Chertoff Points Fingers

At least we know where the buck stops at Homeland Security: Anywhere but Mike Chertoff's desk. "I'm no hurricane expert," he kept telling congressional investigators today. It was, he said, somebody else's job to figure out what to do about Katrina and tell him how to do it. Who, exactly? It's politically incorrect to suggest that the state and local officials who were themselves victimized should share in the blame, so Chertoff wouldn't point the figure in their direction. Who does that leave? Brownie the Designated Fall Guy, of course, and also the career officials at FEMA--who apparently are supposed to get the job done despite steady declines in resources, staff and top-level leadership.