What a difference a video makes, and the end of Major General Bennett Landreneau's Homeland Security career
Michelle Malkin on September 4, 2005:
During his visit to Mobile, Ala., on Friday, President Bush singled out Michael D. Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for praise:
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Really? "Brownie's" job is to direct the federal response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Let's review his public statements during the past week:
- He admitted that he didn't act more aggressively because as late as last Sunday he expected Katrina to be a "standard hurricane" even though the National Weather Service in New Orleans was already predicting "human suffering incredible by modern standards."
- He proved himself utterly clueless about the disaster unfolding in New Orleans. He claimed that the federal relief effort was "going relatively well" and that the security situation in New Orleans was "pretty darn good."
- He blamed the flood victims in New Orleans for failing to evacuate on time, even though local authorities failed to make municipal vehicles available to residents who could not drive or did not own their own cars....
This is not the time to give a weak performer the benefit of the doubt. The FEMA director's role in the ongoing recovery effort is too important to be entrusted to a clueless political hack with such poor judgment.
Rather than praise Michael Brown, Bush should fire him.
RedState on March 2, 2006:
The attacks on former FEMA chief Michael Brown were media-spawned, a creation of the MSM. The MSM portrayed "Brownie" as an unqualified boob, a man not qualified for even to run International Arabian Horse Association. The lefty blogosophere jumped on Brownie with glee.
It was the easiest way to get at the President. BushLied™ and appointed Candide to run FEMA. It was BushLied™ political patronage, doing billions in damage and costing thousands of lives.
So why is RedState attacking such leftie MSM commentators as Michelle Malkin? Because of what the Associated Press released:
[W]arnings of the coming destruction - breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues - were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved.
All of it was captured on videotape.
The Associated Press obtained the confidential government video and made it public Wednesday, offering Americans their own inside glimpse into the government's fateful final Katrina preparations after months of fingerpointing and political recriminations.
"My gut tells me ... this is a bad one and a big one," then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29....
In the Aug. 29 briefing, Bush didn't ask a single question but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."...
A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and Brown, then the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief, told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.
"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.
The White House and Homeland Security Department urged the public Wednesday not to read too much into the footage.
"I hope people don't draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing," Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said, citing a variety of orders and disaster declarations Bush signed before the storm made landfall. "He received multiple briefings from multiple officials, and he was completely engaged at all times."
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said his department would not release the full set of videotaped briefings, saying most transcripts - though not the videotapes - from the sessions were provided to congressional investigators months ago.
"There's nothing new or insightful on these tapes," Knocke said. "We actively participated in the lessons-learned review and we continue to participate in the Senate's review and are working with them on their recommendation."
Some of the footage and transcripts from briefings Aug. 25-31 conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:
- Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.
"I don't buy the `fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."
- Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. He later clarified, saying officials believed, wrongly, after the storm passed that the levees had survived. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility even before the storm - and Bush was worried too.
White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Brown discussed fears of a levee breach the day the storm hit.
"I talked to the president twice today, once in Crawford and then again on Air Force One," Brown said. "He's obviously watching the television a lot, and he had some questions about the Dome, he's asking questions about reports of breaches."
- Louisiana officials angrily blamed the federal government for not being prepared but the transcripts shows they were still praising FEMA as the storm roared toward the Gulf Coast and even two days afterward. "I think a lot of the planning FEMA has done with us the past year has really paid off," Col. Jeff Smith, Louisiana's emergency preparedness deputy director, said during the Aug. 28 briefing.
It wasn't long before Smith and other state officials sounded overwhelmed.
Speaking of the state, what happened to the hero of the hour, Major General Bennett C. Landreneau? Well, he ain't doing this homeland security stuff no more:
Legislation transferring from the military to the governor's office the agency that prepares for and responds to major disasters is nearing final legislative approval.
"This will enable quicker response and decision-making and eliminate red tape between the governor's office and the OEP (Office of Emergency Preparedness)," Rep. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, told the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
With a 4-1 vote, the panel approved House Bill 61, sending it to the Senate for approval. The House of Representatives already has approved the measure but because of minor amendments, it would have to go back to the House if the full Senate approves the measure....
The transfer is supported by Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, currently the head of Homeland Security.
"This would relieve him to concentrate on his military duties," Thompson said. "I would not be here today if Gen. Landreneau and (Brig.) Gen. (Hunt) Downer (head of the Office of the Military) said this is not in the best interest of the state."
Thompson said Louisiana is the only Gulf Coast state that has Homeland Security under the military.
Downer and Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Jones, D-Monroe, complimented the National Guard for its performance in responding to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They said the bill is no way criticizing the National Guard and instead is relieving Landreneau of the administrative duties and paperwork required for running what is, in effect, not a military office.
The National Guard will still be the response agency in emergencies.
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By the way, as of yesterday I checked Michelle Malkin's blog to see what she was saying about "should be fired" Brown. Not a word. I hope I have the integrity of Jim Bakker if I blow it and am able to say "I was wrong." (And yes, I did sort of mean to say "integrity" there. He's still hawking his gifts, but am I truly better than Bakker?)