Turning FEMA Around

[nofurylike]

Has Obama saved the once-maligned federal agency?
By Bradford Plumer
May 28, 2011

http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-e...west-obama

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What’s not too early to ask, however, is how well the government is reacting to these disasters. Back in April, The New York Times sent a reporter down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama—a state where tornadoes have killed more than 250 people—and found that residents generally had upbeat things to say about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency that had been reviled for its bureaucratic bungling after Hurricane Katrina turned New Orleans into a fish tank. “It ain’t like Katrina,” said one homeless resident. “We’re getting help.” So has the Obama administration really turned FEMA around?

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The Hurricane Andrew fiasco was shocking enough to prompt big changes. In 1993, Bill Clinton ended up appointing a head—James Lee Witt—who had actual emergency management experience back in Arkansas. Witt revamped the agency, hired qualified staffers, and shifted money away from preparing for nuclear Armageddon. The agency later won praise for its quick response to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Even Republican Jim Inhofe, no fan of Clinton, hailed Witt’s performance.

But those reforms didn’t last. In 2000, George W. Bush appointed Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA. Allbaugh didn’t have any disaster-management expertise, but he hadhelped run Bush’s campaign. Allbaugh soon testified before Congress that the federal government should scale back its disaster-planning efforts, and, after September 11, FEMA was folded into Homeland Security to focus on terrorism. In 2002, Allbaugh was succeeded by Michael Brown, whose main claim to fame was getting fired as attorney for the International Arabian Horse Association. Not surprisingly, FEMA’s performance during Katrina was a mess: As numerous news stories documented, the agency was slow to react to the crisis and took forever to get buses, water, fuel, and other supplies to affected areas.

So what has Barack Obama done to make the agency better? To his credit, he appointed as head of FEMA Craig Fugate, who had actual relevant experience directing Florida’s emergency-management division. And there are early signs that the agency is improving. Back in 2003, the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, began taking surveys of federal workers, asking questions about morale, whether they have adequate resources, and how able their leaders are. Max Stier, the CEO of Partnership for Public Service, told me that these metrics may not be perfect, but they correlate pretty well with performance in the private sector (many large companies conduct similar surveys to identify problem areas early on). Back in 2003, FEMA ranked dead last among agencies. “Just looking at that, there was a pretty good bet that, when a crisis hit, FEMA wouldn’t be able to deal with it,” says Stier. And now? Since Fugate was appointed, the agency’s scores have risen slightly, especially in employee assessments of the senior leadership. Disaster experts also note that there are a few key things FEMA has done right. After the Alabama tornadoes, for instance, the agency talked to White House officials about getting a federal emergency declaration ready even before Alabama made a formal request to do so. Historically, FEMA has waited for formal requests before mobilizing—a big cause of delays during Katrina.

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[Hekate]

I knew Obama would do it.

It's just a damn shame that an agency like FEMA has to be a political football. It should be be required to be headed by a qualified professional, never another bozo like Brown.

[nofurylike]

(05-28-2011 03:56 AM)Hekate Wrote:  I knew Obama would do it.

It's just a damn shame that an agency like FEMA has to be a political football. It should be be required to be headed by a qualified professional, never another bozo like Brown.

absolutely, Hekate!

when i think how government-sponsored insurance keeps rebuilding oceanfront vacation homes for the wealthy, while they fight to de-fund FEMA and like service programs, and also fight to pay less taxes, IF THEY PAY ANY AT ALL ....

whoa ...

i can not recover from what we have seen.

thank you, Hekate

[Cha]

(05-28-2011 04:42 AM)nofurylike Wrote:  

(05-28-2011 03:56 AM)Hekate Wrote:  I knew Obama would do it.

It's just a damn shame that an agency like FEMA has to be a political football. It should be be required to be headed by a qualified professional, never another bozo like Brown.

absolutely, Hekate!

when i think how government-sponsored insurance keeps rebuilding oceanfront vacation homes for the wealthy, while they fight to de-fund FEMA and like service programs, and also fight to pay less taxes, IF THEY PAY ANY AT ALL ....

whoa ...

i can not recover from what we have seen.

thank you, Hekate

Greed kills..and I don't mean that in a good way.

Karma gonna getcha ya.

A multi-Billion Dollar Corp like GE not paying their taxes doesn't say much for their love of country..

[Cha]

I would expect Pres Obama to appoint the best one for the job available and with all these natural disasters they are getting too much on the job experience!

Good to see the positive response in Alabama..now if we can get help needed in Missouri without Eric Cantor blocking the way.

I have to say that FEMA was a big help in 1992 when the Cat 4 almost a 5 Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai and that was two weeks after Hurricane Andrew in Florida.

[The Capitol Punisher]

Good. Now we need to remind these red staters around the clock that it was a Democrat that saved their asses and a Republican that left them to drown.