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Chertoff Briefing on FEMA Relief Effort

Aired September 09, 2005 - 13:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you know, we've heard numerous stories of people taking Hurricane Katrina evacuees into their homes.
Our own Drew Griffin introduces us to a couple who is taking in an entire police precinct.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is across the Mississippi in an area of the city known as Algiers. The water did not come here. The houses here survived. And inside this one, Dave and Becky Benelli are running a New Orleans police precinct.

BECKY BENELLI, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: On and off, we're all working different hours, so we're all doing different stuff.

GRIFFIN: Becky is Sergeant Becky of the city's crime lab. Her husband, Dave -- that's Lieutenant Dave -- is commander of the sex crime division. The flag and squad cars parked out front mark the house as the new headquarters for both.

(on camera): Is your gas working?

B. BENELLI: Uh-huh. I have a stove.

GRIFFIN: So you can cook.

B. BENELLI: Tonight we're having meatballs and spaghetti.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): But the Benellis opening up their home is not just a duty, they say, it is the only option for their colleagues who have lost everything.

B. BENELLI: I'm very blessed.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Better than surviving, really.

B. BENELLI: Yes. I'm very blessed.

GRIFFIN: You're holding people in this house, because they weren't...

B. BENELLI: Half of them are people who have no home to go back to.

GRIFFIN: What are they going to do? B. BENELLI: I have no idea. They can stay here as long as they want.

DAVE BENELLI, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The very areas of the city that were most devastated by floods, this happened to be the area where 85 percent of our police officers live.

Oh, absolutely, because...

GRIFFIN (voice-over): From his driveway, Benelli dispatches patrol cars and sends officers to new assignments. What used to be the sex crimes unit now handles a little bit of everything.

Lieutenant Benelli says the public needs to see this to understand how officers who have lost everything can keep working and working. He also says people need to know what really happened in New Orleans and what did not.

Benelli was assigned as security at the Superdome for six days. He, his fellow officers and 250 National Guardsmen, he says, prevented the pathetic conditions from inside from becoming catastrophic.

D. BENELLI: We had to basically sleep with one eye open at all times, because we had an environment there that was ripe for chaos. We had 25,000 people living in subhuman conditions. It was hot.

GRIFFIN: And hot-tempered. But he says the police themselves policed the crowds. Thugs were few. And he wants to explode the urban myths about rampant rapes, killings and beatings.

D. BENELLI: I'm the commander of the sex crimes unit. My unit handles all rapes. We had two reported attempted rapes.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Attempted.

D. BENELLI: Attempted rapes. And they were handled. And the individuals were arrested.

GRIFFIN: That's it.

D. BENELLI: And that's it.

GRIFFIN (voice over): For six days, that was it. He says the people remained calm, the police remained vigilant and the evacuees were taken away.

Now, he says, look and see who is left: the cops.

Drew Griffin, CNN, at the new Algiers police precinct, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, we want to update you on the latest information to come in to us here at CNN, and that is we got word just within the past 15 minutes or so that the head of Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is set to hold a live news conference in just about 15 minutes, because we are getting word that, indeed, the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, will be replaced on the ground in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, where efforts are going forward after Hurricane Katrina.

Mike Brown, we are told, moving back to Washington D.C. Replacing him Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff, U.S. Coast Guard. We're expecting to hear from the admiral live on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." That's 6:00 Eastern Time. You won't want to miss that interview, but also stay tuned. About 15 minutes from now that live news conference officially announcing the change of command.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Speaking of finding a silver lining, it always seems like chaplains, reverends, ministers, bishops, they always try to find the positive in any type of disaster. And we just got word yesterday, and now we're actually finally able to bring you an interview that U.S. Northern Command deploying 120 chaplain units throughout the disaster areas, from Alabama to Louisiana to Mississippi, and we were, I guess I should say, thank God, Colonel James Agnew, U.S. Army, we've finally been able to get in touch with him. He arrived yesterday. He joins us now by phone.

