This official Whitehouse bio is as misleading as any partisan blog. Notice there is no mention at all of his ten years (1991-2000) as commissioner of the International Arabian Horses Association. Which occupied half of his working life.

When Brown was appointed General Counsel (i.e. lawyer) for FEMA in Feb 2001, that press release at least said "Brown had previously served for 10 years as commissioner for an equine sports federation"

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=6218

And when the Whitehouse announced Brown's nomination as FEMA Deputy Director in Dec 2001, that press release at least described him as "Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the national governing organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee" although the last bit is false (the IAHA was never part of the USOC).

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011203-6.html

I can't find the Whitehouse press release when Brown was promoted from deputy director to Undersecretary for for Emergency Preparedness and Response (i.e. FEMA). So I can't tell you when the Arabian horse decade got dropped from Brown's list of qualifications.

Edit: Anyone know of a way to find out if or when this official bio of Brown's was changed? If, for example, it said something different before 8/28?

I'll leave it to you to decide who destroyed FEMA, but it's clear who blew it big-time in New Orleans:
(Text below is from http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/9/4/151327.shtml)

"As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the government has jurisdiction and responsibility in disaster response. City government shall coordinate its efforts through the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

The city document also makes clear that decisions involving a proper and orderly evacuation lie with the governor, mayor and local authorities. Nowhere is the president or federal government even mentioned:

The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane.

It is clear the city also recognized that it would need to move large portions of its population, and it would need to prepare for such an eventuality:

The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed. ...

Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department. However, due to the sheer size and number of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or impact the area, specifically directed long range planning and coordination of resources and responsibilities efforts must be undertaken. [You can read New Orleans' Emergency Plan for hurricanes at its Web site: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26]

The city's plan also specifically called for the use of city-owned buses and school buses to evacuate the population. These were apparently never deployed, though the Parish of Plaquemines just south of the city evacuated its population using school buses.

The plan, written well before Katrina was even a teardrop in God's eye, was obviously never heeded or implemented by local leaders.

But why should the New Orleans mayor and Governor Blanco take responsibility when they can blame George Bush and the Republicans in Washington?

With congressional elections fast approaching, Democrats who are out of power in every branch of the federal government know they need to change the tide quickly.

They have apparently seized on the Katrina disaster to harm the president politically.

Criticism of the federal government's response is fair and warranted. But putting full responsibility for this disaster on the Bush administration is way over the top.

Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush."

"Criticism of the federal government's response is fair and warranted. But putting full responsibility for this disaster on the Bush administration is way over the top."

I'd agree with this.

The maintenance of the levies are Army Corps. That is federal. They were supposed to hold for a category 3 hurricane. That in itself was inadequate. The hurricane in New Orleans wasn't at category 3 strength when it hit. The wind speeds were category 2. If you recall New Orleans didn't take a direct hit. For many hours after the hurricane had past the reports were coming back that New Orleans was spared from the worst.
At the last census it was revealed that 1/3rd of the households of New Orleans had no cars. Why didn't the city start up the busses and take the people out of there? That is a good question. Another good question is where would you take them? To the edge of town? Above sea level?
There are some serious logistical problems with the "where to take them" part. Maybe it was written someplace I don't know about but I was hearing reports of hotels being pretty well booked up all over the area.
the problem of the levies are different from the problem of a blizzard. Or even a drought in Las Vegas. It's more like if the Hoover dam sprung a leak because it wasn't maintained. Imagine if the government decided to stop funding the Hoover dam and a few years later it collapsed.
Who could we blame?
In Hitler's last days, when he refused to surrender to the Russians as Berlin was falling, some of his generals pleaded with him, What about the civilians, what about the German people? Hitler said, We have a mandate. This is what the German people wanted, If they get their throats cut they only have themselves to blame.
Nobody can predict the weather. But in time a hurricane was going to hit New Orleans. That was a pretty good bet.
I have a question if anybody can put the puzzle together. At what point did the super dome and the convention centers become evacuation sites? Before the levies broke or after?
How many hours after the levies broke and it was clear the city was a total loss did it take for the Feds to step in and get the people out of there?
The hurricane struck on Monday? I heard that the city was finally evacuated and basically under control today. That is the biggest failure right there. That is the most disgraceful part of it to me.
And hey! I heard Haliburton got the clean up contract... Imagine that!

