Officials involved in the phony press conference staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week are now facing disciplinary action, says Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
“I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government,” said Mr Chertoff.
“I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment.”
Earlier this week, FEMA called a snap press conference to answer questions about the agency’s response to the California wildfires, giving reporters only 15 minutes notice. As a result, no reporters were able to attend the event, and could only listen in via telephone with no opportunity to ask questions.
Posing as reporters, FEMA staff then proceeded to ask soft questions to their boss, deputy administrator Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson. His responses included a glowing FEMA performance review in southern California.
US Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, has demanded an explanation for FEMA’s lapse in integrity.
“I am disappointed to learn that (Mr Johnson) misled the press and the public by taking questions from his own staff pretending to be reporters and that the agency did not disclose this misrepresentation,” she said.
Mr Chertoff, whose Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA, said he first learned of the fake press conference after the event and was at a complete loss to explain why it happened.
“There will be appropriate discipline,” he said.
Two years ago, FEMA was widely condemned for leaving survivors of Hurricane Katrina stranded on rooftops and in evacuation centers in New Orleans without food, water or sanitation for a week.
There has been considerable media interest in the agency’s response to the wildfires in southern California, which has caused the largest mass evacuation since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita displaced over 2 million people in 2005.
Ahhhh, but Kelly, it is in one of the rule books somewhere I am sure, and I am sure they are going to enforce the punishment to the fullest extent the rules allow them to. The punishment in the rule book can probably be found under the heading of double overtime messup forgiveness point spreads with reappointment to another department as punishment. And why? Well,,,,,,,,,BECAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! (problem is, I don't know where to get one) I wonder if the ultimate punishment is tending an icecream stand at the Grand Canyon??????? Or maybe watching Mount Rushmore to make sure no one steals it?????????????? Written by Me too Kelly...................................
on 10/28/2007
"appropriate disclipline". I believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. But to believe that anything will be done to the politcal hacks that run FEMA and out government is too much, even for me. Written by Maria Kelly
on 10/28/2007
Oh blah, blah, blah.................... Same old tired dirty laundry........ Got anything a little more pertinent than the above soiled script from the recycling bin? Written by ..................................................
on 10/28/2007
