Brownie’s Revenge
Susan Collins and Joe Leiberman’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held hearings today on the Response to Hurricane Katrina, and took testimony from former FEMA Director Michael Brown. This has been some of the most exciting testimony I’ve ever seen.
In the run up to the hearings the White House declined to seek executive privilege for Brownie’s testimony, so after resolving legal matters during ten minute exchange, he agreed to answer all of the Senators’ questions!
Brownie started off by naming names of officials in the White House who Brownie turned to, seeking help in the run-up to Katrina, but who rebuffed them.
- Josh Bolton
- Joe Hagan
- Andy Card
- John Gordon
- Fran Townsend
They’re replaying the hearings on C-SPAN now. Basically Brownie is suggesting that he alerted the White House repeatedly in the months, and then in the days and hours before Katrina and that responsibility for the inadequate response to the disaster lies partly with the White House and the DHS leadership.