Flashback Heck of a Job

January 5, 2009

“I'll tell you what we'll do. Next time there's a really big disaster, we'll put you in charge of it.”
Michael Brown, FEMA Director (2003-05), to FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith

Like many epic tales, the Hurricane Katrina Story had a handful of heroes and a fair number of goats. Among the former: 82-year-old Herbert Gettridge, the protagonist of this week's FRONTLINE, The Old Man and the Storm. Among those who perhaps didn't rise to the hero level: well, take your pick from the multiple candidates who turn up in our earlier program, The Storm, which was broadcast in 2005.

Both films are available in their entirety on our website. For a quick peak at the earlier hour, take a look at the excerpt on this page, in which Michael Brown, then head of FEMA, tries to explain his "mis-speaking" to pesky FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith.