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Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.
Sucks to be the fall guy.
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Announcement Follows Barrage of Criticism; New Chief Is Named
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - Michael D. Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was relieved of his duties today of overseeing recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region.
The secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, described Mr. Brown's reassignment to FEMA headquarters here as a logical step in keeping with Mr. Brown's overall duties as FEMA director. Mr. Chertoff, speaking in Baton Rouge, La., said in a televised news briefing that the hurricane-recovery mission would now be led by Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, the third-ranking officer in the Coast Guard.
"Michael Brown has done everything he possibly could," Mr. Chertoff said, accompanied by Admiral Allen and Mr. Brown. "I appreciate his work, as does everybody here."
Those words did not reflect the fierce criticism that Mr. Brown has come under for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and the disastrous flooding that followed, particularly in New Orleans. Some Congressional Democrats have demanded that President Bush fire him outright.
"At last President Bush has recognized what I have been saying for more than a week," the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said shortly after Mr. Chertoff's announcement. "The federal response to this disaster must be managed by a capable leader."
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, also expressed satisfaction with the president's move. "Michael Brown is a nice man, but was clearly not up to this crucial and important job," he said. "The White House was absolutely correct in replacing him. It is everyone's hope and prayer that Vice Admiral Allen is up to the job. Hopefully, this will be the beginning not the end of changes in FEMA, where more resources and focus are desperately needed."
Admiral Allen is the Coast Guard chief of staff. On Monday, he was dispatched to the gulf region as Mr. Brown's deputy in the recovery efforts. The admiral's official biography describes him as "a specialist in operations both in coastal and offshore environments."
Before becoming chief of staff in May 2002, he headed the Coast Guard's Atlantic operations and was in charge of 26,000 military and civilian employees in an area covering 14 million square miles.
A week ago today, Mr. Brown was at President Bush's side as the president made his first visit to see the devastation caused by the storm. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Mr. Bush said then.
But today, the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, declined repeated opportunities to say that Mr. Brown still enjoyed the president's full confidence.
With each passing day since the storm pounded the gulf coast, the criticism of Mr. Brown, whose credentials indicated no emergency-response experience when he became head of FEMA two years ago, has only increased.
As recently as Thursday there was obvious disarray within FEMA, as agency spokesmen in Baton Rouge and Washington gave conflicting answers on whether the agency would proceed with plans to use debit cards to distribute financial aid to people dislocated by the storm.
Mr. Brown's standing was further clouded when Time magazine reported that he had embellished some of his credentials. When he was asked today whether he had done so, and whether he would resign from FEMA, Mr. Brown was silent.
Instead, Mr. Chertoff spoke up. "You heard the ground rules," he said. "I'm going to answer the questions." Earlier, Mr. Chertoff had advised reporters to choose their questions carefully, because his time was limited.
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