Colonel, can you hear me OK?

COL. JAMES AGNEW, CHAPLAIN, U.S. ARMY: Sure can.

PHILLIPS: It's great to finally make contact with you, sir. I know you are one of dozens and dozens of chaplains now heading into the area. Tell me where you are exactly right now.

AGNEW: Well, I'm currently on General Honore's command ship, the Iwo Jima, that's located, docked right down in downtown New Orleans.

PHILLIPS: Would it be fair to say you will be one of the general's spiritual advisers through this very daunting task that he's taking on?

AGNEW: That's one of my responsibilities.

PHILLIPS: Well, tell me the conversations you've had with the general. Tell me, you know, what you are trying to achieve and what you've been saying to him and how you've been supporting him to this point, colonel.

AGNEW: Well, first of all, we've been supporting him with a lot of prayer. It's an awesome task that he's been given. But he's got a tremendous heart. He's a man of compassion and has such passion for what he's doing, and he's just trying to do the very best he can to save lives, to help these people through this disaster, to really make a difference, and he's holding nothing back. Everything that he can put into doing the rescuing, doing the sustainment, bringing the medical care in, he's doing it all to make sure everybody can have the access they need and the help they need.

PHILLIPS: Chaplain, has he been coming to you and asking you for specific prayer requests?

AGNEW: Actually I touch base with him. I was with him the other day. He's so busy, but from time to time we talk about the opportunities that are before him and I had a chance to pray with him. We had a person that was terminally ill. We all got on our knees and prayed for this soldier's wife. He's just tremendous as far as his support for the soldiers, and just a wonderful man to work with.

PHILLIPS: Can you tell me, in addition to what you'll be doing there side by side with General Honore, sir, what will the other chaplains be doing as they are deployed to various areas? Of course, I've got a lot of questions. I guess specifically, as members of the military and other rescue crews and law-enforcement officials come across so many dead bodies, so many of them unidentified, how will you be taking part in respectfully dealing with the burial and the needs of the individuals that have lost their lives, and lost their live in ways that, boy, you wish could have been so much more dignified.

AGNEW: Well, it is a difficult task to be involved in this type of operation. However, we have chaplains that are embedded with each of the units. And we're getting reports out of the chaplains that have gone out on the search-and-rescue missions with the soldiers and with the Marines, how they're walking with them, they're counseling them, they're helping them through the difficult times and dealing with the stress of the things you just spoke of. As far as exactly our involvement, we've been directed to show our honor and to respect through prayer or scripture as the occasion arises.

We're working on plans to provide ministry teams to places where they'll be bringing the casualties of this terrible disaster, and working with particularly and working with particularly the Department of Defense personnel that are having to do the actual recoveries themselves.

PHILLIPS: And chaplain, you know this area. In so many ways, it's so spiritual and it's so religious. I mean, this is a place where the House of Blues has gospel brunch every Sunday, or it did every Sunday, a couple times as day, some of the most beautiful churches, gospel music coming out of so many of those venues there in New Orleans. These are definitely people that will be seeking your help and your prayers, along with a number of the other chaplains.

AGNEW: Well, we're really fortunate. We have a lot of diversity in the chaplain corps, and we're working jointly.

I was just in a meeting with the Navy ship chaplain here on the Iwo Jima. He's a Greek Orthodox chaplain. I have a rabbi flying in from New York. He will be in the area here on Sunday. We have Catholic chaplains. We have gospel chaplains. We have everything covered to meet the needs primarily of our soldiers. That's really our focus, Kyra. We have to focus on those that we provide the spiritual care for, and with a job that's so difficult and so stressful, we need to make sure that those who are directly involved get the spiritual care, support and prayer that the chaplain corps can offer. PHILLIPS: Well, sir, I know your heart, and I can't think of a better person to be side by side with General Honore right now. And also helping getting all those other Chaplains into the various areas.

