Word: fema
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When President Bush nominated Michael Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2003, Brown's boss at the time, Joe Allbaugh, declared, "the President couldn't have chosen a better man to help...prepare and protect the nation." But how well was he prepared for the job? Since Hurricane Katrina, the FEMA director has come under heavy criticism for his performance and scrutiny of his background. Now, an investigation by TIME has found discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time...
...said that he didn't "think anybody expected" the New Orleans levees to give way, though that very possibility had been forecast for years? Was it when he arrived in Mobile, Ala., a full four days after the storm made landfall, and praised his hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, Michael D. Brown, whose disaster credentials seemed to consist of once being the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," said the President. Or was it that odd moment when he promised to rebuild Mississippi Senator Trent Lott's house...
...untold thousands. The next morning, with the storm less than 24 hours away, the team talked to federal health officials about the potential for disease from the rising waters. At midday Sunday, according to TIME's Cathy Booth Thomas, the L.S.U. team informed a roomful of disaster officialsfrom FEMA and the Red Cross to the military and National Guardthat they were looking at a "significant event" with waves washing over the levees in central New Orleans. By 8 p.m. Monday, the first bad news came into the Operations Center. Staff from a nursing home reported that water had been rising...
...running things? Nobody, as far as I can tell," he told TIME's Brian Bennett. Early Monday morning, Tarchick had told FEMA and Northcom that he and his men were ready to go. But he wasn't ordered to deploy until Tuesday afternoon--an "unacceptable" delay, he says. In 72 hours, his men rescued some 400 people. He wonders how many more they might have saved...
Louisiana Representative Jim McCrery, chair of a powerful Ways and Means subcommittee, told TIME, "I've talked to the White House staff. I've talked to FEMA. I've talked with the Army. And, of course, I've talked with the state office of emergency preparedness. And nobody, federal or state, seems to know how to implement a decision, if we can get a decision." As in any war, the best weapons mean nothing without leadership and communication. On Friday, hours after even the President had shifted to calling the government's response "not acceptable," the No. 2 at FEMA...