Fema head faces Katrina probe

2005-09-27 15:15

Washington - The former director of the United States emergency agency said he should have sought help faster from the Pentagon after Hurricane Katrina hit, and accused state and local officials of constant infighting during the crisis, according to congressional aides.

Michael Brown, who resigned as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) earlier this month, on Tuesday faces a congressional inquiry into the government's slow response to the August 29 disaster.

Since stepping down on September 12, Brown has continued working at Fema during a two-week transition, said homeland security department spokesperson Russ Knocke.

Brown spoke on Monday to congressional aides from both parties. He "acknowledged that he made mistakes", said one Republican staff member who attended Monday's 90-minute briefing. Brown did not respond to several calls for response on Monday.

Highly criticised

Brown came to symbolise the halting federal efforts to rescue victims of the storm and flooding that followed in which more than 1 000 people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He was highly criticised for being a Bush administration political appointee without deep emergency management experience, and left amid accusations that he padded his resume which he vehemently denied.

Homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff removed Brown from his on-site role overseeing the disaster response on September 9. He announced his resignation from Fema three days later.

A memo from a second Republican staffer who attended the briefing said Brown expressed regrets "that he did not start screaming for DoD (department of defence) involvement" sooner. The first substantial numbers of active-duty troops responding to the Gulf Coast were sent on September 3 - five days after the storm hit.

Pointing fingers

According to the memo, Brown took several shots at Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He said the two officials "sparred during the crisis and could not work together co-operatively".

He also described Blanco as "indecisive" and refusing to cede control of the Louisiana National Guard to federal authorities because "it would have undercut her image politically", the document said.

Spokespeople for Blanco and Nagin could not be immediately reached on Monday night.

The memo also criticised Brown's leadership in conference calls with state and federal authorities that he ran during the crisis, saying no official notes were taken.

Brown defended himself against charges that he learned from television that thousands of refugees gathered at the New Orleans convention centre, where adequate food, water and other supplies were lacking and there was rampant violence.

He said because the convention centre was not a planned evacuation site, "there is no reason Fema would have known about it beforehand".

Brown also admitted he did not ensure that Nagin had a secure communications system during the crisis. And he cautioned staffers against a federal takeover of emergency management responsibilities that he said would become a "crutch" for local and state governments and could lead to future lapses in preparedness.

- AP