At least Chertoff admits that the staged FEMA interview was one of the “dumbest” things he’s seen:

Chertoff, meanwhile, lashed into his own employees for staging a phony news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The agency arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of reporters Tuesday and question Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr., the deputy director, about assistance to victims of wildfires in Southern California.

“I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government,” Chertoff said. “I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment.”

Asked specifically if he planned to fire anyone at FEMA, which is part of his department, Chertoff declined to say, citing personnel rules.

“There will be appropriate discipline,” he told reporters.

Whoever Adm. Johnson’s press secretary (or equivalent) is needs to be fired, don’t you think? I wonder what he meant by “in Anglo-Saxon prose?”

Oh, and the article is worth a read, as it’s actually about New York adopting a new, “more secure” driver’s license, including an ID card that is available to illegal immigrants. Sure to be controversial, and not just on the illegal immigration front. You can find out more about the problems with the REAL ID mandates at Schneier’s place. It’s not good policy because it’s not actually going to make us more secure.