Word: fema
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Monday night, Aug. 29, several hours after the levees broke in New Orleans, then-FEMA director Michael Brown called the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas and told his deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, "we are realizing our worst nightmares... New Orleans is flooded." In his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee today, Brown said he couldn't remember if George W. Bush got on the phone that night or not. He may have, said Brown. "Not to sound arrogant," he told the Senators, "but I speak to the President...
...different tracks of communication that exist inside the Bush Administration. One channel is used by those, like Brown, who are (or at least were) close to the President and have frequent access to his staff; Brown himself had initially gotten to know Bush through his friend and predecessor at FEMA, Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff as governor and 2000 campaign manager. Another is used by those who may have a lofty title, but lack the access-and, as a result, often lack the ability to get things done. FEMA reports to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff...
...Brown that the White House wanted him to make his requests through Department of Homeland Security, a change he resisted. "I was an infighter," he told the committee. He was frustrated with what he saw as a lack of focus on the threat posed by natural disasters, saying that FEMA had become a "stepchild in the department." If a terrorist had blown up the levees, he told the senators, he believed the DHS response would have been more aggressive. But after he testified, two officials at DHS suggested that Brown had only himself to blame, since his refusal to provide...
...quite sure what will happen with the out-of-town vote, much of it African-American. This week, in fact, the courts in Louisiana are expected to rule on a request by several African-American state legislators-all Democrats-to force the release of a highly coveted FEMA list the Louisiana attorney general has with the locations of evacuees, their emails and phone numbers. "Nagin created the problem for himself with white voters in Uptown whom he insulted," says Pinsonat. "He has had too many foot-in-mouths. Question is: was that the mayor's last chance...
...September and October were relatively quiet while the evacuees reconnected with family and friends. But as they got FEMA money, settled in and began to acquire cars, they started moving around Houston."By November, the Houston nightclubs were having New Orleans nights," says Harris, when the groups would sometimes spot old rivals in the parking lots of clubs. Often, Harris says, "These shootings were dope deals gone bad." The shooters were heavily armed with everything from pistols and shotguns to AK-47s, and three suspects remain at large...