>Knight Ridder>: Chertoff delayed federal response, memo shows

[RSchewe]

Here is the first few paragraphs...

WASHINGTON - The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show.

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm.

As thousands of hurricane victims went without food, water and shelter in the days after Katrina's early morning Aug. 29 landfall, critics assailed Brown for being responsible for delays that might have cost hundreds of lives.

But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director.

But according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.

(...)

Source: Knight Ridder - http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12637172.htm

Related posts:

Talking Points Memo - http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_11.php#006534

The Left Coaster - http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/005450.php



Chertoff looks like he probably should have resigned before "Brownie".

I don't know if this was mentioned yesterday. There was no related thread that I could find. If it was I must have missed it.

[havocmom]

1. Resign? Drowning seems more just. He should honorably face the fate

his actions put upon others. But hey, I'm old fashioned.

[RSchewe]

3. When you have low expectations in an administration with no...

accountability, the bar is pretty low. While we would of course want justice to be applied to all of these people, I would not keep my hopes up. There is just no way for that to happen with an all Republican majority in every branch of government.

[Lindsay]

2. Hey, the man gave press conferences.

What more do you want?

:sarcasm:

[RSchewe]

4. Heh, I know Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard would..

agree with you.

(more sarcasm)

"... The Secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For god’s sakes, just shut up and send us somebody."

-Aaron Broussard

[demnan]

5. Chertoff gives me the creeps

he has an evil energy around him, much like Cheney and Kissinger.

[AFSCME girl]

6. Me too, demnan...

He is too scary.......blech..........:scared:

[emald]

7. and he looks like death warmed over a bit

[crispini]

8. Kicked and nominated!

Can we get rid of him next?

[Roland99]

9. Chertoff MUST be FIRED!!

[RSchewe]

10. More related posts and articles

Washington Monthly
Michael Chertoff Watch
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007119.php

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
Was Brown a Scapegoat?
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/09/14/was_brown_a_scapegoat.html

[RSchewe]

11. .

[bananas]

12. .

[cascadiance]

13. Huffington Post has some interesting comments on this article...

that they have on their site too. A set of comments has some interesting postulations on how Chertoff may have been responsible or in large part responsible for "quieting" Indira Singh and Sibel Edmonds too...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4769987

I'm happy at times like this to note that I worked at Knight Ridder a few years back...