It's Chertoff, Not Brown

This is an important story, and may explain Bush's sudden acceptance of his obvious responsibility. The Bushies will now insist no further looking back will be necessary.

Knight-Ridder (the only news agency to get the WMD story right) has the smoking gun.

Knight-Ridder

WASHINGTON - 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....

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm. (memo pdf here.)
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But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director.

But 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.

I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Brownie.

Read the whole story. It is a sad tail of an office of Homeland Security that is completely inept, from the top down.