Reply #: E-mails show FEMA infighting, frustration

[Judi Lynn]

E-mails show FEMA infighting, frustration
From Jeanne Meserve

Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Posted: 4:01 a.m. EDT (08:01 GMT)
chief Michael Brown defends his job performance during a House hearing in September.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Internal Department of Homeland Security e-mails -- requested by a House select committee investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina and obtained by CNN -- show infighting, gaps in communication and general frustration.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is scheduled to testify before the committee on Wednesday.

There were immediate signs of chafing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of the Gulf landfall of the storm on August 29. FEMA is a division of Homeland Security.

President Bush established the White House Task Force on Hurricane Katrina Response a day later and Chertoff designated Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response -- FEMA chief -- Mike Brown the principle federal officer (PFO), putting him in charge of the relief effort.

Brown perceived it as a step down.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/18/fema.memos/index.html