FEMA Should Be Eliminated?

NONSENSE!

A U.S. Senate Panel Issued Its Final Report Today regarding the government response to Hurricane Katrina and overall disaster readiness. Article here...

I kept up with the hearings of this panel over the last 6 months, and their final report doesn't seem to match up with the problems that were found during the investigation. Most of the evidence pointed to a lack of leadership at the White House and at the top of Homeland Security. The lack of emergency management professionals in charge was a key factor. A lack of proper systems for dealing with disasters was a key factor. A lack of planning for prevention and mitigation was a key factor. The lack of proper protocol was a key factor. A lack of planning and leadership within State and local governments were key factors. The lack of communication on all levels was a key factor. And a lack of funding for FEMA was a key factor.

How do we go from all of these things to the conclusion that FEMA should be abolished?

I did some extensive study of the issue of U.S disaster preparedness… and I can tell you, FEMA was not and is not the problem. The problem is a lack of leadership both within FEMA and in other sectors of government which control FEMA. It’s the people in charge. It has nothing to do with the organization, although it does have problems. But those problems are related to bad policies. Those bad policies, in turn, come from poor leadership.

FEMA should be an independent agency like it was before Katrina, and it should be funded properly. And the Congress- If it was really concerned- should pass legislation preventing the President from filling the top jobs at FEMA, Homeland Security, or any other position critical to saving lives, with "political appointees".... people who are not the best qualified for these important positions. It's criminal negligence to put unqualified political appointees in these key life & death positions.

FEMA has been underfunded for years, despite the fact that they would always beg for more money. Now the Congress wants to use FEMA as a scapegoat after the house of cards that they built finally fell apart.

Here is what James Lee Witt had to say about this issue. Witt, a former director of FEMA, is one of the nations most skilled and most respected emergency management professionals.

Videos from C-span

Video One
(copy and paste directly to your browser)

Discussion on Hurricane relief efforts and related issues affecting emergency management within the U.S.11/29/2005

WASHINGTON, DC: 45 min. James Lee Witt, Former FEMA Dir., Clinton Admin., 1993-2001

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/hur/hur_wj112905witt.rm


Video Two

CSIS hosts a discussion on the roles and respective authorities of government officials for emergency response and consequence management. Fmr. FEMA Director James Lee Witt is among the panelists, along with former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating. 2 Hrs

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/hur/hur112805_response.rm