Posted on 09/06/2005 6:58:14 PM PDT by PhilipFreneau
Michael D. Brown was nominated by President George W. Bush as the first Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response in the newly created Department of Homeland Security in January 2003. As the head of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Under Secretary Brown leads federal disaster response and recovery operations and coordinates disaster activities with more than two dozen federal agencies and departments and the American Red Cross. He also oversees the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration, and initiates proactive mitigation activities.
Additionally, Under Secretary Brown helps the Secretary of Homeland Security ensure the effectiveness of emergency responders, and directs the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Center, the National Disaster Medical System and the Nuclear Incident Response Team.
Under Secretary Brown has led Homeland Security 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 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 School of Law.
» Read this bio on the FEMA site
» Speeches by Under Secretary Michael D. Brown
>>> The criticism he is getting has everything to do with his incompetence. His liberalism, even if it exists, has noting to do with his dismal performance (as attested by many posters on FR). <<<
Not one FR poster has posted a single instance of proof of incompetence or poor performance by Brown. I have challenged many of them, and so far none have provided a single instance.
Perhaps you would like to post examples of his incompetence and/or poor performance. Do not waste my time with more innuendo. I get plenty of that from the MSM.
That's exactly the attitude I hate. Of course it's not safe. It wasn't safe at Dunkirk either, but hundreds of amateur ordinary citizens were let through to save lives in a time of national emergency.
I say fire the FEMA yokel who made that statement, and tattoo the quote on his forehead so he will never have a position of responsibility, public or private, ever again.
>>"It wasn't safe at Dunkirk either, but hundreds of amateur ordinary citizens were let through to save lives in a time of national emergency." <<
That is most disconnected analogy I have read in a long list of disconnected analogies.
>> So is that why the FEMA Twinkies-on-scene turned back a flotilla of 500 Gulf boaters who were trailering their vessels to NO to do rescues? <<
BTW, Arizona, I read on another thread that the person who turned back the "flotilla" was a LA Department of Wildlife and Fisheries employee. A letter to editor of the Lake Charles American Press stated:
"We then specifically asked the DWF agent that we (and other citizens in the flotillia) be allowed to go to the hospitals and help evacuate the sick and the doctors and nurses stranded there. We offered to bring these people back to Lafayette, in our own vehicles, in order to ensure that they received proper and prompt medical care
The DWF agent did not want to hear this and ordered us home. We complied with the DWF agent's orders, turned around and headed back to Lafayette along with half of the flotillia. However, two of my friends were pulling my other boat, a smaller 15ft alumaweld with a 25 hp. The DWF agents let them through to proceed to the rescue operation launch site," the email continued."
A Lafayette, Louisiana attorney by the name of Jason Robideaux wrote that letter to the editor reporting that he was part of a group of 1,000 men who were pulling 500 boats to New Orleas to aid in the rescue when an agent with the Louisiana State Deptment of Wildlife and Fisheries turned away about one-half the boats because they were too long and the agency had "things under control"
I thought you might be interested. The thread is here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1480639/posts
Thanks for the pointer - that's a great thread. Since Higgins boats were invented in New Orleans, I can't fathom not letting these guys in to do rescues.
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