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FEMA Director Facing Blistering Criticism, Calls for Resignation

Aired September 09, 2005 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, they're prepared to carry out forced evacuations. The police superintendent says officers will use the minimum amount of force necessary.
The federal government says 17 million and more than 37 million liters of water have been distributed to hurricane survivors. That's in addition to the relief provided by charities and volunteers.

Two hospitals in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina won't be able to reopen in those buildings. Louisiana State University operates Charity and University Hospitals. LSU officials plan to rebuild, but they don't know where.

President Bush vows to stand by Hurricane Katrina evacuees for the long haul. The president has signed $51.8 billion emergency spending bill as part of the recovery effort.

And the Army Corps of Engineers says floodwaters in New Orleans are receding at a rate of about four to six inches a day. Thirty- seven of the 174 permanent pumps around the city are now operational.

There are new questions this morning about FEMA director Michael Brown and his qualifications for that critical job. Is his resume padded? "Time" magazine has been digging into Brown's job history. It's available for all to see on the FEMA Web site.

Brown's bio page said he worked as an assistant city manager with oversight for emergency services in Edmond, Oklahoma, in the late 70s. But a spokeswoman for the town tells "Time" magazine that Brown was an assistant to the city manager. In her words, more like an intern. "Time's" Carolina Miranda worked on that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLINA MIRANDA, "TIME" MAGAZINE: It's interesting because she said Mr. Brown has always said that he was assistant to the city manager. That's what our story says. His bio says assistant city manager, completely different position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And there's more. Today's "Washington Post" says, in fact, five of FEMA's top eight officials had virtually no experience with disaster relief when they were hired. Two were former political operatives, one a former lieutenant governor, another, Brown's chief of staff, was a television reporter. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIRANDA: One of the things that has come to light in all of this is that a lot of the top FEMA folks at this point -- and the "Washington Post" does a great report about this this morning -- are political contacts of the Bush administration, that they don't have emergency management experience. Michael brown, in particular, he was the colleague roommate of Joe Allbaugh, who was Bush's campaign manager, and didn't have emergency experience before taking on this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So let's check out the response from FEMA, here it is. They says, quote, "'Time's' misleading online report on undersecretary Mike Brown's background is based on online information that Mr. Brown has never seen. It's disappointing this magazine relied on unconfirmed information." Nothing else in Michael Brown's background suggests any experience with disaster relief. He practiced law and he had a run for Congress, and for most of the 1990s, he served as a commissioner for an Arabian horse show group.

A lot of people are saying that FEMA tripped up during the first week of the Katrina disaster, for that, the FEMA director is facing this blistering criticism and the calls for his resignation. To the White House now, our national correspondent, Bob Franken.

Bob, what does the White House have to say about all this?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not a lot. As a matter of fact, the White House is deflecting reports whether it is considering some sort of overall czar. We've heard names like Colin Powell being mentioned, saying at the moment, that is not something they're willing to discuss. Not that it's not being considered, but that they're willing to discuss.

What we had this morning was the president leaving the White House and going to the State Department. He's going to the State Department to swear in a new undersecretary who will be handling public diplomacy. It's Karen Hughes, she will be working on refurbishing the United States image around the world.

This comes at a time when the administration is fighting to maintain its image over its response to the domestic Katrina matter. And at the State Department, the president talked about one heartening bit of news concerning Katrina, and that was the international response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The disaster area is larger than the size of Great Britain. Towns and communities have been flattened. One of our great cities has been submerged. In this time of struggle, the American people need to know we're not struggling alone. I want to thank the members of the diplomatic core who are with us today. I want to thank the world community for its prayers and for the offers of assistance that have come from all around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: It should also be noted that many of those countries and organizations in those countries complain that their offers have been caught up in the U.S. bureaucracy. The president is going back to the region again, this will be his third trip since the hurricane. This one is an overnight trip on Sunday, September 11th. He will go down to Mississippi, overnight in Louisiana, and spend the night there with some more events before he comes back to Washington -- Daryn?

KAGAN: All right, Bob Franken at the White House, thank you.

We want to get back to the Gulf Coast ourselves, now. We've heard those horror stories about conditions inside the New Orleans' convention center in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Now, we're able to tell you just how horrific the situation was. A warning for you before you look at this story. Some of the images are very graphic and disturbing. Here now, our national correspondent, Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The New Orleans convention center has been described by many as the hurricane shelter from hell. Now, there is explicit evidence of that. Very disturbing photographs applied to CNN show four dead people who had apparently been mutilated.

