From its inception, DHS was a corruption of fundamental American values.

[BaronChocula]

12. republicans are an organizational mess

W inherited a FEMA that had received high grades and then weakened it in a panicky merger of agencies in the name of better coordination. And then came Hurricane Katrina. Michael Brown, a former commissioner of a Arabian horse registry association (who resigned following a slew of ethics scandals - yeah, horses) had been named the head of FEMA. Brown was scapegoated for the failed response While his boss, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff avoided the same fate.Brown was assumed to be incompetent and he probably was, but we never got to see the depth of his incompetence because Chertoff gave him no independence or tools with which to do his job.

All that talk about coordinating responses blew up in republican faces with their first test big test post-9/11.