Michael Brown Quotes (125 Quotes)

We're finding more and more people coming out of the woodwork, ... They're appearing in places we didn't know they existed.

I hope his physical strength and all will help him deal with whatever heart issues he has.

When I became the director of FEMA a couple of years ago, I decided it was time we did some really serious catastrophic disaster planning. So the president gave me money through our budget to do that. And we went around the country to figure out what's the best model we can do for a catastrophic disaster in this country And we picked New Orleans, Louisiana.

I usually don't go to church much so I get to spend time with God and hang out with friends.

I don't mind the negative press (well, actually, I do, but I try to ignore it) but it is really wearing out the family,

We didn't hear it open, didn't hear him screaming. I guess he rolled over him. We didn't feel a bump or anything. The kids said the door was open. I looked, and he wasn't back there.

was the tipping point for all the other things that either went wrong or were exacerbated.

There is no other government agency that reaches people in a more direct way, ... It has been the best job in the world to help Americans in their darkest hours.

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. That's all I've wanted to do.

His whole life was his family. It's a tragic situation for everyone involved. These two young children, they have no mother, no father and no grandma.

That's something we need to look at because, ... when you have 100,000 folks that either can't get out, they don't have the transportation, we need to work with the cities to make certain there's a way to get those people out or at least put them in areas that can be safe.

I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe.

You don't get anybody that is noncommittal about it - either they adore it or they can't stand it, ... A hundred years from now, somebody's going to look at that and say, Oh my God, that's just as beautiful as a 19th-century building.'

He said FEMA mistakenly paid out a handful of undeserving claims and made some other bureaucratic errors. But he said his agency was trying to engage in a difficult balancing act -- practicing judicious oversight while sending payments to needy hurricane victims as fast as possible. We must never . . . sacrifice that urgency in the pursuit of elusive administrative perfection, ... Our mission to get help quickly to those who desperately need it must take priority, yet be carefully balanced with our obligation to be stewards of taxpayer dollars. . . . FEMA was never stampeded into making any decisions.

It would probably be a significant issue for us if we had deployed Virtual Server in more areas and we didn't have Software Assurance. This is certainly different from Microsoft's traditional model.

We recognize your immediate focus is to provide relief for the hurricane victims in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but hope you will reconsider your denial of individual assistance for our communities.

I understand their frustration and I understand these people are suffering, we are doing everything we can to make sure we take care of them.

There are lots of contests that give away prizes and money, but we wanted a contest that would change someone's life.

20) We just learned of the convention center we being the federal government today. ... Don't you guys watch television Don't you guys listen to the radio Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today.

I understand that there are pockets where people have not gotten the basics, and we're working with the Coast Guard to get those,

They should have had awareness of it because they were receiving the same information that we were.

Having a moon is just inherently cool, and is something that most self-respecting planets have.

With the evacuations firmly underway, recriminations abounded. Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), blamed the city. Mayor Ray Nagin can order an evacuation, ... the resources to get the poor, elderly or the disabled out.

beyond that, it's just too late.

They're a good team -- there's no doubt about that -- but there were a few things that we could have done that would have changed some things,

Brush clearance creates the defensible space that's needed, at least 100 feet surrounding the house. Areas that did burn were not cleared.

We're not a first responder agency. We're there to coordinate and help people prepare and coordinate in times of disaster. And so if the country wants us to be more, then we should have a great public policy debate whether that's true or not,

former official for an Arabian horse association.

At the same time, Shays said, there was a huge void ... became a strict constructionist and didn't want to fill in that void.

There is no question in my mind, that at the highest levels of the White House they understood how grave the situation was.

the single largest mobilization of emergency response and recovery resources in history.

Speaking to Larry King Live ... That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it.

He liked to get into a lot of stuff. When I think about him, I think of his smile and his hair.

We're grateful for the outpouring of support already. But it's important that volunteer response is coordinated by the professionals who can direct volunteers with the appropriate skills to the hardest-hit areas where they are needed most. Self-dispatched volunteers and especially sightseers can put themselves and others in harm's way and hamper rescue efforts.

You see, I get it when it comes to incident command systems, ... I get it when it comes to emergency management. I know what it's all about.

People are getting the help they need, ... This is an ongoing disaster. This disaster didn't just end when Katrina left.

Government does have the right to take properties under eminent domain with caution and responsibility. In this case the tenant had gone out of business and abandoned the property. It is not right for them to get money because they breached the lease.

I know what death and destruction is and I know how much people suffer, ... And it breaks my heart. I pray for these people every night. So don't lecture me about knowing what disaster is like.

My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional.

I can tell you everyone involved in that videotape and in my conversations with the president and with the chief of staff, our concern was always the breach of the levees.

That's why I now have complete cooperation from the military, ... I have everything I need to ramp this up and do what we have to do to secure New Orleans, to take this urban area and make certain it's secure, get people out of here, and start the recovery process.

We believe this decision is in the best interest of our shareholders, customers and employees since it will allow us to create a stronger company and one better able to take advantage of the opportunities in all our business segments,

He's a very busy person and that has always concerned me, that his schedule and his activities were very heavy.

We want to make sure the first time someone straps on a football helmet isn't in August of their freshman year. We've had some youth programming, but it's been piecemeal. With the new plan, we're trying to coordinate this.

He told me he was in his hotel, had chest pains, the normal symptoms. The hotel arranged for an ambulance to come.

These demonstrate weaknesses in management and must be addressed as a matter of good practice.

He's walking in at a very difficult time.

We are meeting every request that we get from the state, ... Late Edition.

TV journalists from ABCs Ted Koppel to CNNs Soledad OBrien and the Fox News Channels Shepard Smith openly challenged the governments performance and in some cases, lit into administration officials. Bush compounded the damage by telling ABCs Diane Sawyer that I dont think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees ... a heck of a job.

He's been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.