I really don't quite know what to say...
He learned his lessons, and now they're for sale.
Ousted FEMA director Michael Brown plans to make a fresh start in Colorado, selling his expertise on how emergency planning can go very right or very wrong. Brown, who was vilified over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, has formed a consulting firm to help clients avoid the kind of mistakes that sunk his career at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "I think people are curious: 'My gosh, what was it like? The media just really beat you up. You made mistakes. I don't want to be in that situation. How do I avoid that?' "
In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Brown acknowledged key mistakes he made while overseeing the federal response to the hurricane that ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi. He also lashed out at the media and discussed plans to base his fledgling consulting business in the Boulder-Longmont area, where he lived before joining the Bush administration in 2001. "Look, Hurricane Katrina showed how bad disasters can be, and there's an incredible need for individuals and businesses to understand how important preparedness is," he said. "So, if I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses - because that goes straight to the bottom line - then I hope I can help the country in some way." [...]
You know ... thing is, if his Congressional inquisition (and I will certainly concede that those hearings bore relatively little resemblance to a fact finding inquiry) had shown that he understood the mistakes that were made, and had learned anything whatsoever from them, I could kind of understand this sort of consulting business. After all, in the wake of Katrina, somewhere out there, people are doing boom businesses in the major Gulf coast and maybe Atlantic and Northeast cities, talking about, "OK, if a major hurricane or other disaster hits -- and it will -- these are the sorts of things you need to prepare for. You, Miami, what are you going to do if you get hit with another Category 5 hurricane, maybe bigger than Andrew? What do you do when all of your hospitals are damaged or unavailable? You, New York, what do you do when a minor hurricane moves north and swamps all those low-lying islands that you people live on?" Those questions ought to be asked, and answers prepared. Real answers, not just things to tell the press.
So why do I get the feeling that Brown's firm will be more of a media consultancy firm? Not so much "Here's how you prepare for disasters" but "Here's how you prepare for the press after disasters."
Posted by iain at November 28, 2005 01:16 PM
