Pat Philbin who is FEMA’s external affairs director was supposed to take his new position as the public affairs director at the National Intelligence Agency for Director Mike McConnell. But today, Mike McConnell stated: “We do not normally comment on personnel matters. However, we can confirm that Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs for the office of the director of national intelligence.”
According to FEMA Director David Paulison, Pat Philbin sent an e-mail claiming full responsibility of the fake news conference last week. As part of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA created the faux news conference on Tuesday addressing the handling of the wildfires going on in Southern California. In a phone call to CNN, David Paulison gave an apology that something like this would never happen again.
He added that some FEMA employees will undergo disciplinary actions as a result of this incident.
Recently, FEMA has received praise in responding to the California wildfires. But this came after immense criticism after the handling of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. The head of the DHS has already criticized FEMA for the fake news conference and plans to take action.
Michael Chertoff the Secretary of Homeland Security called the fake news conference dumb and inappropriate.
Amidst of what’s going on, it is certain that Pat Philbin will not be filling the new post at the National Intelligence Agency.