Did FEMA Name a Fake Press Conference Scapegoat?

Bloggers are suggesting that something may smell fishy, and more people may be accountable for what happened.

FEMA's Pat Philbin Photo: FEMA

(SALEM, Ore.) - Heads are beginning to roll over FEMA's recent "fake" press conference last week. As it turned out, all of the people who appeared to be reporters were actually FEMA employees posing as reporters.

Pat Philbin, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's External Affairs Director, was slotted to become Director of Public Affairs for National Intelligence. But Philbin lost that appointment today after it was announced that he was the person behind the fake news conference.

FEMA's Director David Paulison, who is taking plenty of heat over the matter, appears to be flying above the flames, but the same does not hold true for Philbin, who has reportedly claimed full responsibility for the embarrassing event on October 23rd that did nothing to restore faith in an federal agency that failed to handle the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

With regard to Philbin's loss of the promotion, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's office issued this statement Monday, "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."

As Philbin wears the blame for putting on the show, some Internet blogs are already speculating over what really happened. ConnieTalk.com pointed to how Pat Philbin's bio page "is suddenly now missing from FEMA's website, and he's missing from the list of FEMA leaders completely."

The site suggests that something may smell fishy.

"When things like this happen, don't you just assume that they're making one person the scapegoat, like CBS did to Dan Rather? When there's a phony news conference by the FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, we expect more than one head to roll! Something is seriously messed up here.

I highly doubt that the fake press thing was all the brainchild of one man, Pat Philbin."

But it is reported that Philbin is among FEMA's own employees who played the part of reporters and raised those soft and gratuitous questions to deputy administrator, Harvey Johnson that nobody will soon forget, about FEMA's response to Southern California's wildfires. Knowing that one fact alone, it sounds like his innocence could only be partial at best.