**April 4, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) FEDERAL ROLE IN DISASTER RESPONSE, AND FEMA WITHIN DHS:

Associated Press. \"Governors Say Disaster Response Should Remain In
State\'s Hands.\" April 3, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.click2houston.com/news/8450797/detail.html]{.underline}](http://www.click2houston.com/news/8450797/detail.html)

\[Excerpt: \"\'What we need most from the federal government is less
bureaucracy, more resources and a continued commitment to letting Texans
run Texas,\' Gov. Rick Perry said in Houston Monday\...\"\]

Berger, Eric. \"Perry Says Disaster Plan Flawed - Governor Insists
Military Shouldn\'t Intervene Without Local Consent.\" Houston
Chronicle, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3768835]{.underline}](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3768835)

\[Excerpt: Texas Gov. Rick Perry attacked a proposed change to the White
House\'s federal disaster response plan Monday, saying a modification
allowing the military to intervene without local consent would endanger
human life. Flanked by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Harris County
Judge Robert Eckels, Perry said the federal government should not have
the power to assume primary control of response by firefighters, police
officers and emergency personnel during catastrophes such as
hurricanes.\"\]

Moritz, John. \"McCain, Perry Are Critical of Feds\' Hurricane
Response.\"

Star-Telegram (Fort Worth TX), April 4, 2006. Access at:

[[http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14258978.htm]{.underline}](http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14258978.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"The governor and McCain also pledged to resist any effort
by the federal government to take over disaster operations from state
authorities during future emergencies. \'If the federal government
assumes control of first responders to catastrophes, I believe it will
add needless layers of bureaucracy, create indecisiveness \... and
ultimately cost lives,\' Perry said. McCain said he would not \'engage
in FEMA bashing,\' referring to the months-long criticism of the slow
response by the Federal Emergency Management Administration during the
Katrina aftermath. But he did say that he expected Congress to examine
whether the agency should be taken out from the control of the
Department of Homeland Security.\"\]

\(2\) FEMA, KATRINA AND 2004 HURRICANES:

Democratic Staff, Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of
Representatives. Redirecting FEMA Toward Success - A Report and
Legislative Solution (Prepared for Congressman Bennie G. Thompson,
Ranking Member). February 12, 2006 (40 pages). Accessed at:
<http://hsc-democrats.house.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9985DC38-64C4-41D1-B9E8-3726708B6A1F/0/CHSDEMSRedirectingFEMATowardSuccess.pdf>

\[Missed this when it came out. From February 12, 2006 Thompson Press

Release: \"The report entitled, \"Redirecting FEMA Toward Success,\"
found that the agency was most successful when led by experienced
emergency preparedness managers, had a direct line to the President, and
had a stated operational strategy for fulfilling its mission.

\"Last year\'s hurricanes should serve as a wake-up call that the
government\'s emergency preparedness and response efforts should not be
led by an inexperienced political appointee. Nor should that leader be
hampered by bureaucracy and inattentive superiors,\" said Congressman
Thompson.\"

Jordan, Lara Jakes. \"FEMA\'s Katrina Report Details Failures.\"
Associated Press, April 3, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060403/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_washington;_ylt=Ak.I.htKY2p9mtvN3FCvA.Vp24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA>

Article is about: \"A Feb. 13 report assessing the Federal Emergency
Management Agency\'s response to the storm concludes FEMA suffered from
confusing leadership roles, outdated or inadequate response plans and
inexperienced or under-trained staff during Katrina. It also details
problems in tracking supplies to disaster sites.\"

\[NOTE: This is the first I had heard of this February 13, 2006 FEMA
report, so started asking around and found a staff member who had
acquired a copy, but did not remember how \-- had been posted on the
FEMA website for a brief period before being pulled after a reporter
started asking questions about it \-- or so the story goes. In any
event, the report referenced in the AP story is apparently: \"DHS/FEMA
Initial Response Hotwash Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, DR-1603-LA\"
(Royal Sonesta Hotel, New Orleans, LA, December 13-14, 2005), February
13, 2006 (21 pages). Searched FEMA website, to no avail, trying to find
a link to this document \-- so just have paper copy.

The AP report also references a March 2005 MITRE Corp. report for FEMA
entitled \"A Vision for the Future,\" which apparently reviewed FEMA and
the 2004 hurricane season. According to this critique: \"For years FEMA
has approached disasters almost timidly\...FEMA should be attacking with
sledgehammers, not fly swatters. Specific changes in logistics need
immediate attention.\"

HELP: If any Activity Report reader can get their hands on a copy of
this report and provide a copy I would be most appreciative \-- talked
with several managers here, including the Acting Superintendent, who had
not heard of the MITRE report \-- called FEMA Public Affairs and asked
for a copy, but FEMA Public Affairs Officer had never heard of this
report and did not sound optimistic about tracking a copy down for me.\]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer. \"FEMA: Vacancy At The Top\" (Editorial).

