Brown Out As Katrina Relief Leader

The Bush administration dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown as commander of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts Friday, then abruptly scrapped plans to give $2,000 debit cards to displaced storm victims as it struggled to get a grip on the recovery operation.

Brown, who had come to personify a relief operation widely panned as bumbling, will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen. Allen had been in charge of relief, recovery and rescue efforts for New Orleans.

The decision to order Brown back to Washington from Louisiana — he remains as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — marked the administration's latest attempt to assert leadership in the wake of the devastating storm and its aftermath, including the weakest public opinion polls of Bush's time in office.

Still, there was fresh evidence of raggedness in the effort when FEMA announced late in the day that it would discontinue a two-day-old program to issue debit cards worth up to $2,000 to displaced families. Evacuees relocated to Texas, many of whom began receiving cards on Friday, will continue getting them, officials said.

A FEMA spokeswoman says agency officials decided to switch to direct deposits because it requires less staff.

The embattled director of FEMA has been under new fire after his agency has already been criticized heavily for their response. On Thursday, questions were raised about whether he padded his resume to highlight his previous emergency management background.

A government souce said Chertoff made the decision to pluck Brown out of overseeing hurricane efforts, though Chertoff discussed the action with President Bush, who approved, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.

CBS News correspondent John Roberts reports that

Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort that has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: "By the press, yes. By the president, no."

Amid escalating calls for Brown's ouster, the White House had insisted publicly for days that Bush retained confidence in his FEMA chief. But there was no question that Brown's star was fading in the administration. In the storm's early days, Brown was the president's primary briefer on its path and the response effort, but by the weekend those duties had been taken over by Brown's boss — Chertoff.

"Michael Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge," Chertoff told reporters in Baton Rouge, La. Chertoff sidestepped a question on whether the move was the first step toward Brown's leaving FEMA.

But a source close to Brown, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FEMA director had been considering leaving after the hurricane season ended in November and that Friday's action virtually assures his departure.

Senate Democrats said taking away FEMA Director Michael Brown's hurricane responsibilities isn't enough. They want him fired.

The Democrats said Brown doesn't inspire confidence and doesn't have what it takes to coordinate federal, state and local resources. In a letter to President Bush, Democratic leaders said keeping Brown as head of FEMA "endangers the success of the ongoing recovery efforts."

Brown, 50, has headed FEMA since April 2003 and has borne much of the criticism heaped on the Bush administration over its response to Katrina. Though he has overseen the federal response to several hurricanes and other disasters since then, Brown has been criticized for lacking experience needed to manage a catastrophe as large as Katrina.

Time magazine reported on its Web site that there are discrepancies in Brown's White House bio and other resume-type listings that seem to exaggerate his level of experience with disaster management. The Early Show's Hannah Storm

Brown's bio on the FEMA Web site said he oversaw emergency services in Edmond, Okla. But a spokeswoman for the city tells Time that Brown's position was more like an internship.

"[It was] an entry level intern-type job for somebody interested in learning about government," .

A self-reported legal online list claims additionally that Brown had been a professor at a college where he didn't stay beyond completing an undergraduate degree. In a release, FEMA called Time's report "misleading" and "based on information Brown had never seen."

CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports that critics say FEMA's problem is bigger than Mike Brown: His two top deputies also have no emergency management experience. They, like Brown, are there because of their political connections and not their expertise, reports Orr.

Because veterans such as U.S. hurricane specialist Eric Tolbert and World Trade Center disaster managers Laurence W. Zensinger and Bruce P. Baughman have left FEMA since 2003, a "brain drain" of sorts has set in for the agency.

Due to the rapid turnover, three of the five chiefs for natural-disaster FEMA operations are simply "acting" chiefs, the Post reported.

In the midst of all the finger pointing, Americans generally agree that the government responded poorly to the hurricane. According to a poll, 77 percent said the federal government's response was inadequate, while 58 percent disapproved of how Mr. Bush handled the crisis.

The poll also shows that two out of three Americans think the president himself responded too slowly. His leadership rating – usually his strong suit – is the lowest of his presidency, a full 35 points lower than it was after 9/11.

Poll respondents also found state and local government responded inadequately to the disaster.

"Unfortunately, thick in Washington, this whole thing is being politicized, become a political football," Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana told CBS News. "That's really, really unfortunate because it's doing the people of Louisiana a great disservice — another injury, another attack on them."

Also, while Brown was very visibly near the president's side during Bush's first on-the-ground visit to the hurricane zone last week, he remained behind the scenes — with Chertoff out front — when the president went back on Monday.

"I'm anxious to get back to D.C. to correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said," Brown said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Asked if the move was a demotion, Brown said: ``No. No. I'm still the director of FEMA."

He said Chertoff made the decision to move him out of Louisiana. It was not his own decision, Brown said.

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims," Brown said. "This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit and now we have to help these victims."