A source, outraged at what happened who was inside the center, gave these photographs to CNN. It is not known how these people died, but the source says it is apparent that at some point, they had been physically abused. One photograph of two corpses in a wheelchair is too gruesome for us to show. Three of the victims are male, one female.

In the days following the hurricane, chaos only grew for the 15,000 to 20,000 people in the convention center shelter. The photos we received show a kitchen full of garbage and feces.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We wade in that water, that dirty, filthy water. We're dirty. This is not the way we live.

TUCHMAN: But it wasn't ordinary chaos. The New Orleans police chief said people had been beaten and raped. The head of FEMA said he didn't know until three days after the hurricane that the convention center even was a shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These people couldn't leave because they couldn't afford to leave. Superdome people went in that shelter because they couldn't afford to leave, and now we're dying.

TUCHMAN: A covered corpse was left outside the entrance, and that wasn't the only body left that way. But there had been no evidence of more of the desecration of the dead until now.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr witnessed some of the chaos at the convention center, and she saw the first major convoys of relief supplies arrive in the city. Barbara is here to talk about her experiences in the disaster zone.

Good to see you in person and dry and safe and all that. Let's start with those images. You and your crew took those pictures, many of those pictures.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Many of those pictures, indeed. Our very excellent CNN cameraman, Jay Snyder (ph), producer Henry Schuster. We traveled for several days with Lieutenant General Russell Honore, the senior military commander who's -- when we started out, no one knew who this man was. Now, of course, he is literally known around the world.

And what was so remarkable was to see an exercise of sheer will, sheer military leadership on the part of this man standing on street corners in New Orleans, barking orders into his cell phone, really by virtue of his sheer will making this convoy appear.

Dozens and dozens of Humvees of a thousand National Guard troops, trucks full of food and water, going, getting to the convention center, finally, to help those people who've been in such desperate circumstances for so many days.

KAGAN: You were live with us on the phone when those trucks were showing up, and it was the first ray of hope, the first sign of anything going right. And it was the place where the story turned just a little bit because, finally, water, food was on the way. But you were telling me there was a concern that things would going to get out of control even more.

STARR: Behind the scenes, even as we saw this convoy emerge on the streets -- behind the scenes, the military and National Guard, we learned, had massive concerns that it all might spark a food riot, that the people of New Orleans, these citizens who were stranded on the streets, would be so desperate for food or water that they might start a riot.

And then, of course, the nightmare scenario. What on earth would the National Guard have to do? They were armed. Honore is telling them, as we've all seen, "Put your weapons down." He's telling them, "This is not Baghdad, this is America. You are here to feed people."

I think what he really did that day was set the tone that this is not a military operation. You see military troops, you see military equipment, it is a humanitarian relief operation. No one's really quite sure why there wasn't a food riot. But there wasn't.

The people were very orderly and, in fact, at the end of the day, a lot of credit should be given to the people of New Orleans who were so stranded, in such desperate circumstances. Overwhelmingly, the majority of these people really should be honored for making their way through all of this.

KAGAN: Another image that you're going to remember is the baby lift.

STARR: We were leaving the convention center area. It had been just terrible. The general was walking along and suddenly, he comes across this woman with two babies and another woman with a baby. These young mothers were just in desperate circumstances, hot, tired, hungry. And he stops.

KAGAN: I mean, looks at these soldiers, holding babies.

STARR: He stops and he pulls his soldiers over and he makes every soldier take a baby, and then we walk down the street. He commandeered a Coast Guard vessel and he personally took them to safety across the river.

You know, I don't know what to say, Daryn. When is the last time in the United States you see a three-star Army general in command stop on the street and even have to take the action of rescuing three hungry, thirsty babies. It was possibly really the most truly remarkable moment.

KAGAN: Tell us more about the man, about this lieutenant general. He is from this world, he is from the Gulf Coast.

STARR: He is from Louisiana. He was born and raised, he has relatives there. He told us that so many days later, he still has a cousin unaccounted for. He has a son serving on duty in Iraq. And in the middle of all of this, he became a grandfather for the first time. He has a new grandbaby, as he said. He hasn't seen yet, but very anxious to.

And this man, truly, is working around the clock. He is working 20 hours a day. Phone constantly is in his ear, yelling at somebody to say, "Make it happen." And as we left General Honore, he was still issuing instructions to his troops. And his instructions now are, he wants every active duty soldier that he's got out -- he says, "I want you out on the streets helping people. Nobody stays in camp. Everybody gets out there."

