Katrina Coverage

From Homeland security secretary defends actions:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended his actions before and after Hurricane Katrina, telling lawmakers Wednesday he relied on Federal Emergency Management Agency experts with decades of experience in hurricane response.
"I'm not a hurricane expert," Chertoff said several times in responding to criticisms from members of a special House panel […]

From Memo: FEMA had problems before Katrina
FEMA struggled to locate food, ice, water and even body bags in the days following Hurricane Katrina, a frantic effort punctuated by bureaucratic chaos, infighting and concerns about media coverage, according to memos obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
"Biggest issue: resources are far exceeded by requirements," wrote William Carwile, […]

The BBC will be showing a doc called "The Hurricane That Shook America", and they promote it in Fema 'knew of New Orleans danger'.
There appear to be two slightly newsworthy bits of info:
a key briefing officer within Fema sent a message directly to Mr Brown early on the day before Katrina hit, warning him […]

From "Missing in Action":
Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of indicted officials per capita. Just the past generation has seen a governor, an attorney general, a federal judge, a state Senate president and a swarm of local officials convicted of assorted crimes.
Police Superintendent Eddie Compass didn't say why he suddenly resigned. But […]

This report from the AP's Lara Jakes Jordan (click her name for more on that AP reporter) has some news, but let's see if we can spot some opinion:
WASHINGTON - Former FEMA director Michael Brown was warned weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit that his agency’s backlogged computer systems could delay supplies and put personnel at […]

Yesterday, Christopher Shays (R-CT) bashed Michael Brown. Now:
[He says] that while Brown made mistakes, so did others. "He can't be the scapegoat. First responders are local and state, and the governor and mayor did a pathetic job of preparing their people for this horrific storm," Shays said on NBC's "Today" show
Will he discuss Chertoff's and […]

This is easy enough for some to check, and hopefully someone will leave a comment. From the transcript of Michael Brown, former head of FEMA:
[REP. STEPHEN BUYER (R-IN)]: …Three days before Katrina made landfall, you were on CNN telling people to get out of New Orleans. Is that true?
BROWN: I don't recall if it was […]

Former head of FEMA Michael Brown testified before Congress today. He spoke and was questioned for several hours, and the massive transcript is here and here in PDF form.
From the AP:
Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New […]

This HuffPost post has a roundup of former FEMA head Mike Brown possibly swinging the election for Bush by doling out cash to victims of the Florida hurricanes.
Note that some of that post appears to be inaccurate; Brown is apparently not staying on as a contractor at FEMA. Please summarize the links and the verifiable […]

Former FEMA head Mike Brown is scheduled to testify before Congress today about the response to Katrina, and he spoke to congressional aides about that yesterday.
The AP has miraculously obtained a copy of a memo written by a "Republican staffer" who attended that briefing: "Brown Still On FEMA Payroll". Let's be as cynical as possible, […]