We wish you the best, sir. And thank you so much for your time.

AGNEW: You're welcome. God bless you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you. Colonel James Agnew, U.S. Army. One of the many chaplains that's going into the three devastated states right now since Hurricane Katrina. We will definitely follow what the chaplains are doing in that area.

AGNEW: Another story, of course, that we've been bringing to you within the past 45 minutes, and that is the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, now going back to Washington D.C. He has been taken out of the disaster area, and Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff U.S. Coast Guard is in. He will be taking over those operations. Right after the break, we're going to talk to our Barbara Starr, Pentagon correspondent, about his role and what she knows about the new operations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Any minute now we are awaiting for that news conference that we've been telling you about, and that is the official announcement by the head of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff that the head of FEMA, Mike Brown, will be moved back to Washington D.C., taken off the ground in the disaster areas, and replaced by Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff U.S. coast guard.

We are told, as you can see here, the admiral on the other side of the screen, we've done a number of interviews with him since he's been on the ground there in the New Orleans area there. He will be taking over operations on the ground as the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, is now going to be moved back to Washington D.C. We'll bring you that live news conference as soon as it happens.

Meanwhile, let's bring in our Barbara Starr. We're lucky to have her with us here in Atlanta. You were, of course, with General Honore on the grounds in New Orleans. We'll talk about that, and also Mississippi. We'll talk about that in a minute but let's get down to business here on Admiral Allen, and why a Coast Guard guy?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they're very adamant in saying this is a not a military operation but, in fact, what someone like Admiral Allen brings to the table are military skills, essentially the types of things the Coast Guard and any military organization can bring to the table, the ability to react quickly, to move his forces around, to deal with logistics and transportation. You know, they say it's not a military operation but, in fact, Mother Nature attacked as an enemy would attack. Mother Nature took out the communications, the roads, the resupply roots. And now I think there's a feeling that this is such a massive operation, they are going to need someone where those very special skills. We keep hearing the phrase, you know, the operational requirements, the on the ground kind of guy. These are the types of things that either an active duty military person or a member of the Coast Guard can contribute. The Coast Guard, of course, during war is fully the United States military, but somebody like Admiral Allen would bring to the table the skills of moving in that world between civilian and military. Civilian waters, civilian law enforcement. He would have a very good understanding of all of those issues, and be the kind of person perhaps that they now, several days into the crisis, realize they need.

PHILLIPS: And that's the Coast Guard's motto, saving lives. I mean, this is what they know what to do. And you bring up a really good point in that if you look at that time ground, I guess the battleground, in many ways, I mean, who is better poised to get into these type of areas and deal with this type of disaster than the military. We saw with General Honore and the First Army. So it sort of makes sense that bringing in a Coast Guard admiral to respond right now is going to work.

STARR: Well, just think of it this way, they are moving through waters, the water in New Orleans, trying to go house by house, block by block, grid by grid, working with civilian disaster relief, military disaster relief, Coast Guard, National Guard, all of these various organizations.

Organizations alone, what we learn from our days on the ground there, organization alone, communications just basically being able to talk to each other. It's getting better every day, but it's very, very tough business right now.

PHILLIPS: You know what's interesting, we've been talking about so much about that role of U.S. northern command and the military augmenting civil authorities and others. And this is very interesting, this dynamic, because in this case, the military is desperately need, just because of the background, the training, the equipment. And it's a unique -- we've never seen this before.

STARR: We have not. And the law is very clear on what military, the active duty military may and may not do. So that's the Washington side of it, the technical law. But what's happening on the ground are people like General Honore, people who are working this problem, are coalition building. Again, it sounds like a war, doesn't it? They are making arrange -- they're not violating the law, but they're coalition building, working together, making arrangements on the spot. We'll do this; we'll do that. We'll send helicopters here; we'll get boats there. It's kind of crisis response that really is unprecedented in this country, and an unprecedented joining together of the civilian and the military world inside the United States.

