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December 6, 2009

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Editorial: Chertoff’s failure during Katrina

Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

Michael Brown, the disgraced former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has borne the brunt of the criticism of the government's catastrophically inept response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Nevertheless, there were other officials who were just as culpable in the federal government's abysmal handling of Katrina.

On Wednesday a preliminary report by Congress' watchdog arm, the Government Accountability Office, found that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff took too long to comprehend the magnitude of what was occurring in the hours after Katrina made landfall in New Orleans.

The GAO added that Chertoff or an official "directly responsible and accountable" to the president should have been designated to oversee the government's response.

Based on this latest finding, we believe it is even more incumbent on Congress to press forward in its attempt to stop the stonewalling by the Bush White House, which is refusing to turn over internal Katrina documents to congressional committees investigating the handling of the disaster.

What exactly is the White House hiding, anyway?

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