[Vision2020] Ex-FEMA Chief to Launch Disaster Preparedness Firm

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (November 25, 2005) Chicago Tribune at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0511250126nov25,1,7229619
.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Just when you thought you've heard it all.

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Ex-FEMA chief to launch disaster preparedness firm

Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published November 25, 2005

DENVER, COLORADO -- Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, heavily criticized
for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster
preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that
cost him his job.

"If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in
their homes and better prepared in their businesses--because that goes
straight to the bottom line--then I hope I can help the country in some
way," Brown told the Rocky Mountain News for its Thursday editions.

Brown said officials need to "take inventory" of what's going on in a
disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid appearing unaware of how
serious a situation is.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, critics complained about Brown's lack of
formal emergency management experience and e-mails that later surfaced
showed him as out of touch with the extent of the devastation.

He admits that while he was head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
mistakes were made in the response to Katrina. He also said he had been
planning to quit before the hurricane hit.

"There's an incredible need for individuals and businesses to understand how
important preparedness is," he said.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will
stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving
path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so
far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

- Sir Winston Churchill