Ex-FEMA director , calls for Chertoff's resignation

[Neil D]

[:"blue"] Hmmmmm....can we say someone's a bit testy over this issue? [/]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The former federal emergency director who resigned after the heavily criticized response to Hurricane Katrina admitted Friday that he should have been more forthcoming about problems with the government's response to the storm but faulted the performance of his former boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and called for his resignation.

Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was well aware that his agency was overwhelmed during the immediate aftermath of the storm, he told CNN, but blamed a "beltway" mentality that believes that "the American public can't handle the truth" for not making his concerns about the response public.

"I should have owned up to the public very early in this disaster -- probably on Monday and Tuesday -- that's how catastrophic it was, how serious it was, and that we were going to have problems," Brown said.

"I think we need to get beyond that and just start being honest with the public and telling them exactly what is going on," he added.

Brown resigned from FEMA in September amid intense criticism of his own performance after Katrina, the storm that left more than 1,300 dead in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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