Chertoff Resignation Rumors Make the Rounds 
"In the aftermath of the public revelation of the presidential 'teleconference' and mounting criticism of the performance of Michael Chertoff, Administration sources told Human Events today that the secretary of Homeland Security has 'only a few days left' in the Bush Cabinet." Said one source: "They will give him a little time so it won't hurt his reputation too much, but he's probably got only a few days left."As Ex-FEMA Director Michael Brown calls for Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff's resignation, rumors are making the rounds that Brown just might get his wish.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff "suddenly canceled his keynote speech at an American Bar Association conference in San Francisco, fueling speculation that he was about to resign." A Department of Homeland Security spokesman dismissed the rumor, claiming Chertoff "had to change his schedule because of urgent preparations for a Friday trip to San Antonio, Texas" to meet with government officials in Mexico.
Of course the fire has been stoked by two recent media revelations:
2) A tape recently obtained by the AP somewhat vindicated Katrina Fall Guy Michael Brown, shifting the blame back toward Bush and Chertoff -- and Brown is not staying quiet about it:
[Michael] Brown has blamed the poor federal response on the dysfunctional structure of the Department of Homeland Security, which became FEMA's parent agency when DHS was established in 2003."It appears to me that, you know, when Chertoff does things like tells me that I've got to go to Baton Rouge and plop my butt down on a seat in Baton Rouge and run a disaster from there, I think that shows naiveté about how disasters are run," Brown told CNN. "And you've either have to get with it, or move on."
Asked whether Chertoff should be dismissed, Brown said, "Well, I think so." He said FEMA had been "marginalized" by Chertoff and his predecessor, Tom Ridge, and that he had expected the agency's performance to suffer.
"I had been screaming internally that the budget cuts, the personnel cuts and what they were doing within Homeland Security was in effect marginalizing FEMA, and I predicted that at some point -- in a very specific memo to both Tom Ridge and to Chertoff -- that at some point, FEMA would fail," Brown said. "I just didn't expect to be in the middle of the failure."
The White House has stood behind Chertoff, who became Homeland Security secretary in February 2005. President Bush said Tuesday Chertoff was doing "a fine job."
But a House committee that investigated the response to Katrina criticized Chertoff for waiting two days after the storm hit to activate a national response plan -- and for naming Brown to lead the federal response, even though he was not trained to take on that role.
In testimony before a Senate committee in February, Brown said communicating with the White House through Chertoff was a waste of time and graded Chertoff's performance a C-minus.
Just a rumor.
KEYWORDS: Michael Chertoff, Michael Brown, FEMA, Rumor, Hurricane Katrina
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