# Presentation: 094745

## The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Failed Leadership: An Assessment of Reorganization and Emergency Management Student Perceptions

- Jack R. Breese
- B.S. Emergency Management
- A.A.S. Fire Protection Technology
- The University of Akron
- Akron, Ohio

## Project Description

- This project experimentally examined the perceptions of undergraduate students at The University of Akron pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Emergency Management.
- Seventy-nine students voluntarily completed a survey measuring their degree of agreement or disagreement to a given statement.
- The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

## Research Findings

- Early presidential involvement is necessary for a timely and well-coordinated federal response.
- Additionally, the president must have the advice and counsel of emergency management professionals, elevated to a cabinet-level position, in order to make appropriate and timely decisions.
- Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt prophesized that “The emphasis on terrorism preparedness in the aftermath of September 11th, [and] the transfer of FEMA to the Department of Homeland Security may result in decreased emphasis on mitigation and natural hazards” (Hollis, 2005).
- President Bill Clinton explained to Larry King on CNN that it should be “Required that any future head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have prior experience in emergency management. When a disaster strikes, that person [the FEMA director] becomes the most important person in the federal government” (Cable News Network, 2005).

## Research Findings (continued)

- Unfortunately, FEMA has become a patronage shop filled with President Bush’s friends, not professional emergency managers.
- The key to strengthening the Federal Emergency Management Agency is to develop a competent and effective workforce by reducing the number of political appointees within the agency.
- On September 12, 2005, Michael Brown resigned as the Federal Emergency Management Agency director – only ten days after President Bush told him “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” (Can I Quit, 2005).

## Research Findings (continued)

- When it comes to governmental bureaucracies, bigger is not always better.
- Once absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA lost its cabinet level status and budget independence.
- Removing FEMA from the shadow of the Department of Homeland Security and re-establishing it as an independent agency headed by a cabinet-level position responsible directly to the president would position it better and give it the resources to accomplish its goals and respond to disasters – natural or man-made.
- According to James Lee Witt, the agency “must never lose focus on serving the customer – the state and local responders and the victims of disaster” (Democratic Staff of the Committee on Homeland Security, 2006).

## Research Findings (continued)

- Marvin Olasky (2006) coined the phrase that “unanticipated problems are inevitable, but politics and pride can turn them into disasters.”
- Regardless of the location  in the federal government, the FEMA director must have a direct reporting relationship to the President during periods of Presidential disaster and emergency declarations.
- Congress should require that criteria be developed for the FEMA director position to ensure competent leadership and eliminate political cronyism due to the misuse of political appointments.
- Reorganizing FEMA requires doing some new things, many old things much better, and some old things differently; all in an environment that can punish any mistakes severely.

## EM Student Perceptions

- The most prevalent finding was the Director of FEMA should be experienced in emergency management, prior to being appointed (95%).
- The findings strongly suggest that FEMA should be removed from the Department of Homeland Security and re-established as an independent federal agency (64%).

## In Conclusion...

- Reductions should be made to the number of political appointments within federal emergency management functions and authority positions should be filled with individuals who have requisite experience.
- Government officials plan and train, budget and design, coordinate and test, but they can never cover all uncertainties.
- According to Donald Kettl (2007), “Increasingly complex problems and growing organizational complexity require even stronger individual leadership.”
- Note: The completed project, in its entirety, is available for viewing upon request.

## Research References

- Cable News Network. (2005). “Can I Quit Now?” FEMA Chief Wrote as Katrina Raged. *United **	**States*. Retrieved March 8, 2007, from http://www.cnn.com/2005/ 	US/11/03/brown.fema.emails/
- Cable News Network. (2005). Clinton:  FEMA Chief Should be Experienced. *Hurricane *
*	**	**Katrina*. Retrieved February 13, 2007, from http://www.cnn.com/2005/ 	POLITICS/09/16/clinton.fema/index.html
- Cable News Network. (2006). Ex-FEMA Official:  Agency Better When
- 		Independent.  *Politics*. Retrieved January 15, 2007, from http:// 	www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/27/copenhaver/
- Cohen, David Brian. (2007). Homeland Security Policy & Process. *The University of *
*	**	**Akron: Political Science.*
- Democratic Staff of the Committee on Homeland Security. (2006). A Report and
- 		Legislative Solution. *Redirecting FEMA Toward Success*. Retrieved March 13, 2007, from 	http://hsc-democrats.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20061006093318-77981.pdf
- Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2004). Recommendations for America’s Fire
- 		and Emergency Services Based on the Events of September 11, 2001, and Other Similar 	Incidents. *Responding to Incidents of National Consequence*. United States Fire 	Administration.
*Frontline*. (2005). Interview:  James Lee Witt. *The Storm*. Retrieved February 22, 2007,
- 		from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/interviews/witt.html
- Hall, Mike. (2006). Let FEMA be FEMA. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from
- 		http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/02/21/let-fema-be-fema/

## Research References (continued)

- Holdeman, Eric. (2005). Destroying FEMA. *The Washington Post*. Retrieved March 13,
- 		2007, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/ AR2005082901445.html
- Hollis, Amanda Lee. (2005). A Tale of Two Federal Emergency Management Agencies.
*	**	**The Forum. Volume 3, Issue 3, Article 3*. The Berkeley Electronic Press.
- Kettl, Donald F. (2007). *System Under Stress:  Homeland Security and American *
*	**	**Politics*. Second Edition. Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.
- Lewis, David E. (2005). Michael Brown as Wake-Up Call to Journalists. *Nieman *
*	**	**Watchdog*. Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/ 	index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00143
- National Emergency Management Association. (2006). Principles for Legislation to
- 		Improve the Nation’s Emergency Management System. Retrieved January 13, 2007 from 	http://www.nemaweb.org/?1636
- Newsday. (2005). A Dubious Resume. *Katrina*. Retrieved March 17, 2007, from
- 		http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usfema094417778sep09,0,3221751.story
- Olasky, Marvin. (2006). *The Politics of Disaster: Katrina, Big Government, and a New *
*	**	**Strategy*. Nashville:  Thomas Nelson, Inc.
- Strohm, Chris. (2006). Chertoff Warns Senators Against an Independent
- 		FEMA. *Congress Daily*. Retrieved January, 27, 2007 from http:// 	www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34293&printerfriendlyVers=1&.
- The Journal Times. *Independent FEMA would be More Effective*. (2006). Retrieved
- 		January 13, 2007, from http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index. php?itemid=5362
- United States Fire Administration. _Shaping the Future_. (1995).

## Question(s) or Comment(s)?