“I was appalled to learn today that over 20 agencies were aware of the levee breaches in New Orleans as early as Monday, August 29^th – the day Katrina hit. It is clear that if the Administration knew sooner that our levees had breached, they should have acted sooner.  By providing major federal resources immediately, the Administration could have avoided the major loss of life and property with which our city must now cope.  Obviously, the delay in federal action made the situation much worse.

 “The culture clash Mr. Brown described within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which focuses more on the federal response to terrorist attacks, proves that FEMA no longer has the clout, resources, or capacity to support an appropriate response to natural disasters under DHS.  Brown makes the strongest argument yet that FEMA does not belong in the department.

 “Today’s developments further confirm my belief that our federal emergency management should have a cabinet level position, equal to that of the Department of Homeland Security, and should not be bogged down in another level of bureaucratic red tape.  FEMA’s role in our federal government needs to be revisited immediately.”