Called to account: Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, the nation's top risk manager, looks back on mistakes made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He says his Homeland Security Department is prepared for the 2006 hurricane season

Risk & Insurance, April 15, 2006 by Cyril Tuohy

Tim Russert: Have you ever considered stepping down?

Michael Chetoff: Well, like everybody else who is serving in the Cabinet, I serve at the pleasure of the president and when I took the job I knew that we had a lot of work to do. I was aware of the fact that something might happen, whether it was a manmade or a terrorist event. I continue to serve at the pleasure of the president. I think my responsibility is to try to fix the department and as long as the president wants me to do that I'm going to continue to stay on the job.

TR: Sen. Joe Lieberman at the hearings said this: "Our conclusion is that the Dept. of Homeland Security had a responsibility to lead the preparation response to Hurricane Katrina and let us down. We've invested billions of dollars in the department and had the capabilities to prepare for and respond to Katrina and didn't use them. As a result a lot of people suffered and unfortunately a lot of people died." Does that haunt you?

MC: It does haunt me. It's not the criticism because obviously some of the criticism is helpful. Some of it I don't agree with. But what does stick with me is the image of people who unnecessarily suffered because of delays in getting them evacuated. There were some tremendous success stories. I actually was very worried the first couple of days about rescues. I was worried about how are you going to get thousands and tens of thousands of people who are trapped in attics out of those attics. There, the U.S. Coast Guard and other parts of the department performed magnificently. But in the evacuation we really fell short and I think that's certainly something which I will always carry with me and something that I'm determined to fix, particularly as we come into hurricane season this year.

TR: When you were last on (the show) a few days after the hurricane began, you said that the levees were breached early Tuesday morning. We know now that it was around Monday morning at 8:30 that people were first notified the levees had been breached. Why were you out of the loop?

MC: What I said was that they had been breached overnight, Monday night and we now know that the levees began to be breached Monday morning. The principal levee that had been breached, 17th Street, we still haven't pinpointed the exact time of the breach. This was really the biggest failure, I think, was the inability to get ground troops from New Orleans. The fact that we didn't have assets on the ground, trained people and proper equipment to immediately send back messages about what was going on. That's one thing we've already begun to fix.

TR: But FEMA knew on Monday morning that the levee had been breached. I was somewhat taken aback by this testimony from Michael Brown before the Senate question: "You're telling us that a conversation directly with Secretary Chertoff would not have produced any kind of worthwhile result?" Brown: "No, it would have wasted my time."

MC: I think that was a big mistake on Mike Brown's part. We had the ability to bring in all kinds of assets of the department. The Sunday before the hurricane struck I sat in on a video conference and ... at the end I asked: Is there anything you need from us? I was told "we've got everything we need." And ... I was told the Dept. of Defense was sitting at the table and they were engaged. I think that had we gotten earlier notice we could have done more to help.

TR: The Thursday of the hurricane, you began to have your doubts about FEMA and its leadership. The very next day the president came down to the Gulf region. The president is saying he (Mike Brown) is doing "a heck of a job:" The night before you're saying "I don't think the guy is up to it." Why didn't you tell the president?

MC: I do think the context of that remark is that Brown had been up for practically every night for the last few days. Whatever my judgment was about whether his skills were matched to the challenge, I think certainly everybody believed at that point he was doing his best. This is really an effort to kind of buck the troops up, recognize the fact that everybody was really exhausted and working hard. The fact is, we were still very much in the middle of the event and we needed to keep people's spirits up.

TR: Was it an attempt to spin the American people? Things on the ground were in such stark (contrast) to what the official pronouncements coming out of the government were?

MC: When you're in a disaster and you look people in the eyes, you see how they are working their hearts out. Even if they haven't done the job that you wish they could have done, as a human matter you want to reach out and pat them on the back, you want to buck them up. I don't think that's the time to start to engage in finger pointing and giving brutal assessments about people's performance.

TR: Taxpayers are very concerned about where their money's going. There have been a series of reports this week about some of the federal money that was spent on Katrina. The Government Accountability Office said this: "The government squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid including handing $2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony social security numbers, recipients who improperly used their debit cards intended for food and shelter for $400 massages, a $450 tattoo, a $1,100 diamond engagement ring and $150 worth of products at "Condoms to Go." How does that happen?