PHILLIPS: And you know you talk about the civilian and military world and one of the biggest arguments being made here is just all the bureaucracy and how long it took and how long it took to get help, and that's a great thing about the military, one person gives orders, and let me tell you what, everybody's got to follow command, and nobody is ignoring General Honore. STARR: When you stand next to General Honore and he picks up his cell phone and you hear him say, with some colorful language, I want my helicopter, and I want it now, with a few words in front and a few words in back, pretty much everybody says, yes, sir.

But I think the real point is, of course, lives are at stake, lives, and thousands of lives possibly at stake. And there is a feeling at this point on the ground that they have to cut through that and just get the job done.

It's something that Washington often finds very difficult to respond to. There is bureaucracy, there's laws, there's regulations, there's paperwork, and, of course, there has to be at some point. But it may be the case that this new appointment is a reflection of trying to be able to respond more quickly. It may be the case.

PHILLIPS: And Americans are so desperately looking for someone, something, some type of response to believe in right now. They really want faith in something or someone that this is going to work, and we saw what kind of response General Honore garnered, because he came in there and he made a difference quickly, and that is what people want right now.

STARR: Well, I think they do for both the short term and long term, because there is no option. This has to work and it has to work successfully, or what happens the next time there's a disaster in the United States?

PHILLIPS: God forbid.

STARR: What would be the lack of confidence in the ability of the federal government and the economy to survive all these things? I think many people on the ground feel there is no option but success. They must make this work.

PHILLIPS: And in all fairness to the Department of Homeland Security right now, I mean, this is a brand-new department that was formed after 9/11. In many ways this is a learn-by-our-mistakes and figure-out-what-to-do-better type of scenario. So it will be interesting to see, in the long run, what will remain under Department of Homeland Security. Will FEMA remain under DHS or not? What will the military's role be? It should be interesting for you at the Pentagon to see what changes might happen, right?

STARR: Well, it is. I mean, remember, the United States military inside the United States does an awful lot in disaster relief work. It is one of their jobs. They war game it all the time. They look at how they would respond in a crisis.

But the difference is, the enemy this time is Mother Nature. There is, you know, there's no CIA out there that can predict...

PHILLIPS: Get the intel, right.

STARR: Right. Nobody's actually eavesdropping on Mother Nature. You can make some weather predictions. But the point is in this case it's a classic, perhaps once a century, but classic case. Nobody can really predict what Mother Nature will do. And I think what people have come to realize in the last few days, is in the world of first responders, this case, the first responders were also devastated by the disaster. They lost their homes. They couldn't respond quickly enough. And so where does the military flow in. Where does the National Guard flow in. How do you set up that flow of relief, and supplies and troops and have it come in and be ready to go?

PHILLIPS: Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, stay with us please. But we do have to take a quick break, but we want to remind you to stay with us because any moment now Department of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff will be taking to this microphone to announce change of command: Michael Brown head of FEMA back to Washington; Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff U.S. Coast Guard in command. He's also going to be on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," 6:00 Eastern. You won't want to miss it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New video just in. They're weary, but they're ready. Let me tell you, this is the 256th Brigade Combat Team, the first planeload of 100 very tired Louisiana National Guardsmen. They arrived back in the U.S. today, returning from Iraq, and now they're on their way to the hurricane-ravaged home state, the one they live in and love. And many of them, we had talked to them actually in Baghdad when we found out they were going to be coming home, and they said that many of them were concerned about family members, friends and loved ones in the area, and so many of them were not able to get in touch with family members.

A lot of them didn't even know the condition of their homes here in Louisiana, but now the soldiers coming off the plane. They're going to go through U.S. Customs before -- actually they already went through U.S. Customs, so they won't have to deal with that now. But that was sort of a time -- a long, lengthy process before they got back here and landed in Louisiana.

