brown has been acting like a private, instead of a general," Lott said.
Chertoff suggested the shift came as the Gulf Coast efforts were entering "a new phase of the recovery operation." He said Brown would return to Washington to oversee the government's response to other potential disasters.
"I appreciate his work, as does everybody here," Chertoff said.
In a telephone interview with AP, Brown said he was "anxious to get back to D.C. to correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said." Asked if the move was a demotion, Brown said: "No. No. I'm still the director of FEMA."
He said Chertoff made the decision to move him out of Louisiana. It was not his own decision, Brown said.
"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims," Brown said. "This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit and now we have to help these victims."
The White House had insisted publicly for days that Bush retained confidence in his FEMA chief. Last Friday, Bush praised Brown during a tour of Alabama, telling him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
But there was no question that Brown's star was fading in the administration. In the storm's early days, Brown was the president's primary briefer on its path and the response effort, but by the weekend those duties had been taken over by Chertoff.
Even before Chertoff's announcement, the beleaguered Brown was facing questions Friday about his resume.
Bush administration documents have credited Brown with overseeing emergency services while working for the city of Edmond, Okla., in the mid-1970s. Brown's official biography on the FEMA Web site says he served as "an assistant city manager." But a former mayor of Edmond, Randel Shadid, told AP on Friday that Brown had been an assistant to the city manager _ never assistant city manager.
"I think there's a difference between the two positions," said Shadid. "I would think that is a discrepancy."
Asked later about the White House news release that said Brown oversaw Edmond's emergency services divisions, Shadid said, "I don't think that's a total stretch."
A longtime acquaintance, Carl Reherman, said Brown was very involved in helping set up Edmond's emergency operations center and assisting in the creation of an emergency contingency plan in the 1970s. At the time, Reherman was a city councilman, and he later became mayor.
FEMA deputy strategic director Nicol Andrews said a report in Time magazine, which first detailed the discrepancies, was "very inaccurate."
Similarly, a January 2003 White House announcement of Brown's nomination to head FEMA lists his previous experience as "the Executive Director of the Independent Electrical Contractors," a trade group based in Alexandria, Va. Two officials of the group told Newsday this week that Brown never was the national head of the group but did serve as the executive director of a regional chapter in Colorado.
___
Associated Press writers Ron Fournier, Pete Yost and Ted Bridis in Washington and Richard Green in Oklahoma City contributed to this story.
Wonder when the first layer of response will be fired.(Governor, Mayor, State Homeland Security)
Nuclear Incident Response Team.
Under Secretary Brown has led Homeland Security’s response to more than 164 presidentially declared disasters and emergencies, including the 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster and the California wildfires in 2003. In 2004, Mr. Brown led FEMA’s thousands of dedicated disaster workers during the most active hurricane season in over 100 years, as FEMA delivered aid more quickly and more efficiently than ever before.
Previously, Mr. Brown served as FEMA's Deputy Director and the agency's General Counsel. Shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Mr. Brown served on the President's Consequence Management Principal's Committee, which acted as the White House's policy coordination group for the federal domestic response to the attacks. Later, the President asked him to head the Consequence Management Working Group to identify and resolve key issues regarding the federal response plan. In August 2002, President Bush appointed him to the Transition Planning Office for the new Department of Homeland Security, serving as the transition leader for the EP&R Division.
Prior to joining FEMA, Mr. Brown practiced law in Colorado and Oklahoma, where he served as a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and as a hearing examiner for the Colorado Supreme Court. He had been appointed as a special prosecutor in police disciplinary matters. While attending law school he was appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee of the Oklahoma Legislature as the Finance Committee Staff Director, where he oversaw state fiscal issues. His background in state and local government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight and as a city councilman.
Mr. Brown was also an adjunct professor of law for the Oklahoma City University.
A native of Oklahoma, Mr. Brown holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration/Political Science from Central State University, Oklahoma. He received his J.D. from Oklahoma City University’s School of
Source for Time's Hit Piece on Brown Disputes Quotes Attributed to Her Some of Time's sources are revising and extending their remarks. An excerpt: Claudia Deakins, Edmond's director of marketing and public relations, was quoted in the Time article as saying that Brown was not a manager but more like an intern. Brown was assistant to the city manager in Edmond from 1977-80. However, this morning, Deakins disputes Time's quotes attributed to her. I spoke with two reporters from Time Magazine Thursday. I answered questions about the City of Edmond, the organizational structure and role of the city manager and his staff. My comments were in the context of the organization as it functions today. I explained that my employment with the city of Edmond began in 1997, several years after Michael D. Brown's employment by the city and that I could not speak to the specifics of the organizational structure as it was during that time. I also explained that I could not I speak to the details of Mr. Brown's role within the organization. The only people who can speak with authority with regard to Mr. Brown's position in the organization are those who were at the City of Edmond during that time and worked with Mr. Brown, such as the city manager or members of the city council. I regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred as a result of my comments. End of Quote
****Michael Brown has been acting like a private, instead of a general," Lott said. *******
Isnt that the same reason Lott was replaced by Frist?
What is needed is to get those Conservatives who do exist in La. to seriously work on it. Even though the power structure there is heavily Dimocrap, by getting some key conservatives there to state this obvious conclusion, it could cause enough pressure to make it so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.