Eric Holdeman, King County (Seattle) Director of the Office of Emergency Management, gives some interesting history on FEMA, and the dismantling of this federal agency by the Bush Administration. In an
article published on Aug 30, 2005 in the Washington Post, Holdman writes (below the fold):
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."
Holdeman gives some further background on Clinton's role in growing FEMA. After hurricane Andrew, Clinton appointmented of James Lee Witt, who "reoriented FEMA from civil defense preparations to a focus on natural disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation."
Then came the Bush Administration:
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.
The shrinking of the federal government, or at least some crucial aspects of the government that serves it's vulnerable citizens, has left us "drowning in the bathtub."
Holdeman says: "FEMA will be survived by state and local emergency management offices, which are confused about how they fit into the national picture... We are being forced to fend for ourselves."
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.
We're on our own.