Now, mainly these soldiers are from the New Orleans-based 1st Battalion, the 141st Field Artillery Regiment. As you know it left Kuwait, came on a chartered flight, and now a few 100 remaining members, I'm being told, of this battalion are expected to fly home from Kuwait over the next few days. So you'll see a lot more of these soldiers coming home. But the 256th Brigade Combat Team from New Orleans, Louisiana, coming back to help respond to this disaster, leaving Baghdad and coming to their hometown.

And it's interesting, a lot of them saying that they were concerned about even coming back, that Iraq in many ways has been an easier mission for them versus coming back to their hometown and dealing and seeing what they're up against as they get back.

You can see the welcome that they're getting, of course, from all their friends and fellow soldiers there in Louisiana.

And as we watch these pictures of the combat team coming back to get ready to respond, we want to remind you that we are waiting. Any moment now the head of Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is set to step up to the microphone and make the final announcement, an announcement that we brought you about an hour ago. We were the first to tell you that we got word the head of FEMA Michael Brown is out. He's being sent back to Washington D.C. And when I say out, I mean out of the area, the disaster area. As far as we know, he has not been replaced or fired from his job, he's just being sent back to Washington D.C. and the man that is in, in charge of operations on the ground there in the disaster area also be Vice Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff, U.S. Coast Guard, and as you know the U.S. Coast Guard trained to save lives, trained to deal with waters. When you think about all the assets the Coast Guard has, from search-and-rescue helicopters to dive teams to rib boats to cutters, to all types of ships, it makes sense he's moving into that position.

Let's listen to Michael Chertoff right now with the formal announcement.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good afternoon.

The effort to respond and recover from Hurricane Katrina is moving forward expeditiously. We're now preparing from the immediate emergency response phase to the next phase of operations.

Importantly, we have to have seamless interaction with military forces as we move forward with our critical work in New Orleans, the surrounding parishes and in Mississippi and Alabama.

At the same time, we are still in hurricane season. We need to be prepared to deal effectively with the possibility of other hurricanes as well as other disasters, whether they be natural or manmade.

Therefore, I've directed Mike Brown to return to administering FEMA nationally, and I have appointed Vice Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard as the principal federal official overseeing the Hurricane Katrina response and recovery effort in the field.

Joe Pitchiano from FEMA will continue to be deputy PFO in Baton Rouge to support Admiral Allen's effort.

Hurricane Katrina will go down as the largest natural disaster in American history.

Mike Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge. I appreciate his work, as does everybody here.

I also appreciate the tireless efforts of the men and women of FEMA, many of whom were shoulder to shoulder with those who are victims of the hurricane and the flood, as well as the efforts of our federal, state and local partners. Vice Admiral Allen is doing an exceptional job, is working very closely working with General Honore who is also doing an exceptional job. Admiral Allen has my full support in the very important work ahead.

Let me just make two other observations about what lies before us. We have here on the ground some enormous challenges in Louisiana and in Mississippi.

In addition to the situation in New Orleans, as we continue with the process of evacuation which remains very urgent, as we begin the process of cleaning up the city and the surrounding parishes, we are confronting very serious environmental problems and catastrophes based on oil spills and other kinds of environmental spills both on land and in the water.

EPA and Coast Guard are working very aggressively to contain these spills and to begin the process of cleaning them up. And that is going to be a very, very significant challenge ahead.

At the same time, we have to continue to be concerned about the people who have been evacuated or who fled from the afflicted areas. We are working to get them the kind of support that they need, continuing to shelter them, feed them, get them medical care, get them counseling.

We are also, as you know, in the process of unrolling a very aggressive program to start getting them the benefits to which they're entitled so that they can begin the process of rebuilding their lives.

During my visit here, I've had the opportunity to talk to a lot of state and local officials. I'm encouraged by the fact that a lot of communities are stepping forward to participate fully in the process of rebuilding themselves.

They're reaching out to their expatriates who are now in shelters in 50 states or almost 50 states, to build links, to make sure that people who are part of these communities continue to participate in community-building no matter where they are around the country. And I think that's very important and it's something we want to encourage.

So we've got a lot of work ahead of us. We're going to continue to push forward very aggressively. But I think I would say -- remind everybody at the end of this process that we cannot afford to simply become focused only on Hurricane Katrina even though that is an enormous, unprecedented challenge.

CHERTOFF: The weather continues to operate. Other challenges and threats remain out in the world. Our department's responsibility is to do all of these things: to manage the challenge at hand, with all of its considerable burdens, but also to anticipate and be prepared to thwart or respond to the challenges ahead.

We're going to have to get back to work in a few minutes. I will take three or four questions, so choose those questions wisely.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CHERTOFF: As you know, Mr. Brown is the director of FEMA as well as the undersecretary to the department. FEMA has the responsibility not only to participate in this recovery -- response and recovery effort -- it's got a lot of other responsibilities. We've got tropical storms and hurricanes brewing in the ocean. We could have other kinds of disasters, natural and manmade.

And while it's very important to focus an enormous amount of attention and effort to what is going on here, we cannot afford to let our guard down with respect to other things that might happen.

Therefore, I want to make sure FEMA continues to be run the way it needs to be, continues to be prepared to anticipate other challenges. And I want to have the people who are present here on the ground, Admiral Allen and his deputy, Joe Pitchiano (ph), able to focus their full attention on what needs to be done to finish the recovery and rebuilding process.

QUESTION: Is this the first step in Mr. Brown's resignation?

Can you answer that, Mr. Brown, please?

And also, how do you respond to reports that you embellished your resume? There was the report in Time magazine.

CHERTOFF: Here are the ground rules: I'm going to answer the questions. I've explained what we're doing. I thought I was about as clear as I possibly could be in English as to what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

Next question?

QUESTION: Sir, is there any information you can tell us about the situation at St. Bay Grill (ph) where the morgue was set up? Are the bodies being identified already? And how hard is it for people to identify bodies?

CHERTOFF: We have a process in place to conduct a recovery with respect of all of the people who lost their lives in the hurricane.

It is a process which is under way. We are making it very clear that it's important that everybody behave with dignity. Ultimately, at the end of the day, of course, there's a legal process also involving state coroners.

As I said, a process is under way. It's being very closely managed by the folks here on the ground in New Orleans.

I want to respect the privacy of the victims' families and not talk any more about it than to say that we are going to work as respectfully and as expeditiously as possible to recover remains, identify, make appropriate notices to next of kin and then make the necessary arrangements as we've done in the past tragedies, like 9/11, for example.

One more question.

QUESTION: There is talk about $2,000 aid being distributed to displaced families. Where does that stand now? How much aid has been distributed?

CHERTOFF: It is being distributed as we speak, starting in some of the big shelters. We're going to be dealing with it both in terms of debit cards but also checks. People will be able, when they register, to get the relief mailed to them or they can pick it up. We've got a whole series of different ways of going about it.

And huge amounts of money have already been released and pushed out and sent to people. So we're very much under way.

Please understand, I don't think there's ever been an effort to give people relief on the scale that we've had to do here in this country. It's got to be 10 times what we've done previously.

So it's not all going to happen at once. It's not going to happen perfectly. But we are doing everything possible to respond to people who register and get them the money as quickly as possible. It is happening as we speak.

We will continue to update you on the progress of that. I think there will probably be more information about that from Washington.

Thank you.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) in and out of state -- just quickly -- both the aid in and (INAUDIBLE)?

CHERTOFF: Yes. I want to be clear: The aid goes to evacuees, people who were damaged or who were affected by the hurricane, whether they were in state or in shelters in Texas or really any place in the country. And I think that if not 50 states, we've got close to 50 states where people are now finding shelter.

Thank you very much.

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