Chertoff delayed federal response, memo shows

The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show.

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials.
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..according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.
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White House and homeland security officials wouldn't explain why Chertoff waited some 36 hours to declare Katrina an incident of national significance and why he didn't immediately begin to direct the federal response from the moment on Aug. 27 when the National Hurricane Center predicted that Katrina would strike the Gulf Coast with catastrophic force in 48 hours. Nor would they explain why Bush felt the need to appoint a separate task force.

Chertoff's hesitation and Bush's creation of a task force both appear to contradict the National Response Plan and previous presidential directives that specify what the secretary of homeland security is assigned to do without further presidential orders. The goal of the National Response Plan is to provide a streamlined framework for swiftly delivering federal assistance when a disaster - caused by terrorists or Mother Nature - is too big for local officials to handle.

Posted by: b | Sep 14 2005 7:14 utc | 1

May not be to bust out the golden parachutes quite yet but, but there was that errie sense that the motor was starting to sputter and miss. Not to mention those left way out on the limb of "everything is going great" endorsment of the governments response. Now they'll have to think twice, as I've heard crow has a most unpleasant aftertaste.

Posted by: anna missed | Sep 14 2005 8:03 utc | 2

May not be time to bust out the golden parachutes quite yet but, but there was that errie sense that the motor was starting to sputter and miss. Not to mention those left way out on the limb of "everything is going great" endorsment of the governments response. Now they'll have to think twice, as I've heard crow has a most unpleasant aftertaste.

Posted by: anna missed | Sep 14 2005 8:04 utc | 3

They think all they have to do is accept "responsibility" and all is forgiven. Hell, the media will probably see it that way and portray this as some kind of Damascus Road conversion. But, as Nixon proved in Watergate, accepting "responsibility" is not the same as accepting "blame."

So let's not get carried away. It's just that Katrina has created so much shit for them -- much more than the war -- that even they have to resort to accepting "responsibility." But that and $1.50 will buy you a cup of coffee in a New York diner.

Posted by: Phil from New York | Sep 14 2005 13:52 utc | 4

I think it's worth looking again at what Bush said:

And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.

There's a lot more wiggle room in thqat quote than there is in the way it's being described on the wires:

The discovery of at least 44 bodies in an abandoned hospital in New Orleans raised new questions about the response to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday as President George W. Bush took full responsibility for government failures in handling the disaster.

I think the quote itself won't be all that damaging to the true-believer cult, as they will immediately latch on to the federal vs. state/local theme and placate themselves with the thought that none of this was really their hero's job to take care of, so he's not at fault.

As for the squishy middle, who knows. Their squishiness by nature leaves them easily moved one way or another. Do they see this as a stand-tall 'buck-stops-here' moment? Do they see this as critical and dangerous weakness? It's hard for me to say, and, sadly, hard for me to care. I'd much rather see that elusive thing which will bring the illusions of the true-believers crashing down. This certainly isn't it. I fear it simply doesn't exist.

Posted by: mats | Sep 14 2005 14:23 utc | 5

i'm not so sure that one can expect to use reason to deal w/ people who are not rational

Posted by: b real | Sep 14 2005 14:42 utc | 6

Until he does the responsible thing and resigns or falls on his sword, the words are meaningless, just like compassionate conservative, healthy forest, clean air etc.

Posted by: Brian Boru | Sep 14 2005 14:53 utc | 7

New Orleans to become lab rat for testing right wing ideology.

Bush already has dispatched his top strategist, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and other aides to assemble ideas from agencies, conservative think tanks, GOP lawmakers and state officials to guide the rebuilding of New Orleans and relocation of flood victims. The idea, aides said, is twofold: provide a quick federal response that comports with Bush's governing philosophy, and prevent Katrina from swamping his second-term ambitions on Social Security, taxes and Middle East democracy-building.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a Bush ally, said the recovery effort provides conservatives with an unusual opportunity to test ideas that have been hard to sell on a national scope, including vouchers to cover education for dislocated students and tax incentives for business investment. "There are a whole host of ideas being looked at," Kyl said.

In what may become the next major post-Katrina policy, the White House was working yesterday to suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone as it did for construction workers on federal contracts last week, administration and congressional officials said.

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... the Bush administration and congressional GOP leaders are working on proposals to encourage business investment in the devastated areas and to test conservative ideas such as portable benefits for evacuees who want to reestablish in new locales, low-tax business zones and waived environmental regulations.

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Behind the scenes, the president's inner circle is working with more than a dozen new task forces, run through the domestic policy counsel, to solicit ideas from federal agencies and outside groups such as the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute...

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Republicans are lining up behind plans to use vouchers to help displaced students find new schools, including private ones, and a mix of vouchers and tax breaks to help flood victims pay for health care expenses, from insurance to immunization. A draft Senate GOP plan for post-Katrina policy includes both ideas, according to Republicans who have read the document.

Grover Norquist, a Rove ally who runs Americans for Tax Reform, is among those lobbying the White House to suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone.

Last week, Bush issued an executive order lifting the Davis-Bacon rules mandating that construction workers on federal contracts be paid the average wage in a region. The White House argued the regulations were slowing reconstruction and raising federal costs.

Now Labor Department and White House officials are examining a similar move for service workers covered by the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, which extended prevailing wage rules to service workers. Administration officials are concerned that workers on demolition and debris-removal jobs could protest that even with construction wage supports lifted, they should be paid prevailing wages because their work is more service-related than construction-related.

Posted by: lonesomeG | Sep 15 2005 2:26 utc | 8

Attack Chertoff. Make him look bad. Because I assure you it was he who forced Bush to accept responsibility. Chertoff was a rising star and had a sensational CV before Katrina. Now he's covered in toxic goo. He is one angry former federal prosecutor. And he has heard enough Mafia tapes to know how to deal with people who make him look bad.

Posted by: arbogast | Sep 15 2005 4:17 utc | 9