Homeland Security: Timing is everything in FEMA reform battle
In the latest chapter in what is turning out to be a classic Washington message war, U.S. News has learned that Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, plans to announce next Monday a slate of reforms he has planned for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The timing is significant, congressional sources say, because Chertoff is slated to testify the next day before a Senate panel investigating the government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina. That hearing, titled "Hurricane Katrina: The Homeland Security Department's Preparation and Response," will not be affected by Chertoff's announcement, however.
"It looks like he's trying to change the focus of the hearing," Sen. Susan Collins, who heads the committee, told U.S. News, "but we aren't going to let him."
Chertoff, who didn't respond to a letter from Collins's committee asking him to hold off on FEMA reforms until he heard the input of Congress, was set to brief Collins's committee and the House Homeland Security Committee on his planned reforms late this week. He'll also face a tough assessment of his performance during the storm when a select committee in the House investigating Katrina reports its own findings next Wednesday.
Even Republicans on that committee are angry and frustrated with Chertoff and FEMA's performance. Said one highly placed GOP source on the committee, "We're going to tear the guy a new one."