Not a Ringing Endorsement

US Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has, as you probably know, reassigned FEMA director Michael D. Brown to D.C., sending him away from daily coordination Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The New York Times reports:

"Michael Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge," Mr. Chertoff said, accompanied by Admiral Allen and Mr. Brown. "I appreciate his work, as does everybody here."

Those words did not reflect the fierce criticism that Mr. Brown has come under for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and the disastrous flooding that followed, particularly in New Orleans.

Not only that, Chertoff's words don't seem to reflect a ringing endorsement of Brown either.