The man George W. Bush praised as doing a "heck of a job" during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, now says the administration tried to downplay the severity of the massive storm. Mike Brown, the embattled former head of FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), said Friday there was a "disconnect" between what the White House said and the actual situation on the gulf coast.
"There was a mentality in Washington which says you put the best face on everything," Brown said on the "Today" show.
Friday marks the fifth anniversary of the deadly hurricane that killed more than 1,800 people and destroyed parts of New Orleans.
As head of FEMA, Brown became the face of the government's slow relief efforts as victims begged for help. In the midst of the crisis, President Bush infamously heralded Brown's work, saying he was doing a "heck of a job."
He maintained the information his agency gave was accurate, but "we never put it in context."
"I think it's a huge failure of government to fail to trust the American people with the actual facts of what's going on."
Brown spoke alongside Ray Nagin, New Orleans' mayor at the time of Katrina, in the city's Lower Ninth Ward, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm.
Both men believe the country is still not prepared to handle a major hurricane.
"I'm not convinced," Nagin said. "I don't see any major changes that we have done as a country. FEMA has new people, but it still operates pretty much the same."
Brown responded: "The studies have not truly been addressed. And I think the second thing is, the American population hasn't realized what their responsibility is in the midst of a crisis."
