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What is it with Dubya's administration and promoting unqualified people to posts they don't deserve, and then setting them up as scapegoats? Michael -"Death Sqaud for Creepy"- Chertoff was the official in charge of Katrina crisis since August 27th or 2 days before the hurricane hit, yet the equally-incompetent Michael Brown was ultimately the scapegoat. Yeah, I'm glad Brownie's gone, but there's still sunken-eyed boyle on the ass that is our Homeland Security Department... and it's name is Chertoff.

A few facts show Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff was in charge of the Katrina crisis since at least August 27th, or 2 days before the hurricane hit land, and had the duty to provide immediate relief to New Orleans, but did not.

(1) August 27th: The 3 state governors requested and Dubya issued emergency disaster declarations.

(2) August 27th: Dubyaco knew since August 27th, or 2 days before the hurricane hit, that state and local officials did not have the capacity to manage the pending hurricane. Yet, they did not assist with the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.

First of all, face it, state and local governments are not equipped for protecting citizens from national disasters or terrorists attacks. This fact is recognized by Dubya‘s National Response Plan (NRP), which allocates this duty to the federal government.

“Localities have plenty of duties that are uniquely their own, and if a building catches on fire or a sewer pipe breaks, no one blames the president if the response isn't adequate. But no one community, or even any one state, can protect against hurricanes or vast flooding, any more than a city or state can protect itself against international terrorism.”

Second, a Governor may not request an emergency disaster declaration from the President, and he (don't call me sexist, dammit, for the forseeable future that office is Y-chromosome dominated, alright? Not my fault) should not grant, unless the legally requisite finding is first made that “the event is beyond the combined response capabilities of the State and affected local governments.” (p. 7)

(3) August 27th : When Dubya granted the states the requested emergency disaster declarations, those declarations automatically, by operation of law, constituted a declaration also of an “Incident of National Significance,” which triggers federal duties to manage the Katrina crisis.

What's an “Incident of National Significance” you ask? Why, an “Incident of National Significance” is a national emergency, such as terrorism, major natural disasters and other major emergencies. There's more than one method or process whereby such a national emergency can be designated an “Incident of National Significance,” which then triggers federal duties. For example, the FBI may evaluate a credible threat and send this information up the chain of command for an ultimate determination by Chertoff, who can then issue an Incident of National Significance declaration. (p. 49)

However, a different process is used when the president signs a declaration of disaster. “All Presidentially declared disasters and emergencies under the Stafford Act are considered Incidents of National Significance.” (p. 7)

To wit (God I love saying that... I so rarely get to do so): by operation of law, the emergency disaster declarations signed by Bush also constituted a declaration of an “Incident of National Significance.”

(4) Since August 27th, it was the federal government’s duty to manage the response and recovery relief to the Katrina disaster.

As soon as Dubya granted these declarations on the 27th, the responsibility for disaster response and recovery automatically vested in Chertoff. So THERE.

The NRP “plainly outlines the chain of command for local, state and federal agencies when dealing with a large disaster. In cases in which "resources of State and local authorities are overwhelmed and federal assistance has been requested," the plan designates the DHS secretary as the "principal Federal official" for "domestic incident management."

(5) August 29th: Chertoff and White House were advised that urgent aid was needed in New Orleans by Brown.

On August 29th, just hours after Katrina hit New Orleans, Brown recognized the “scale of the catastrophe” and placed calls to Chertoff and White House chief of staff Card. Brown continued to place calls all week that “state and local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly,” but neither the White House nor Chertoff took any action until Bush visited the area on Friday September 2nd. A senior administration official admits that Brown made these calls, but does not recall “urgency or desperation” on the part of Brown. The source didn't mention if he recalled "utter panic" or "wailing of biblical proportions."

Chertoff’s response to these frantic calls for help was to proceed with his regular schedule and to fly to Atlanta for a briefing on avian flu while New Orleans’ residents fought for their lives against rising floodwaters. USA! USA!

(6) Does Chertoff not understand the NRP or was he trying to set up Brown as the scapegoat?

The NRP placed Chertoff in charge of coordinating aid and relief to New Orleans and the rest of the Katrina disaster zone. Chertoff either did not understand the NRP process or was seeking to set up Brown as the scapegoat for the Bush administration’s failure to act. Gee, in hindsight... maybe it was that second thing, huh?

In a memo, Chertoff declared Katrina an “Incident of National Significance” on Tuesday, August 30th, 2 days after the hurricane hit. If Katrina was declared an “Incident of National Significance” on August 27th, why would Chertoff duplicate a declaration that Bush had issued 3 days earlier? What's that all about?

In this same August 30th memo, Chertoff designated Brown as the “principal federal official” to coordinate the federal government’s relief operations for Katrina. However, it's not clear that Chertoff had legal authority to delegate his disaster response management duties to Brown:

“By order of the president, that responsibility falls on the DHS secretary. According to an analysis by The New Standard, nothing in the Plan or in the presidential directive that the Plan stems from indicates that Chertoff had the authority to pass that responsibility off to Brown, or any other official. By doing so, Chertoff put Brown, who already was managing FEMA, in charge of coordinating the efforts of the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Health, and Commerce, among others.”

This is the best part: as more information is revealed about the relevant law and the duties of administration officials under the NRP, new versions of what Chertoff was doing in the days before the hurricane hit and the following week are disclosed to the media:

“With the spotlight now on Chertoff, officials at the Department of Homeland Security this week have begun issuing new versions of events surrounding his role in the botched federal response to Katrina. What they are saying this week contradicts many of their previous statements and actions.”

So Brownie is gone, but the problem remains. As long as our elected officials pay more attention to politicking than governing... as long as croneyism is the rule of the land... as long as the majority can be painted as a crazy "fringe element..." well, honestly, we can't afford to wait much longer for others to affect real change, can we?

I'm ranting, I know. It just drives me crazy, the arrogance of this administration. No, worse than that... it scares the crap out of me. We're sinkin' fast, my friends... yes, literally and metaphorically.

These jackasses work for us. We have just over a year to get organized, and send them home in -06, and to lay the groundwork for '08. This isn't "partisan bickering," or the "blame game."

This is patriotism.

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