Actually, Chertoff was U.S. Attorney for NJ when I worked for Senator Bradley -- he seemed pretty good. In fact, he was the one U.S. Attorney that Clinton kept on, for a while, because he was doing some major corruption investigations. He became more of a partisan hack a little later, but the resume is solid -- at least on law enforcement. Now he's got plenty of things within DHS that he's not at all qualified to oversee, like FEMA and the immigration service, but that's part of the problem of DHS -- who could oversee all that?

A professional qualifications review exists for lawyers when nominated for certain judgships. Is there anything remotely comparable in emergency world? 

Are there  professional associations for emergency management, first responders, OSHA folks, etc.?
To what extent do members have to meet qualifications?
What is the standing of current federal, state, and local officials dealing with Katrina emergency or coming emergencies?

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stories about FEMA Director Michael Brown's padded resume were being released for the sole purpose of giving some cover to the White House in firing him:

Hah, fabulous theory. But beware of giving the office of too much credit for competence on the press manipulation thingie!

Look at all the reporters they put on the Time Magazine piece I posted here.

What it really reminds me of now that you have planted the thought in my brain is the Koran/toilet/Issikof thing!

I wonder if it's gotten like a "double-dare you" schoolyard thing. You want us/don't want us to print something? Whatever you're interested in, we're really really really interested in.

Frankly gang..I have a bit of pity for these shlubs, and others who found themselves in great jobs with the prez. From their point of view it must have seemed "fat city" and when it hit the fan there was no place to hide (that is really bush's fault, not all their's). In like fashion military men siding with bush must have a sinking feeling about their own resumes. What should be the pinnacle, must be added in the lower case.

          &nbsp ;          &nbs p;          &nb sp;          &n bsp;  Q
 

I don't believe so, but I could be wrong. The question I want addressed is what type of security clearance does Brown have? I would think an extensive background check would have been run by the FBI and the White House itself would have vetted him. I mean how did he get this position?

PREPARED OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LIEBERMAN  (Chairman of the Committee, 2002 FEMA nomination hearings for Michael Brown)  

...

I am glad the President has nominated someone already familiar with FEMA's mission to become Deputy Director. Mr. Brown is currently General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of the agency, a position he has held since February of 2001. Before joining the Bush Administration, I note from his resume, he served as executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors in Denver. In the early 1980s, Mr. Brown served as staff director of the Oklahoma Senate's Finance Committee, while serving on the Edmund, Oklahoma, City Council. He ran for Congress in the sixth district, and, in what I think is particularly useful experience, early in his career, was assistant city manager in Edmond, with responsibility for police, fire and emergency services.

...

Mr. Brown, you have extensive management experience. For this job, you will need it. You will need to redouble FEMA's strengths, strengthen its weaknesses, and work with the reorganization effort to allow a seamless transition that only enhances our government's emergency response network.

I have to defend Lieberman a little bit, though I bow to no man in my visceral dislike of the man.  The hearings were pro forma, unsurprisingly, and the language quoted specifically states that Lieberman is relying on the resume supplied by Brown.  Brown was massively unqualified to become General Counsel of FEMA, but at the time of the hearings perfunctorily chaired by Lieberman, Brown had in fact been General Counsel and -- I believe -- COO of FEMA for a year and a half.  At that point the question is competance, best judged by those who had worked with him, rather than experience.

The real outrage is that FEMA's mission, which is as pure a Federal mission as can be imagined, was subject to the anti-government (and pro-profit-making opportunities) ideology of the Bushies in general.

Actually, Spencer Ackerman was the author.

Mark Schmidt wrote:

"It is a little shocking that none of the Senators who participated in the 42-minute confirmation hearing that Laura Rozen linked to yesterday made any note that even Brown's padded resume was empty of any actual disaster management, or any management at all at any level above that of a very small city a quarter century ago!

"And the liability now should rest entirely with the White House. They were not tricked into hiring someone who lied about his qualifications. They made the appointment with a total lack of interest in any qualification other than loyalty, and as this article suggests, may have been complicit in the exaggeration."

OBSERVATION:

I'm sorry, but the first sentence of the second paragraph does not follow from the previous paragraph. It is not just "shocking" that the Senate in its advice and consent role did not question Brown's qualifications. Sadly, the fact that the Senators -- Democratic Senators -- did not question the qualifications makes them complicit in the malfeasance of appointing him.

There is a lesson in this: If you don't make a stink about a calamitously poor nominee, you help pave the way for a calamitous outcome AND you forfeit standing to complain about the nominee's contribution to that outcome later.

Sure, the preponderance of the blame lies with the president and his team -- but not all of it.

