Why does Michael Chertoff still have a job?
The Department of Homeland Security is singled out in the report, and Chertoff and the administration have accepted a degree of responsibility. But where’s the accountability, in the form of consequences? As Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says: “The failings of the department are ultimately [Homeland Security Secretary Michael] Chertoff’s fault,” said Thompson, one of several Democrats who would like to see Chertoff fired. “As the report said, there was a failure of his leadership. He was strongly detached … “Now, after the fact, the secretary is saying that the department will put the systems in place to ensure that such a catastrophe does not happen again. Now he’s saying he’ll buy the equipment…It should have been in place already.”2) Why the focus on just the botched relief effort? There were a series of problems that led to Katrina’s destruction, most notably the failure of federal levees that flooded 80% of New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers and the failed levee system are b
