Destroying FEMA
By Eric Holdeman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901
445.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A17
SEATTLE -- In the days to come, as the nation and the people along the Gulf
Coast work to cope with the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we
will be reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal agency capable
of dealing with natural catastrophes of this sort. This is an immense human
tragedy, one that will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond the
capabilities of state and local government to deal with. It requires a
national response.
Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why, at this moment, the
country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being,
in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the
Department of Homeland Security.
Apparently homeland security now consists almost entirely of protection
against terrorist acts. How else to explain why the Federal Emergency
Management Agency will no longer be responsible for disaster preparedness?
Given our country's long record of natural disasters, how much sense does
this make?
What follows is an obituary for what was once considered the preeminent
example of a federal agency doing good for the American public in times of
trouble, such as the present.
FEMA was born in 1979, the offspring of a number of federal agencies that
had been functioning in an independent and uncoordinated manner to protect
the country against natural disasters and nuclear holocaust. In its early
years FEMA grew and matured, with formal programs being developed to respond
to large-scale disasters and with extensive planning for what is called
"continuity of government."
The creation of the federal agency encouraged states, counties and cities to
convert from their civil defense organizations and also to establish
emergency management agencies to do the requisite planning for disasters.
Over time, a philosophy of "all-hazards disaster preparedness" was developed
that sought to conserve resources by producing single plans that were
applicable to many types of events.
But it was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992, that really
energized FEMA. The year after that catastrophic storm, President Bill
Clinton appointed James Lee Witt to be director of the agency. Witt was the
first professional emergency manager to run the agency. Showing a serious
regard for the cost of natural disasters in both economic impact and lives
lost or disrupted, Witt reoriented FEMA from civil defense preparations to a
focus on natural disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation. In an effort
to reduce the repeated loss of property and lives every time a disaster
struck, he started a disaster mitigation effort called "Project Impact."
FEMA was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, in recognition of its important
responsibilities coordinating efforts across departmental and governmental
lines.
Witt fought for federal funding to support the new program. At its height,
only $20 million was allocated to the national effort, but it worked
wonders. One of the best examples of the impact the program had here in the
central Puget Sound area and in western Washington state was in protecting
people at the time of the Nisqually earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001. Homes had
been retrofitted for earthquakes and schools were protected from high-impact
structural hazards. Those involved with Project Impact thought it ironic
that the day of that quake was also the day that the then-new president
chose to announce that Project Impact would be discontinued.
Indeed, the advent of the Bush administration in January 2001 signaled the
beginning of the end for FEMA. The newly appointed leadership of the agency
showed little interest in its work or in the missions pursued by the
departed Witt. Then came the Sept. 11 attacks and the creation of the
Department of Homeland Security. Soon FEMA was being absorbed into the
"homeland security borg."
This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster
preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a
death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA
employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness
functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that
mission.
FEMA will be survived by state and local emergency management offices, which
are confused about how they fit into the national picture. That's because
the focus of the national effort remains terrorism, even if the Department
of Homeland Security still talks about "all-hazards preparedness." Those of
us in the business of dealing with emergencies find ourselves with no
national leadership and no mentors. We are being forced to fend for
ourselves, making do with the "homeland security" mission. Our "all-hazards"
approaches have been decimated by the administration's preoccupation with
terrorism.
To be sure, America may well be hit by another major terrorist attack, and
we must be prepared for such an event. But I can guarantee you that
hurricanes like the one that ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi
yesterday, along with tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods,
windstorms, mudslides, power outages, fires and perhaps a pandemic flu will
have to be dealt with on a weekly and daily basis throughout this country.
They are coming for sure, sooner or later, even as we are, to an
unconscionable degree, weakening our ability to respond to them.
The writer is director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency
Management
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