New hires are being reported. The long-anticipated announcement that Julius Genachowski is heading the FCC is here and now we apparently know who will run FEMA.
Florida Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate is reportedly President Obama's choice to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Transition scuttlebut in December was that former FEMA head Jamie Lee Witt might return to the agency temporarily, but instead the post goes to Fugate.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apparently supervised the selection.
The St. Petersburg Times noted Fugate was a finalist for the job back on February 11:
Craig Fugate, who led Florida's disaster response during the eight hurricanes that ravaged the state in two years, might soon face one of his toughest challenges yet: leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency....
Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said he was cold-called a few weeks ago by people at the Department of Homeland Security and then met Wednesday with Secretary Janet Napolitano in Washington. He said he spoke with her for about 45 minutes, but no specific jobs were discussed beyond the mention of a ''high-level position'' in FEMA.
Who is Craig Fugate? Perhaps surprisingly, a man who was appointed to his position in disaster management by Bush. Not George W. Bush, but Jeb Bush. Perhaps the former Florida governor was more interested in hiring a director on merit than his brother was, given Florida's vulnerability to hurricanes. I would imagine that Janet Napolitano would not offer this important job to someone who one day will hear the words "you're doing a heckuva job, Fugatie" but I know little about the man and his performance, other than what is in the news.
Here is W. Craig Fugate's biographical profile on the Florida Division of Emergency Management's website:
As the Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Mr. Fugate oversees an agency with 138 full time staff. The Division coordinates disaster response, recovery, preparedness and mitigation efforts with each of the state's 67 counties and local governments. In September 2003, the Florida Emergency Management Program became the first state emergency management program in the nation to receive full accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program.
From volunteer firefighter, Paramedic, to Lieutenant with Alachua County Fire Rescue, his 15 year career in local government included serving 10 years as the Emergency Manager for Alachua County, Florida.
In May of 1997, he was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Preparedness and Response with the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Over the next four years, the State of Florida faced numerous disasters while continuing to build a nationally recognized emergency management program.
In October of 2001, Mr. Fugate was appointed by Governor Bush as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. With the events of September 11, 2001, the Division was tasked with the role of managing the Federal Homeland Security funding and developing Florida’s Domestic Security Strategy with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Florida’s program is recognized as a model for other states.
In 2004, Florida was impacted by 4 major land falling hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne) setting a record in both numbers of storms as well as damages for the State of Florida.
In 2005, Florida was again impacted by 4 hurricanes with Hurricane Dennis and Wilma striking as major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater). 2005 also saw Florida’s largest mutual aid response to another state due to impacts of Hurricane Katrina along the Mississippi Coast, over 7000 responders from state and local agencies provided assistance to the State of Mississippi and local communities, additional resources were sent to the State of Louisiana.
In December 2006, Governor Crist reappointed Fugate as Director, the role he continues today.
Director Fugate has served as the State Coordinating Officer in 23 Declared State Emergencies, 11 of which were Presidential Declared Disasters totaling over 4.5 billion in federal assistance.
If any Floridians here have more to add about Craig Fugate's performance, please share them in comments.