he gave regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall.emphasis added
In most cases, he was met with silence. In an Aug. 29 phone call to Brown informing him that the first levee had broke, Bahamaonde said he received a polite thank you from Brown, who said he would check with the White House.
But, Mr. Brown, this is your job, not the White House's.
Of course Brown's staff did know how to respond to some issues. Concerned about the flood of communication he was getting they were able to get this message out.
Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.
"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
Of course, now we are getting great promises to fix FEMA, something that wasn't this broken until the Bush administration started to fix FEMA in response to our global war on a battle tactic.
Chertoff vowed to "re-engineer" U.S. preparedness after the storm that killed more than 1,200 people and devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But he also blamed Brown and FEMA leaders, saying, "We certainly have to fill out the ranks of FEMA in terms of its senior level with experienced staff who can deal with all of the elements" of its mission.
The trouble is,, Mr. Chertoff, it was George Bush who appointed these leaders, and it was a Republican congress who approved them. Why do you expect a different result with the same fools in place?
Just remember Bush evaluation of Brown about week into this mess; "Brownie, You're Doin' A Heck of A Job"
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