FEMA Director: Mike Brown

No. 3 Mike Brown (Director): Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

In the midst of New Orleans post-Katrina crisis, the former FEMA director, Mike Brown, abruptly resigned after becoming the subject of considerable criticism for the agency’s slow response to storm damage. Two weeks after his resignation, Brown continued to receive payments of his $148,000 salary, after being asked to stay on the payroll in order to manage the transition to new leadership and determine what went wrong with the agency’s response to Hurricane Katrina.