Katrina Truth

Today, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will field tough questions from senators today about how he dealt with Hurricane Katrina.

The nation's emergency management chief should be open, frank and honest. National media has exposed much of the mismanagement onsite and at the national level. This is an opportunity for Secretary Chertoff to take responsibility for the failure of response, failure of FEMA in sending the trailer homes to the displaced people who needed them and complete mismanagement of the millions of tax payer dollars. This is the only viable option that the Secretary has.

The hope is that Mr. Chertoff will not hide behind bureaucratic double-speak and string along blame to the far corners of the relief effort. The American public deserve the respect of Secretary Chertoff and history shows the public is equally forgiving to those who accept honest ownership of mistakes.