Brown Out As Katrina Relief Leader

Amidst Finger-Pointing, FEMA Director Removed From Hurricane Role

(CBS/AP) 
Brown, 50, has headed FEMA since April 2003 and has borne much of the criticism heaped on the Bush administration over its response to Katrina. Though he has overseen the federal response to several hurricanes and other disasters since then, Brown has been criticized for lacking experience needed to manage a catastrophe as large as Katrina.

Time magazine reported on its Web site that there are discrepancies in Brown's White House bio and other resume-type listings that seem to exaggerate his level of experience with disaster management. The Early Show's Hannah Storm spoke with Time reporter (video) Carolina A. Miranda about the report.

Brown's bio on the FEMA Web site said he oversaw emergency services in Edmond, Okla. But a spokeswoman for the city tells Time that Brown's position was more like an internship.

"[It was] an entry level intern-type job for somebody interested in learning about government," Miranda told CBS News.

A self-reported legal online list claims additionally that Brown had been a professor at a college where he didn't stay beyond completing an undergraduate degree. In a release, FEMA called Time's report "misleading" and "based on information Brown had never seen."

CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports that critics say FEMA's problem is bigger than Mike Brown: His two top deputies also have no emergency management experience. They, like Brown, are there because of their political connections and not their expertise, reports Orr.

Because veterans such as U.S. hurricane specialist Eric Tolbert and World Trade Center disaster managers Laurence W. Zensinger and Bruce P. Baughman have left FEMA since 2003, a "brain drain" of sorts has set in for the agency.

Due to the rapid turnover, three of the five chiefs for natural-disaster FEMA operations are simply "acting" chiefs, the Post reported.

In the midst of all the finger pointing, Americans generally agree that the government responded poorly to the hurricane. According to a new CBS News poll, 77 percent said the federal government's response was inadequate, while 58 percent disapproved of how Mr. Bush handled the crisis.

The poll also shows that two out of three Americans think the president himself responded too slowly. His leadership rating – usually his strong suit – is the lowest of his presidency, a full 35 points lower than it was after 9/11.

Poll respondents also found state and local government responded inadequately to the disaster.

"Unfortunately, thick in Washington, this whole thing is being politicized, become a political football," Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana told CBS News. "That's really, really unfortunate because it's doing the people of Louisiana a great disservice — another injury, another attack on them."

Also, while Brown was very visibly near the president's side during Bush's first on-the-ground visit to the hurricane zone last week, he remained behind the scenes — with Chertoff out front — when the president went back on Monday.

"I'm anxious to get back to D.C. to correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said," Brown said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Asked if the move was a demotion, Brown said: ``No. No. I'm still the director of FEMA."

He said Chertoff made the decision to move him out of Louisiana. It was not his own decision, Brown said.

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims," Brown said. "This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit and now we have to help these victims."

Watch an interview with Brown by The Early Show's Harry Smith.