Does it matter? Nothing sinister here. Since a govt biography is normally limited in size, it is normal for one to drop less impressive/less relevant experiences/positions from one's bio as they achieve more impressive one to replace them. I don't list my jobs hoeing tobacco, flipping burgers, or as a janitor any longer since I have executive level experience to replace it with.

Of course, fint, your experience flipping burgers probably doesn't comprise half of your working career, a full decade of your life, indeed the decade immediately prior to your political appointment to a high-ranking position at a critically important federal government agency. And when the President announced your appointment to that high-ranking position, he probably didn't consider your burger-flipping experience important enough to mention in the press release (which is even more limited in size than the official bio). So your burger-flipping analogy is, I'd say, not even close to the situation with Mr. Brown.

I certainly agree with you that Brown's tenure as commissioner of judging for the International Arabian Horse Association is a "less impressive/less relevant/position". Alas, that may have been the most impressive part of his work experience.

Perhaps you should check out Mayor Ray Nagin's bio...and discuss his qualifications to lead a city through a natural disaster..or even a serious traffic accident. after all, the primary responsibilty for response, evacuation, etc for a disaster in New Orleans is Mr. Nagin...by his own disaster plan.

Nagin was elected - competence and election often appear to be inversely correlated.

(edit) For the record, I can't decide if he is culpable or not. Probably not. He certainly came across as sincere - in his anger, frustration and sadness at what happened.

Agreed. Makes it a bit more clear that electing the person who offers to deliver more of someone else's money is not always the best path. Perhaps a conservative will be elected next time.

Why? So budgets for unimportant stuff like levees can be cut?

Good try, but....Nagin and the city did not provide their portion of the funds needed for the levee....so effectively, he is the one who made the cut.

One of the projects administered under FEMA is the Stafford Act, I believe, which is 75% funding for projects to preclude disaster damage.

The Mayor of a city has many responsibilities, disaster response being only one. The head of FEMA has only one responsibility, disaster response. Are you resorting to defending FEMA head Brown's qualifications in disaster response by arguing that at least they are no worse than the qualifications of Mayor Nagin? That's not setting a very high standard for Presidential appointees, is it?

That said, don't mistake me for a defender of Mayor Nagin or the local authorities. I suspect they'll catch hell too. Hard questions will be asked about unused buses, inadequately stocked shelters, and police radios that failed.

[Yawn] Flew the red-eye, in a NYC cab this morning. Blame my typos on no sleep.

You know the expression "Support the Troops "?

Well; support the FEMA workers.

Just sent to me from somebody I know - thought you would find this perspective interesting:



Most people that I know are very angry with the Hurricane Katrina
situation.

There are problems at all levels of local, state, and federal
government that made
the situation what it is. These things are rarely one persons fault,
people on all
levels have failed to serve us. The distribution of power and wealth in
this semi-democratic
republic has failed to serve us. The President has failed to serve us.
Our Congress
and its policies have failed to serve us. The War in Iraq sucking up
all of our
money and able bodied service people & equipment has failed to serve
us. The
structure of the new Incident Command System has failed to serve us.
The fact that
FEMA has been gobbled up by DHS, its budget cut in half, its power
tremendously
decreased, its bureaucracy increased by DHS protocol, its permanent
staff fired
because of "budget cuts", and 95% of its staff being only "on-call"
has failed to serve us. The state government of Louisiana and its lack
of knowledge
of "how these things work", "who & when to call", and fears
about giving the feds too much power in their state has failed to serve
us. The
county and local officials being completely out of it and quitting
their jobs on
the spot during at time of need has failed to serve us. Able bodied
people fully
capable of leaving (i.e. having means & health) who elected not to
leave have
failed us (I am not talking about the very poor or hospital confined).