April 4, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/265326_femaed.asp]{.underline}](http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/265326_femaed.asp)

\[Excerpt: \"With the hurricane season just two months away and
earthquake season always at hand in the Northwest, President Bush
apparently is going to give up the job search and appoint interim
director, R. David Paulison\....seven potential leaders had pulled out
of consideration for director or other top positions, leaving the
administration with the embarrassment of appointing a low-ranking
choice. Worse\... job candidates said the administration doesn\'t have
enough time left to make key changes by 2008 or wouldn\'t provide
adequate support. It\'s hard to imagine that Hurricane Katrina failed to
wake up the White House, but some experts seem to think so.\"

\(3\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Marks, Alexandra. \"Nuclear-Plant Security: Is It Enough?\" Christian
Science Monitor, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0404/p03s03-uspo.htm]{.underline}](http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0404/p03s03-uspo.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"If the terror attacks of 9/11 taught one lesson, it was
that America must make itself less vulnerable to attack by air - perhaps
nowhere more urgently than at the nation\'s 103 nuclear power plants,
given their potential for inflicting massive casualties and destruction
if hit by a plane loaded with fuel. Yet 4-1/2 years later, those plants
are little safer from air attack, say critics. And squabbling has set in
over what the security standards should be.\"\]

Wald, Matthew L. \"Nuclear Agency Faulted After Easing Reactor Rules.\"

New York Times, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/washington/04nuke.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

Weiss, Eric M. \"So Much for Straight Talk On Homeland Security.\"

Washington Post, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/03/AR2006040301499.html>

\(4\) PREPAREDNESS:

Moran, Kevin. \"Hurricane Aftermath: Vital Changes In The Wind - Plans
for Fuel and Evacuations Have Now Been Reworked, Say Emergency
Experts.\"

Houston Chronicle, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3768834.html]{.underline}](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3768834.html)

\[Excerpt \-- referencing the upcoming 28th Annual National Hurricane
Conference in Orlando next week: \"I\'m going to tell them that, no
matter how much you prepare, you aren\'t going to be prepared for
something like Hurricane Katrina. That regardless of how good your plan
is, you\'d better be prepared for something worse,\" said Robert Latham,
director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and a conference
keynote speaker\....Another vital message from conference participants
should be that, while metropolitan areas with populations millions
larger than New Orleans are above sea level and don\'t rely on levees
for protection, they still face damages of the same scale wrought by
Katrina, Maestri {Jefferson Parish EM Director} said.\"\]

Treaster, Joseph B. \"One Big Insurer Decides to Offer Flood Coverage,
Selectively.\" New York Times, April 4, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/business/04flood.html]{.underline}](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/business/04flood.html)

\(5\) TERMS AND DEFINITIONS:

Made several additions to the \"Select Emergency Management Terms and
Definitions\" document (now at 90 pages) and forwarded revised copy for
upload to the EM HiEd Project website \-- Free College Courses section
\-- Courses Under Development subsection \-- Hazards, Disasters and US
Emergency Management: An Introduction Course \-- near bottom in Addend
ices section.

\(6\) WAR ON TERROR:

Kepel, Gilles. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West.

Cambridge, MA and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
2004.

\[Note: Finished reading. Particularly recommend the 8-page Conclusion
as a tidy summary of the book (which I would recommend for inclusion in
college courses that focus on the roots and goals of Muslim terrorism).
As can be seen in the reviewer\'s comments section on this book on
Amazon. COM, there are people who strongly agree and strongly disagree
with major tenets of the book (particularly part about the way out of
Pandora\'s box is Muslim assimilation in Europe). Don\'t have time to
enter that \"debate\" here today, so recommend Amazon.COM for book
summaries and commentary there.\]

Smith, Steven Donald. \"U.S. Agency \[Defense Threat Reduction Agency\]
Works to Reduce WMD Threat.\" Defense Link News, April 3, 2006.

Accessed at:
[[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2006/20060403_4698.html]{.underline}](http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2006/20060403_4698.html)

\(7\) WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY \-- PROPOSED EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM:

Dr. Nancy Parsons, Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at
Western Illinois University, emailed to note that the WIU proposal to
develop a Bachelor of Science Degree in Emergency Management, has been
approved through the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees. The
final approval step now is the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which
will meet, of all times, on June 6th, during the EM HiEd Conference to
decide on this proposal. For additional information, Dr. Parsons can be
reached at: <NP-Parsons@wiu.edu>

B. Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, N-430

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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