Deadly Indifference

May 23, 2011
The inside scoop on Katrina from former undersecretary of Homeland Security, famously called "Brownie" by George W. Bush, is no mea culpa, but rather a blast of blame aimed at numerous parties. Deadly indifference is indeed evident in the mishandling of the flood: poorly maintained levees broke, flooding much of the city, including the Superdome, a last-minute refugee center that was "never part of the initial planning." Brown indicts everyone from Bush to Donald Rumsfeld to local politicians, yet statements such as "the people in the Superdome often sounded like teenagers sitting around a campfire during an overnight camping trip, scaring themselves with ghost stories" show questionable judgment; he faults the media for not fact-checking stories, yet acknowledges the strain; "there is no time to double-check. There is likely no one available who wants to bother to correct errors with so much critical activity taking place." About horror stories of political interference, Brown comments, "It did not mater that the FEMA employee's time was being wasted by congressional representatives who had no power or influence". If they could look like leaders, they would be leaders..." Though at times Brown seems more concerned with his rep than a reckoning of Katrina, his account is informative and discouraging. Photos.

June 15, 2011

Even when our government is successful, e.g., in the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, the truth of what actually occurred can be hard to come by. But when the government's actions are widely considered to have been a failure, the truth can be even more difficult to uncover. Brown was the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, and he took most of the heat for the government's poor response to the disaster. Here, he claims he was the scapegoat--and he makes a great case that there is plenty of blame to go around, with ample evidence that politicians at the local, state, and national levels were inept and concerned more about their image than the people in need. He also shows how the news media contributed to the mayhem that followed the hurricane. VERDICT Brown's version of events will be of interest to politics junkies, journalists, and the millions of people whose lives were impacted by Katrina. In offering the other side of the story, Brown presents valuable information for historians who will eventually decide where to place the blame for the inadequate relief efforts.--Robert Bruce Slater, Stroudsburg, PA

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