The situation is more complex than we realize and no amount of reading
accounts
in newspapers or watching TV reports will reveal the true nature of
things. There
are many at fault, most of whom never would have guessed their
contributions or
lack thereof would lead to this mess. I am sure that no one wanted
this--especially
those who got into emergency management for more humanitarian reasons.

I would like to make a personal request--please be careful when
assigning blame
to specific government agencies & officials when it comes to the
Katrina situation.
I make this request for multiple reasons--some of which is selfish. I
have been
warned that individuals are verbally and physically attacking FEMA
employees because
they feel that FEMA is responsible for all of the problems. Individual
FEMA workers
are being harassed and assaulted because people want someone to take
their frustrations
out on. My coworkers and I are very low in the power structure, we do
not wish
to be punished or harmed because of our desire to assist disaster
recovery.

FEMA employees are going to spend many months (even years) away from
friends, families,
and homes to work on disaster recovery in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Florida.
This is NOT something that most people are willing or prepared to do.
Disaster recovery
is very hard thankless work and those who participate do so because
they believe
in the mission.

I am going to XXXXXXX XXXXXXX on Wednesday and I am asking you to
take a deeper
look at your words and emails to others on the matter. Please do not
contribute
to hatred of government workers involved in disaster recovery-instead
consider how
you can help promote change in a constructive manor while exposing the
weakness
inherent in the existing system.

Thank you.

WAYS TO HELP HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS



PLEASE NOTE: According to the Red Cross



"Unsolicited, spontaneous donations of goods and services from individuals and community groups, although well intentioned, have hidden costs and pose a number of complications for initial relief efforts."



Donations of goods & services are best when they come from companies/organizations that can provide new items in a quantity that meets the mass care needs of victims.



--DONATE MONEY TO LEGITIMATE CHARITIES INVOLVED IN DISASTER RECOVERY



Red Cross 1-800-HELP NOW

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp



AmeriCares 1-800-486-HELP (4357)

https://www.americares.org/Donate/default.aspx?jump=Sidebar



Operation USA 1-800-678-7255

http://www.operationusa.org/



United Way (call local chapter and donate to Hurricane Katrina Response Fund)

http://national.unitedway.org/



Operation Blessing 1-800-730-2537

http://www.ob.org/



Second Harvest National Food Bank 1-800-771-2303

http://www.secondharvest.org/



Salvation Army 1-800-SAL-ARMY

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/



Corporation for National and Community Service (specify Disaster Relief Fund)

http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/donations/index.asp





--BONUS FOR DONORS, AIRLINES MILES GIVEN FOR CASH DONATIONS



United Airlines will give you 500 frequent flyer miles if you donate $50 to the Red Cross, AmeriCares, or Operation USA.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51350,00.html?navSource=SidebarPro#jump1



American Airlines will give you 500 bonus miles if you donate $50 to the Red Cross.

http://www.aa.com/apps/netSAAver/ViewPromotionsDetail.jhtml?fileName=A0805_Hurrican eRelief.xml&repositoryName=PromotionContentReposit ory&itemDescriptor=PromotionContent&anchorLocation =Homepage_Top



Northwest Airlines will give you 500 bonus miles if you donate $50 to the Red Cross, AmeriCares, Second Harvest, or the Salvation Army

http://www.nwa.com/corpinfo/aircares/partners/





--DONATE FREQUENT FLIER AIRLINE MILES TO CHARITIES, HELPS DEFRAY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSPORTATION OF VOLUNTEERS & VICTIMS



Red Cross works with America West, Continental, Delta, Northwest, and United

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donatemiles.html



AmeriCares works with Continental, United and Northwest Airlines http://www.americares.org/HowToHelp/?id=8