KAGAN: Well, my instructions right now are to go a military briefing right now, Northern Command. I'm going to ask you to stick around because not often do I have you by my side to listen. And this is Admiral Tim Keating, the latest on Northern Command. Let's listen in.

ADM. TIMOTHY KEATING, COMMANDER, U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND: ... as they continue to work the area looking for survivors. The United States Naval Ship Comfort, the hospital ship, is proceeding to go pier-side in Pascagoula, Mississippi, as we speak.

We're conducting house-to-house searches in support of local authorities. And we're always responding as quickly as we can to FEMA's request for assistance. I think we're providing -- I know we're providing relief and support to the region's first responders who are putting forth monumental effort.

We think we're bringing stability and security to the disaster zone. And I need to emphasize one more time that we're not taking our eyes off the larger mission of deterring and preventing and defeating attacks on those who would threaten the United States of America. I'd be happy to take your questions.

Hi, Laurie (ph), good morning.

QUESTION: (inaudible) and this is the first really big disaster that NorthCom has ever responded to since you guys (inaudible). How do you guys think you responded overall?

KEATING: We responded well. We have lessons to learn, to be sure. Before Katrina got to be a big storm, before she got to Florida, the Thursday, Wednesday, Thursday before she hit New Orleans and Mississippi, we had defense coordinating officers in Florida and in Alabama so as to be ready should Katrina develop to be a bigger storm than she did before Florida.

Remember, Katrina got into the Gulf, kind of unsure about where she was going, and then it took a hard right and really began to pack some wallop Saturday and Sunday. I was in communication with the secretary of defense and was given vocal, verbal authority to begin moving forces as I would see necessary, should this storm continue to develop. And we had defense coordinating officers in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana before the storm even hit.

That is not to say that there aren't lessons to be learned. We have almost 50 folks in the region now talking to federal, state, local officials across the spectrum in coordination with our friends at the joint forces command, to compile an exhaustive critical lessons learned report, which we will then use so we just don't just have lessons observed, but we have lessons learned.

I think we did a good job anticipating the response we would provide. We did a better job of actually putting those forces into place. We have lessons to learn and we are going to study them hard.

QUESTION: (inaudible)

KEATING: We did not have any communication problem. Pam?

QUESTION: (inaudible)

KEATING: Yes, I had the opportunity to go to the disaster region Sunday. Secretary of defense and the chairman of joint chiefs came down Sunday from Washington. A couple of us flew over from Colorado Springs.

And while we were in the Louis Armstrong Airport, I found myself standing next to a guy in a green smock, he was a doctor. I introduced myself to him, he was from Massachusetts. He got in his car and drove down as soon as Katrina cleared because he knew that they were going to need help.

So that sort of outpouring from just our citizens, not to mention the offers of relief that are coming in, as I said, a hundred countries, many of whom have already moved stuff forward. Integrating these is a bit of a challenge, to be sure. The individual contributions...

KAGAN: We've been listening in to the briefing today from U.S. Northern Command Admiral Tim Keating. And as we listen in, I'm lucky enough to have our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr by my side, passing through from hurricane duty and who knows where.

STARR: As I was just saying to you, what we could explain, I think, here, is one of the dilemmas for the United States military, as Admiral Keating reflected, is they are limited in what they can do. The National Guard has been activated by the governors, and they are mainly conducting the security and the law enforcement operations.

What is so unprecedented here is the use of these active duty forces, which are under the control of President Bush, the 82nd Airborne, the 1st Cav, and they cannot be involved, under federal law, in law enforcement. They cannot do the forcible evacuations. They can't really conduct security operations.

But there are so many people in the southeastern United States and so much need, that some of these leans are perhaps just a little blurred. What the military is doing right now, what Admiral Keating is having his forces do, is try and help wherever they can without violating the law, without stepping over the line. But anybody needs help, the military is saying, we will give them food and water, we will get them out, we will do what we can to help.

KAGAN: And the mission of U.S. Northern Command is homeland defense, which, as the admiral was pointing out, they're still very focused on the war on terror. And that, until maybe a couple weeks ago, was what people were thinking about as well. What this brought to mind, and I think what scares a lot of people is, are we safe at home, even from a natural disaster? And to a lot of people, from what they've seen, the answer is no.

