Word: chertoff
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Will Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff lose his job? Probably not. Chertoff was rebuked in congressional hearings for appearing out of touch; he admitted going to bed on Aug. 29 without knowing that New Orleans' levees had collapsed, even though his department had been informed. Nonetheless, the White House says Chertoff still has the President's support...
...last week's circus was the last thing he needed. This has been a season of doubt about the Administration's competence, candor and instinct. In serial scenes of domestic violence, Republicans are attacking their own. An all-Republican House panel concluded last week that Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff made decisions during Hurricane Katrina "late, ineffectively or not at all." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was grilled about Iraq by cranky Republican Senators: "I don't see, Madame Secretary, how things are getting better," said Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. "I think things are getting worse. I think they...
...added that as the crisis continued, he was "nudging, prodding and raising my voice" to get Brown more active, particularly in getting buses into New Orleans to evacuate residents there. A couple of days later, Chertoff says he realized Brown needed to be replaced. "I asked myself whether, despite good intentions, Mr. Brown is not up for this," he said...
...Senators, however, couldn't understand why it took Chertoff so long to move Brown out. "It was clear, Brown was in way over his head" on the first day of the hurricane, said Senator Coleman. Unlike Brown, Chertoff pleased the senators by taking blame for the government's failure and admitting he made mistakes." He called DHS's failures "my responsibility." "There are many lapses that occurred," he said. "I've spent a lot of time the last six months thinking how things could have been done differently." He called Katrina "one of the most difficult incidents of my life...
...Chertoff is already talking about plans to improve DHS, no doubt reflecting not only a sincere desire to fix a key federal agency, but also a need to rehabilitate what had been a sterling reputation from his years prosecuting terrorists and mob men. He said his first immediate goal is to stop "stove-piping"-the term he used for agencies within DHS, like FEMA, not sharing information with each other during crises. Before September 11, the intelligence community had similar problems and Chertoff suggested his task in fixing DHS would be just as difficult. But Chertoff better fix his agency...