A story I just came across on CNN left me absolutely gobsmacked. Well diaried by Uncommon Sense here,
the original story concerned a stunt pulled by inept FEMA press officials who staged a news conference during the recent California wildfires, where actual press outlets and journalists were given only a one-way ability to attend by speakerphone (in "listen only" mode), almost no notice, and were not able to ask questions; instead, FEMA staffers posed as reporters for the record. This is from an agency that was trying to show its newly reorganized self after missteps and fumbles from Katrina.
According to the story, FEMA completed a review of this false press conference, and now Aaron Walker, press secretary for FEMA, has resigned, to take the fall.
What really stunned me was Michael Chertoff's comment about the incident, here below.
I knew FEMA was "owned" by Homeland Security, so I wasn't certain what to expect from Chertoff. This is what he said:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the faux press conference "one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government."
Well.
Serious revisions have been made to the internal "Standard Operating Procedures" banning stupid moves like this from happening again. But with only hacks doing important jobs like protecting our Homeland, what else do you expect?
Full article here. Enjoy!
http://www.cnn.com/...