FEMA head sidelined from relief operation

MICHAEL BROWN, director of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has been removed from his role managing relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and is returning to Washington.

Mr Brown, under fire for the Bush administration's slow response, will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts. Mr Brown's new assignment was not immediately known.

Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort which has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, he said after a long pause: "By the press, yes. By the president, no."

Mr Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he has been the primary official overseeing the federal response to the disaster, according to two federal officials who declined to be identified before the change was announced.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in Baton Rouge, announced the personnel shift yesterday evening.

Democrats and state and local officials have been urging Mr Brown be fired for days. As recently as last Friday, however, Mr Bush said on a visit to the hurricane area: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

On Thursday, questions were raised about whether Mr Brown padded his CV to highlight his previous emergency management background.

Less than an hour before the removal came to light, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Mr Brown had not resigned and the president had not asked for his resignation.

Mr McClellan avoided directly answering if the president had full confidence in Mr Brown.

"We appreciate all those who are working round the clock, and that's the way I would answer it," he said.

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

Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane, devastated New Orleans and other communities along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the south-eastern US.

US Congress has approved over $62 billion (€50bn) in emergency aid so far, and costs are expected increase dramatically.

FEMA, the federal government's lead disaster management agency, has been accused of poor planning, a lethargic response and delaying rapid deployment of aid from the US and abroad once the magnitude of the damage became apparent.

There were recent signs that Mr Brown's status was about to change. When US Vice-President Dick Cheney received a briefing in New Orleans yesterday on recovery efforts by FEMA and other governmental agencies, it was Adm Allen who led the briefing, not Mr Brown.

Although Mr Brown was present at least during part of Mr Cheney's visit, he was not seen publicly with the vice-president.