United Way works with Delta

http://unitedwayatl.org/e0-skymiles.asp



Salvation Army works with United and Northwest (call to donate miles: 1-800-421-4655)

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf/vw-sublinks/31DBBB77B5F1CCDD85256E6E006BC6F5?openDocument



Second Harvest works with Northwest







--DONATE BLOOD TO THE RED CROSS





--VOLUNTEER TO HELP FUTURE LONG TERM RECOVERY EFFORTS

PLEASE NOTE: Volunteers should not report directly to the affected areas unless directed by a voluntary agency. Self-dispatched volunteers can put themselves and others in harm’s way and hamper rescue efforts.

National Voluntary Organizations Active In Disasters

http://www.nvoad.org/

Note: I'm giving money to some people I know, to give to some people they know - who I'm told I met at a wedding once and have lost everything.

According to the report I just saw... Vast numbers still refusing to leave. Gun fire still hampering the evacuation.

- Skip

If a neighbor's houose burns down, the community comes together to help them. As a nation, we believe in taking care of each other. But when a major city is destroyed, we can't just put some clothes in a bag for the family and have a house-raising party. At a time like this, we depend on government. Those of you with the nasty, sub-human suggestion that this is a local problem and the people of NO should take care of themselves, I categorially dismiss your embarrasing suggestion. We need government for a variety of functions, and this is one of them. Right now, our government is working very poorly in every area.

Apologize and deflect blame all you want, Republicans. The nation is getting a good like at what a Republican administration and Congress is like, and remembering why they have historically preferred Democrats. At least they understand what government's role is, and how to administer it.

Supe- Yeah right... We're all mad because the federal government is helping NO. :rolleyes: You need to get a grip. What's embarrassing is that you would post such nonsense.

- Skip

Huh? I don't get your comment, Skip. Government should help NO. My comment was directed toward the "let them take care of themselves" crowd and the "why don't you personally go down there and feed the homeless" crowd. You might still think I'm out of touch. I think those comments are out of touch. We need government. Fire, police, coordination of relief efforts. We used to use FEMA for that. I wonder if Tom Ridge has decided what part of his record-setting colossal bureaucracy is going to do what. Right now, I think the "administration" is a bunch of "what do we do now?" guys.

Supe- You don't get my comment? You accuse us of a "nasty, sub-human suggestion that this is a local problem and the people of NO should take care of themselves" - which is STUPID. Everyone knows the feds are needed to help with this disaster.

edit: So that I'm clear... No one is mad that the feds are helping NO!

http://interactive.wsj.com/dividends/retrieve.cgi?id=/text/wsjie/data/SB112596602138332256.djm&d2hconverter=display-d2h&template=dividends

September 6, 2005

Commentary (U.S.)
Blame Amid the Tragedy
By BOB WILLIAMS

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected -- and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash

Worth a read from thinkprogress.org:

Top FEMA Deputies Make Brown Look Qualified

excerpt:
The Chief of Staff is a guy named Patrick Rhode. He planned events for President Bush’s campaign

The Deputy Chief of Staff is Scott Morris. He was a press flak for Bush’s presidential campaign

And the link:
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/06/fema-deputies/

I didn't read the article 'cause Bush turned FEMA management into bs political appointees. It's the FEMA foot soldiers who are the first responders and as dedicated as any PD & FD.

Good link.

How sad and angry can a person stay after reading how disturbingly unqualified Bush appointees are?

foot soldiers know all about political bs. Why they stay is called dedication.

The most courageous and dedicated foot soldiers will be hamstrung if they are not effectively led with adequate high-level preparation.

Look at the New Orleans cops, I'm sure many of them did everything they could, but their leadership located police dispatch and radio repeater stations under flood level without adequate backup power supplies (I posted an article on this earlier, not sure in which thread).

I suspect many of the FEMA foot soldiers are practically in tears with frustration.