After President Bush entered office in January 2001 , Brown joined FEMA as general counsel . He was the first person hired by his long-time friend , FEMA director Joe Allbaugh , who also ran Bush 's election campaign in 2000 . Allbaugh later named Brown his acting deputy director in September 2001 . Bush formally nominated him as deputy director on March 22 , 2002 , and the Senate confirmed him many months later after the September 11 attacks recovery effort in New York had subsided . Brown oversaw the recovery efforts for New York and surrounding states with the White House Office of Domestic Policy 's Reuben Jeffery III who later became chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Michael D. Brown