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Chertoff Vows to 'Re-Engineer' Preparedness
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Instead, Chertoff denied Brown's assertions, made last month to the House panel, that department budget and personnel cuts led to "the emaciation of FEMA." Chertoff said that from 2001 to 2005, FEMA's "core" budget grew 28 percent, to $447 million, and its staff 19 percent, to 2,445.
With support from department agencies such as the Coast Guard, Chertoff said, "FEMA has better resources, and . . . it brings more to the table now than it did in the previous five, six, seven years."
If the department fell down, it was "largely in the area of planning" for ultra-catastrophes, he said, which will be consolidated.
Brown testified that he pressed the White House to urge "dysfunctional" Louisiana and New Orleans leaders to order mandatory evacuations earlier before the storm hit. But Chertoff said, "I did not have a problem dealing with state and local officials."
He added, "Let me put it this way: Michael Brown didn't call me. I didn't speak to him prior to Sunday [Aug. 28] and have him tell me that he was having a problem with the governors."
Chertoff said he was unable to reach Brown the day after the storm hit until nearly 8 p.m.
"We now know that [FEMA's] capabilities were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the storm," he said.
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House investigation, said that despite criticism of FEMA and Brown, Chertoff and his department "have primary responsibility for managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster."
Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), one of four Democrats who participated in the GOP hearing despite a boycott by party leaders who are demanding an independent commission, called Chertoff "overconfident." The hearing, he said, "further confirms my belief that [FEMA] should have a Cabinet-level position" equal to the department.
Staff writers William Branigin and Ceci Connolly and researcher Don Pohlman contributed to this report.
