Katrina: Gov't Failure, Private Fraud
House Report Blasts Federal Response To Hurricane; Over 200 Accused Of Scams
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Play CBS Video Video Chertoff In Hot Water? The battle over who was responsible for the federal government's poor response to Hurricane Katrina continues. Sharyl Attkisson reports on Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff's testimony.
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Video Chertoff On FEMA Reform CBS News RAW: Secretary Michael Chertoff outlined several changes that will be made the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA following the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
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Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff pauses during remarks to the National Emergency Management Association on Monday, Feb. 13, 2006 in Alexandria, Va. (AP)
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Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff delivers remarks at George Washington University on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005, in Washington. (AP)
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Former FEMA Director Michael Brown is sworn in before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee February 10, 2006 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/Mark Wilson)
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Interactive Hurricane Katrina Katrina's historic and deadly assault on the Gulf Coast: photo essays, how to help information, state-by-state damage and more.
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Photo Essay Katrina: New Orleans A major U.S. city struggles with the devastation wrought by the deadly storm.
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Special Report Gulf Coast Disaster Complete coverage of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, including anniversary coverage.
"I want to be clear, as the secretary of homeland security I am accountable and accept responsibility to the performance of the entire department, good and bad," Chertoff said.
"I also have the responsibility to fix what went wrong," he added.
Chertoff suggested that time was of the essence, noting that June 1 looms as the start of another hurricane season.
He pledged "a hard, honest look at what we can do to improve our response capability."
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee issued their own recommendations Sunday for changing FEMA, including having the agency's director report directly to the president during major disasters. They also said the director should be an experienced emergency manager.
White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also was expected to discuss parts of her upcoming review about the federal response to Katrina.
In its rush to provide Katrina disaster aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasted millions of dollars and overpaid for hotel rooms, including $438-a-day lodging in New York City, government investigators said Monday.
Meanwhile, two other reports released by the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department's office of inspector general detail a series of accounting flaws, fraud or mismanagement in their initial review of how $85 billion in federal aid is being spent.
The two audits found that up to 900,000 of the 2.5 million applicants who received aid under FEMA's emergency cash assistance program — which included the $2,000 debit cards given to evacuees — were based on duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers, or false addresses and names.
Thousands of additional dollars appear to have been squandered on hotel rooms for evacuees that were paid at retail rather than the contractor's lower estimated cost. They included $438 rooms in New York City and beachfront condominiums in Panama City, Fla., at $375 a night, according to the audits.
The two audits were released by the Senate Homeland Security Committee as the panel wrapped up its investigation into the federal government's preparation and response to the disaster.
The FEMA changes follow the results of a House inquiry that found unheeded warnings, poor planning and apathy in recognizing the scope of Katrina's destruction led to the slow emergency response from the White House down to local parishes.
The House GOP report said the federal government's response to Katrina was marked by "fecklessness, flailing and organizational paralysis."
The House findings mark the first of two congressional inquiries and a White House review of the storm response expected over the next six weeks.
Among the planned changes at FEMA:
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
