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37–364 PDF 2008

S. Hrg. 110–274

NOMINATION OF DENNIS R. SCHRADER

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

NOMINATION OF DENNIS R. SCHRADER TO BE DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

JULY 25, 2007

Available via http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

(

(II)

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

KRISTINE V. LAM, Research Assistant 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

JENNIFER L. TARR. Minority Associate Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Lieberman ........................................................................................... 1

Senator Collins ................................................................................................. 5

Senator Pryor .................................................................................................... 13

WITNESSES 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2007

Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, a U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland .............. 1

Dennis R. Schrader, to be Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security ................................................................................................................. 6

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 1

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3

Schrader, Dennis R.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17

Biographical and professional information ..................................................... 21

Responses to pre-hearing questions ................................................................ 32

Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics ............................................... 80

Responses to post-hearing questions .............................................................. 81

(1)

NOMINATION OF DENNIS R. SCHRADER 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2007

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in Room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I. 

Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Lieberman, Pryor, and Collins. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LIEBERMAN 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Good morning. The hearing will come to 

order. Thanks very much for being here. 

Senator Cardin, if I may be blunt, do you have the time to sit 

through the opening statements by Senator Collins and me? Or 

would you like to make an introduction and then go on? 

Senator CARDIN. Senator Lieberman, you are always so direct. I 

appreciate that. 

[Laughter.] 

I am supposed to preside at 10:30 a.m. I don’t know how long 

your opening comments are——

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Go right ahead. 

Senator CARDIN. I always enjoy hearing from you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. If you want to do the introduction, go 

ahead. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND 

Senator CARDIN. