Michael Brown
Michael Brown
Former administrator of FEMA who resigned from his position after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many americans blamed him for the slow response to help those in New Orleans in the aftermath of the deadly hurricane.
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth8 November 1954
CityGuymon, OK
difficult expect family
(It's) very difficult for a family to go through this; you never expect that you will be a part of this.
difficult except federal government learned shows situation teams virtually
Yes, I learned about that, the federal government learned about that (Thursday), ... And that shows how difficult communications are in the situation where there was virtually no communications, except for our teams on the ground.
believe chain command difficult lost meeting
I just find it difficult to believe that we're not meeting a need if that need has been articulated to us. ... I think that must be getting lost in the chain of command there.
difficult facing hope plight publicity
I hope to give them some publicity about the plight they're facing right now. They're in difficult straits right now.
difficult disaster
in general, will show that this was a disaster of catastrophic proportions where communications were difficult at best, and communications were nonexistent at other times.
best knew prepared quickly stretched
We were prepared but overwhelmed is the best way I can put it. We knew what to do. We knew how to do it. But because we're stretched thin, because we still had these logistical problems, it quickly overwhelmed us.
above clouds coming exciting
What is tremendously exciting is we can see it from Earth; we see these big clouds coming from above these methane vents or methane volcanoes.
darn good job
I've overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it,
governor mayor personally persuade pull regret sit strongly unable work
I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together. I just couldn't pull that off.
good management matter weaknesses
These demonstrate weaknesses in management and must be addressed as a matter of good practice.
emergency largest recovery resources response single
the single largest mobilization of emergency response and recovery resources in history.
garbage picked picking
I see them picking up the trees, but it's the garbage we need to get picked up now.
serve totally
I serve totally at the will of the president.
care people sure understand
I understand their frustration and I understand these people are suffering, we are doing everything we can to make sure we take care of them.