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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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April
2009
Volume
16
- Number 3 |
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March Madness Continues… By Russ Jaramillo It’s March Madness and there’s lots of dribbling, plenty of passing, free throws abound, and too many turnovers to count. Guess again… I’m not talking basketball. I’m talking about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) existence within the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) organizational structure. Opinions and discussions on FEMA’s future within the DHS continue to be bounced around like a basketball on its trip from the Sweet Sixteen to the Final Four. On The issue at stake today is whether FEMA should remain under the organizational umbrella of DHS or exist as a completely separate entity on its own outside of DHS. Since Hurricane Katrina, FEMA continues to receive heavy criticism on its operational elements at all levels. FEMA and others argue in its defense, that FEMA is hampered by the organizational structure that they have to operate under DHS. They believe that our country would be better served if FEMA could operate without the constraints of DHS. On the other side of the court, there is strong opposition to give FEMA the freedom and flexibility it desires. FEMA is considered among some, a failed agency that needs oversight and protection from itself. Are we getting closer to finding out what FEMA’s fate will be? In an article published last month by Daniel Fowler “Napolitano Says She Has a ‘Point of View’ on Moving FEMA But Isn’t Telling,” (CQ Homeland Security, February 4, 2009). Mr. Fowler reported the following: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
has an opinion on whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency
should remain
within DHS — but she’s not revealing it.
“I do have a point of view on that, I will say,”
Napolitano said
Wednesday. “But, I’m not willing to share it with you here because I
haven’t
shared it with the president yet.” Wherever FEMA ends up,
Napolitano
pointed out that it is “part and parcel” of DHS now. “We want to make
sure that
it is working and firing on all cylinders,” she said. Napolitano
made her
comments at FEMA headquarters where she visited Wednesday afternoon as
part of
her ongoing tour of DHS component agencies.
The secretary called the question of whether FEMA should
remain under
the DHS umbrella a “very When will Secretary Napolitano share her opinion with the president? When will she make a decision? FEMA’s status remains uncertain. In the same article, Mr. Fowler indicated that the American Federation of Government Employees Local 4060, which represents about 400 FEMA employees at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, released a report entitled, “Shattering the Illusion of FEMA’s Progress: 10 Recommendations for Rebuilding a Broken Agency.” Included on that list is pursuing the removal of FEMA from DHS. Mr. Fowler further reported that Leo Bosner, chief shop steward for AFGE Local 4060 stated that the basic problem is that 'anti-terrorism experts are being put in charge of rescuing flood victims — that’s the core issue here of having FEMA in DHS.' Of
all the
arguments and opinions that I have seen so far on either removing or
keeping
FEMA with DHS. The best is the
comparison that Mr. Bosner made on equating DHS to a police department
and FEMA
to a fire department. “In any
large city, the police department
and the fire department naturally work together and coordinate with
each other,
but neither one is part of the other department,” he said. “If they
were, you
would either have homicide detectives telling people how to put out
fires or
you would have fire chiefs telling people how to interrogate suspects,”
Bosner
continued. “We have a very high regard and respect for DHS, but our
missions
are different. Therefore, we need to be partners, not one under the
other.”
So,
the ball is now in your court Secretary Napolitano and there are no
free
throws. What are you going to do…
dribble, pass, or shoot? |