Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a major US federal organization responsible for dealing with various severe emergencies such as natural and man-made disasters, as well as for countering terrorist offenses. The paper describes and examines the organization’s leadership (current and recent), its structure (work division (the organizational table, units, and subunits, the basis for the division) and work coordination (the mission and hierarchy of the organization), the core statutory laws that define the organization’s activity. Apart from that, the administrative rules (primarily the title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations), the budget appropriation and the tendencies connected to the resources available, the personnel and the related trends, and committee hearings (with particular attention paid to the topics of the speeches of FEMA executives) are discussed. Finally, the results that have been achieved by the current Administrator are analyzed within the framework of the company’s goals and missions. To conclude the paper, certain thoughts concerning the specifics of managing an executive branch organization are suggested. The paper is based on materials obtained from official websites of US agencies, scholarly articles, and course materials. Leadership Description Currently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is led by William Craig Fugate, who was approved by the USA Senate and appointed the Administrator of FEMA in May 2009. Before that, he worked as the Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management since 2001. He is responsible for managing the actions of the state during major disasters that occurred during his services in Florida, such as Hurricanes Charley, Jeanne, Katrina, and others. Among his achievements are the establishment of a permanent scheme of catastrophic planning which allows for stabilizing the impact of a disaster within three days, 1 , and the implementation of the informal Waffle House Index used by FEMA in order to calculate the aftermath of a storm. 2 Fugate’s predecessor was Nancy L. Ward, who served as the Interim Administrator of FEMA from January 2009 to March 2009. She temporarily served after the retirement of Robert David Paulison, who was the Administrator in September 2005 – January 2009. Having been a firefighter, Paulison was appointed as the head of the United States Fire Administration by G. W. Bush in 2001; later, in 2003, he was made the Director of National Preparedness Division of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Directorate by President Bush. He also was appointed as the Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in 2006. 3 , 4 Analysis In terms of the dichotomy of policy and administration (as stated by Kettl 5 and Wilson 6 ) it can be pointed out that the two are intertwined and cannot be separated completely, but the former is primarily concerned with political decisions while the latter deals with their implementation. As a result, the behavior of a policymaker and an administrator is different. Apparently, R. D. Paulson was a so-called administrative leader, not a political one. 7 He started his career as a firefighter; later, he was promoted to fire chief and had much experience in that position. He was nominated for his post in FEMA b