Yet Another 'Can't Make This Stuff Up' Moment

By now you've probably heard about the fake press conference the guys at FEMA staged last week. During the height of the California wildfires, they had stuff they wanted to get out, but for reasons that remain unclear, rather than actually having a press conference, they announced a press conference that no one had time to actually go to, set up a phone line for reporters to listen in on, and then had FEMA staffers pretend to be reporters, asking prescripted questions and getting prescripted answers.

Once word of this got out, even Skeletor, er, Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff, had to criticize the action. It was soon clear that, as they say, heads would roll.

FEMA announced the news conference at its Southwest Washington headquarters about 15 minutes before it was to begin Tuesday afternoon, making it unlikely that reporters could attend. Instead, FEMA set up a telephone conference line so reporters could listen.

In the briefing, parts of which were televised live by cable news channels, Johnson stood behind a lectern, called on questioners who did not disclose that they were FEMA employees, and gave replies emphasizing that his agency's response to this week's California wildfires was far better than its response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

"It was absolutely a bad decision. I regret it happened. Certainly . . . I should have stopped it," said John P. "Pat" Philbin, FEMA's director of external affairs. "I hope readers understand we're working very hard to establish credibility and integrity, and I would hope this does not undermine it."

Ordinarily, for someone involved in public affairs, particularly one on a mission to establish credibility and integrity for one's organization, being involved in a memorable press fraud would be a career-limiting error.

Not so in the George W. Bush administration.

Philbin's last scheduled day at FEMA was Thursday. He has been named as the new head of public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI spokeswoman Vanee Vines said.

Apparently the DNI was impressed by the style of Mr. Philbin's efforts on behalf of credibility and integrity. (It should fit in smoothly with his Congressional testimony strategy.)

Update: Or maybe not.

"We do not normally comment on personnel matters," DNI spokesman Ross Feinstein said Monday. "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."

Feinstein said earlier that Philbin's job change had been put on hold while McConnell reviewed his record.

According to Feinstein, Philbin had been offered the job before the FEMA event.