Brownie No Longer Doing a Heck of a Job

He's still the FEMA director, but he's off the Katrina case.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, government sources said Friday.

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Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who earlier this week was named his deputy to oversee relief and rescue efforts.

Brown is a very unpopular person right now, and a symbol of the incompetent federal response to Katrina. Bush can't fire him outright — that would be to admit that mistakes were made. But the Administration can try to get him off the TV and away from reporters for a while. And in a couple of months, once the firestorm of criticism has died down, I predict that Brown will be allowed to resign and spend more time with his family. Until then, of course, Brown goes back to doing what he has been doing — planning for the next disaster.

One of the problems with being unable to admit mistakes or accept responsibility in cases like this is that it constrains the remedial actions that can be taken. It's probably a good thing that somebody else will be managing the ground operation on the Gulf coast, but that's not the only problem that needs to be dealt with.

It is worth remembering that Brown's inexperience and poor planning magnified the impact of this catastrophe, and allowing him to continue at that job is a mistake — possibly a very costly one. Now that FEMA has been authorized to spend $50 billion for disaster relief and reconstruction, leaving Brown in charge of the agency makes even less sense.

But nothing about the Administration's response to this crisis has made much sense, so at least they're being consistent.