And Chertie, you're doin' a HECK of a job overhaulin' FEMA. HECK of a job.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Chertoff to overhaul FEMA
Shake up follows report blasting government response to Katrina

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11325036/

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is announcing wide-ranging changes to the nation’s embattled disaster-response agency on the heels of a House report blaming government-wide ineptitude for mishandling Hurricane Katrina relief. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reforms that Chertoff was unveiling Monday range from a full-time response force of 1,500 new employees to establishing a more reliable system to report on disasters as they unfold. They are the first steps to overhauling FEMA, which was overwhelmed by the Aug. 29 Gulf Coast storm.

“We know there’s considerable work to do,” a senior Homeland Security official said Sunday on condition of anonymity because the changes had not been announced. Most of the changes are to be completed by the start of the 2006 hurricane season on June 1, the official said.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee issued their own recommendations Sunday for changing FEMA, including having the agency’s director report directly to the president during major disasters. They also said the director should be an experienced emergency manager.

Chertoff chose a meeting of emergency responders to detail the changes. White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also was expected to discuss parts of her upcoming review about the federal response to Katrina. The FEMA changes follow the results of an House inquiry that found unheeded warnings, poor planning and apathy in recognizing the scope of Katrina’s destruction led to the slow emergency response from the White House down to local parishes.



Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day. Again, my attitude is, if it's not going exactly right, we're going to make it go exactly right. If there's problems, we're going to address the problems. And that's what I've come down to assure people of. And again, I want to thank everybody.

President George W. Bush talks about Hurricane Katrina disaster relief with, from left: Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss.; Senator Thad Cochran, R-Miss.; Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour; Alabama Governor Bob Riley; FEMA Director Mike Brown; Sunken-Eyed Suck-Up Zombie Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The President briefed the officials during his tour Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, of the Gulf Coast regions hard hit by the storm. White House photo by Eric Draper

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Looks like Chertoff has no intentions of resigning

With a report like this, shouldn't he be brushing off his resume, instead of making plans to further screw up FEMA?

[rodeodance]

2. brownie was dismissed. that is their solution. mission accomplished.

[MuseRider]

3. So now we are supposed to feel good

about Chertof rearranging this? Anyone else worried about Skeletor being in charge of our wellbeing? Been creeping me out for a while.