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
causing communication dangerous good ground hear help inability intelligence lack lives medical others problem pull save situation teams thugs total yesterday
The total lack of communication. The inability to hear and have good intelligence on the ground about what was occurring there, ... We had to actually take teams out yesterday because of the dangerous situation they were in. That's very frustrating not only to me but those teams. Those medical teams want to help save lives and the thugs and the others that are causing the problem are actually making it more difficult. So we had to pull them out for a while. They want to go back in. They're going back in.
grave highest house levels question situation understood white
There is no question in my mind, that at the highest levels of the White House they understood how grave the situation was.
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.
access bringing continue efforts guard last national ramp relief several situation
What we have right now is a situation where, with my having access to the military, bringing in the National Guard troops, securing the area, we'll be able to continue the relief efforts that we have been doing over the last several days, ... We'll be able to ramp those up and continue the evacuation.
father life situation tragic
His whole life was his family. It's a tragic situation for everyone involved. These two young children, they have no mother, no father and no grandma.
certain house obligation president situation understood white
My obligation was to the White House and to make certain that the president understood what was going on and what the situation was. And I did that.
asking expect good questions recognize serious situation
He's very engaged, and he's asking a lot of really good questions I would expect him to ask. I say that only because I want everyone to recognize ... how serious the situation remains.
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.