From the earliest hours when it became clear that the administration's  performance was criminally incompetent, it's seemed like Brownie has been their designated scapegoat.  He was the one thrown into the news show snakepit when media talking heads finally pulled off their kid gloves.  Watching Ted Koppel reaming him on Nightline, you got the feeling that if the camera would back out a little you'd be able to see the vultures circling.  Meanwhile, Chertoff was a half-step behind George as he made the rounds of aid station/TV stage sets on the Gulf Coast.  I hope Brown's job performance, which is pretty much on par with the rest of this bunch, doesn't distract attention from the top-to-bottom corruption and incompetence this crisis has illuminated.

I agree that Ds in the Senate did a lousy job on this nomination, which should surprise no one, because they've done a generally lousy job, as a pathetic excuse for an opposition party throughout the past four-and-a-half years.  And I agree that Ds who've voted to confirm Bush nominees because . . . well, because . . . well . . . just because, that's all! are in a bit of a bind, now.  

I'd like to raise a different question, though.

Do all the folks who've spent the last four-and-a-half years admonishing anyone in the Democratic Party who showed any disposition to, like, actually oppose the other side on anything, do all these folks "forfeit standing to complain" about the shortcomings of congressional Ds?

It's interesting to consider how thorough - and quick - this administration can be when they want to 'vet' (i.e., discredit) an opponent.  How long did it take them to get the skinny on Ambassador Wilson? Richard Clarke?

My hope is that the current press interest in Mr. Brown's lack of qualifications may lead them to do more reporting on the PPCC modus operandi of the Bush admministrations - both of them.  By 'PPCC' I mean political patronage / crony capitalism.  Kevin Phillips' book "American Dynasty" will fill in the details, but we all know the story - loyalty is more important than competence.

what other agency?

how about the department of justice?

FEMA may be a part of some lowercase "new deal," but it has nothing to do with the FDR New Deal. 

FEMA was created through Executive Order 12148, by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

In other news...
If you have nothing better to do on a Friday night, here is a 2002 CRS report discussing the question of whether FEMA should be part of DHS. Some interesting history in there.

Here's one for you Mark.

The Assistant Secretary for the Energy Department's Office of Environment, Safety and Health, who's mission is in part "to ensure that environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex is achieved in a safe and environmentally-sound manner" is one John Spitaleri Shaw, who's previous experience consists of having worked with the law firm Patton Boggs LLP in Washington, D.C. and having been Majority Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

I am often puzzled why anyone would even consider the possibility that political appointees in various departments are either unqualified or appointed for purely ideological reason (in other words, they are cooky). With the Bush administration, it has never been a possibility. It has always been reality. The lawyers come from the Federalist Society (and various Republican campaigns), but that is almost to be expected. All other "experts" come from the Heritage Foundation--where they have no credentials other than being promoted as "eminent scholars" by similarly incompetent "experts" who expect identical payback (or support for promotion, when their time comes). The NEA, NEH, ED, NIH, etc., are stacked with members of the National Association of Scholars. Take a look at pages for their various local chapters to get an idea of what the organization is about (or browse their journal Academic Questions). When you see a professor from some local university place a letter or a column in a local newspaper complaining about grade inflation, affirmative action, global warming fatalists, etc., you can bet your rear that the writer is a member of the NAS (and, no, the choice of the acronym was not accidental). Rod Paige was not an NAS member, to the best of my knowledge--even these loons recognize that he was no scholar--but he was brought in by the Heritage Foundation. However, most of the undersecretaries, deputies and department heads were NAS members. Eight of the top ten appointees and hires at the NEH are NAS members.

 These organizations are all well connected and coordinated. Their members know each other or know of each other sufficiently to nominate each other blindly. I know some people who were offered help in getting federal jobs simply for being members of the organizations (their political leanings are not in line with those who were doing the offering, but they kept membership in the organizations just to keep tabs on these people).

The fraud does not stop with the self-promotion and mutual promotion. Once they get a stranglehold on federal departments, they channel the tax dollars to their friends and like-minded fraudsters. Take a closer look at the ED funding over the past five years and you will find a radical shift from research projects and actual student support projects to departmental self-promotion, including sending millions of dollars to "independent" groups whose only goal is to promote the current ED agenda. Other departments may be less blatant simply because their funding schemes are different, but eventually much of the disbursed money can be traced to a bunch of incompetent boobs promoting the neo-con agenda.

 This bunch is rotten top to bottom. There is not one level where there is no fraud or pilfering. Propping up the propaganda is by far a higher priority than doing public good. And any leak results in a cover up of Watergate proportions--in fact, the cover up is often done by people with Watergate experience ;-)

Naturally, I meant "add" not "ass" the night clubs.  But, whatever works.

Possibly small potatoes, except in the world of sport, Brown's claim, repeated by Sen. Nighthorse Campbell during the circle jerk of a confirmation hearing, that the IAHA was part of the IOC, International Olympic Committee, is out-effing-rageous.
It would be like a Boy Scout leader saying his troop was part of the 82nd Airborne.
My hope is that the FEI, the actual overseer of all things equine and Olympic, http://www.horsesport.org/, and a tightly run ship powered by whip carrying, black-booted badasses with strong accents and perfect English, release a statement sometime soon.
Tried to embed website. Failed. Sorry.

