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
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.
calls clearly conference everybody knew
Everybody else knew and clearly on our conference calls it was being discussed.
anybody bad cut expected gut hear knew piece red respond
I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could ... that I didn't want to hear anybody say that we couldn't do everything they humanly could to respond to this. Because I knew in my gut this was the bad one.
anticipate honestly knew point potential president speaking worried
I was still worried about it, because I knew what the potential was. But I think the president was speaking honestly at that point that he didn't really anticipate that they would be breached because of all this conflicting information.
emotion emotions kept knew playing team telling wear
We kept telling the team they were playing off emotion and we knew that would wear off.
came fema happy knew means scapegoat
I'm happy to be called not a Rudy Giuliani ... a scapegoat ... if it means that FEMA that I knew when I came here is going to be able to be reborn.
bad gut knew
I knew in my gut this was the bad one.
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.