STARR: Well, I think what has become rapidly apparent here in a massive crisis, no matter whether it's terrorism or a natural disaster, what happens when the first responders are so affected themselves? The New Orleans Police Department, the fire department, state and local, you know, security and disaster assistance officials. They were wiped out, essentially. And whether it is terrorism or a natural disaster, that, perhaps, may wind up being the focus of what policymakers in Washington will now look at.

KAGAN: And as the admiral saying, they will compiling a lessons- learned report. Barbara Starr, thank you. Great to see you. Be safe as you head back in the field.

And we move on here, on CNN LIVE TODAY, picking up the pieces after Katrina. We're going to look at the challenges that some evacuees are facing as they try to put their lives back together. We're going to go live to Houston for some of their stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Some Louisiana National Guard members return today from the war zone in Iraq, and they're coming home to the disaster zone left by Hurricane Katrina. Of all the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 256th Brigade Combat Team was hit the hardest by Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had approximately a little over 500 soldiers from the brigade that were negatively affected themselves personally. Those soldiers have been the priority, and we have adjusted the flow of soldiers out of the theater in consideration of them to get them home the soonest.

When you have 500 of your soldiers that have been affected as catastrophically, I have to tell you, that I feel that I'm very much affected. It saddens me terribly. It's just a terrible thing that they're going to come back from 18 months of sacrifice, where they have risked their lives, and have a disaster of this nature and don't have a home to come back to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Most of the 2,800 troops will be arriving home today. And advanced party of 50 soldiers from the unit returned on Sunday.

A family still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Katrina is preparing for yet another challenge. They are watching a loved one head off to war. The story from national correspondent Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It will be a special and short homecoming, just a day, 26-year-old Joy Morgan (ph), a newly promoted Air Force captain based in Hawaii, is headed to Iraq at a time when some members of her own family are coping with all they lost in New Orleans.

And so, she plans a surprise, a visit to her San Antonio home. There are hugs, a few tears and...

CT. JOY MORGAN, AIR FORCE: Where's my grandma at? Oh, hey, grandma.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew. I knew.

WALLACE: A grandmother whose gut just told her, her oldest granddaughter was in town.

(on-camera): Have this time to be together right now. How moving is that?

MORGAN: All I can say is it's just a blessing. You can't really put it into words because I can say that I'm thankful that all we lost was a couple of houses and stuff, because we've still got our family. And they're going to stick together and we'll rebuild and we'll be stronger than ever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to the Army again?

MORGAN: Air Force, baby.

WALLACE (voice-over): Still, the timing of an Iraq trip is tough in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The family only tracked down its last missing relative earlier this week, and other relatives who lost everything are here in San Antonio, trying to pick up the pieces.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was looking around the Salvation Army the other day looking for a baby crib. And, you know, I was crying. And a man came up to me and I told him, "My family's displaced, but we're going to be OK, you know?" And it's going to be OK.

WALLACE: And now they try to cope with another challenge, Joy's six-month deployment to Iraq. Ironically, she leaves the same day her uncle returns from the war-torn country. Joy's dad says the hardest part will be saying goodbye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it'll be fine while we're there. I think it's going to be when that plane leaves that it's really going to hit, that I won't be able to see her for a while. I won't be able to talk to her. That's when it's really going to hit.

WALLACE: It may be tougher, still, on Joy's grandmother. The two talk a few times a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She calls me sometimes and she just sits on the phone and she doesn't say anything. And grandpa is like, "Why are y'all on the phone, you're not talking." And she says, "I just want hear you breathe." So, yes, we are close.

WALLACE: What may provide this family with the most comfort is Joy herself.

MORGAN: I just wanted to make a difference. I mean, I figure, if my troops can do it, then I can do it, too. You don't want to just sit back and always give orders. I'm the kind of person who wants to be in the thick of things. So I want to be right alongside my troops, and I'm getting an opportunity to do so.

WALLACE: She didn't have to go to Iraq, she volunteered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's my baby.

WALLACE: Kelly Wallace, CNN, San Antonio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We wish her well in her journey. We want to show you live pictures we're getting in now from Houston, Texas. Actually, pictures we just got in. This is taped, but just a few minutes ago. Lines, lines, and more lines. They continue. These are folks in line to get those debit cards, up to $2,000 from the Red Cross and FEMA.

Some problem in distributing these in other places, and so FEMA now thinking about going back to the other system of checks or electronic transfer. But the folks here at the Astrodome, we understand, will get the debit card, 8,000 evacuees still there, and it looks like most of them in line today.

We'll take a break, we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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