Just to continue the thought...

 Robert Bork and Abigail Thernstrom are prominent members of the NAS. Bork joined a few years ago--the Bork Barbeque, as someone had referred to his confirmation hearings, took place before the group was founded. On the other hand, Thernstrom rose from anonymity to a federal position (she's on the Civil Rights Commission along with two other NAS members) entirely due to NAS (and being married to another prominent conservative "scholar"). She did not have a career until becoming the chair of Massachusetts NAS chapter. Since then, she moved through several minor positions to the Massachusetts Board of Education, followed by the W appointment to the Civil Rights Commission.

 Thernstrom friend and successor at the top of the Massachusetts chapter, Sandra Stotsky, mirrored Thernstrom career move by taking the chairmanship of the same chapter. Both also were also "visiting scholars" at Boston University, sponsored by one of the conservative foundations, and both were repeatedly turned down for faculty appointments at various universities. Like Thernstrom, Stotsky went throught the Massachusetts Department of Education, but, unlike Thernstrom, she was hired to do actual work at the DOE as a deputy commissioner--a position for which she was absolutely unqualified (especially by temperament). She also was a traveling salesman for the HF proxy Fordham Foundation vision of state standards--Republican governors and education commissioners in several states hired her to "review" and pan state standards, including Pennsylvania and Minnesota. This proved to be her undoing, however. One ultraconservative orgaization hired Stotsky to review the Texas standards and testing. As she did in all other states, Stotsky panned the setup. The problem was that the governor of the state was a ceirtain Republican whose family name rhymes with douche. Karl Rove has a long memory. Any hopes of Stotsky joining the Education Deparment under Rod Paige were dashed by that one little document that offered a critical vision of the Texas Miracle. OOOPS!

Another member of the NAS fraternity is Harvey "C-minus" Mansfield. Harvey Mansfield has long been known for his outrageous comments about grade inflation at Harvard--an opinion that was largely dismissed as quackery. However, with the rise of the dictatorial regime of Larry Summers, Harvard was encouraged by other NAS members to look into the grade inflation claims. Other NASers made similar claims first about other Ivy League schools, then about the university system in general. They brought the issue into vogue by recruiting unscrupulous reporters. Grade inflation charted a rather bright path in the sky a couple of years ago and is still pursued by some NASers. However, the press has had its fill of the issue--it's just not sexy enought. Besides, when some of the loons bring it up as a consequence of affirmative action and open admission policies (Mansfield shines in this area as well), reporters start thinking twice about jeopardizing their careers for someone else's issue.

William Bennett is also an NASer, but his connection to the Heritage Foundation (HF) is far more important. More to the point, Bennett blabbed a not-so-well kept secret in his biography describing his stint at the NEH. According to Bennett, his nomination was on life support until he had a conversation with Edwin Feulner.

As Bennett relays the story, Feulner suggested that Bennett become familiar with the Heritage Foundation (Feulner is its President). Bennett's reply was that not only was he familiar with it, he wrote a paper for HF with Edwin Delattre (occasionally mistakenly referred to as "Edward"). Bennett's confirmation was a smooth sailing from that point forward.

Similar stories follow Linda Chavez--a former union busy body turned "labor expert" for HF. You may remember Linda Chavez for developing a "nanny problem" during the confirmation process for 2001 cabinet appointment. She was instead replaced by another HFer Elaine Chao, who also happens to be the wife of a prominent Republican Senator.

 Another HF-sponsored organization is American Council of Trusties and Alumni. ACTA is the little organization that came out with the McCarthyite Defending Civilization document in the wake of 9-11. The "council" claims one of its goals to be "open-minded" education, but most of its effort has been directed toward closing minds. They also deliver a historical shocker.

ACTA was launched by former National Endowment for the Humanities chairman Lynne V. Cheney, former Governor Richard D. Lamm of Colorado, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, distinguished social scientist David Riesman, Nobel Laureate Saul Bellow and others.

 Note that in this little historical snippet the organization tries to highlight its bipartizanship and intellectual roots. However, scanning the list of current "leaders" one can hardly get the same impression.

 A good souce on connections among this lot is Media Transparency. I wish their data were a bit more up to date. Another somewhat outdated but accurate source is Center for CAMPUS Organizing's small paperback Uncovering the Right on Campus. Although the Center is somewhat disporganized (their URL has been hijacked by a Kansas church group, for example), and the book is hard to find (search for ISBN0945210078), it is a useful source.

Here is a partial list that covers much of the country:

• Another big hurricane in the Gulf or East Coast (of course).
• A terrorist attack anywhere using a nuclear bomb (of course).
• A huge earthquake in Los Angeles or San Francisco (of course).
• A huge earthquake in the Midwest, like the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded in the continental U.S.(magnitude 8.3). The seismic zone is centered just south of Illinois.
• A mega-tsunami caused by the collapse of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands, inundating cities on the East Coast.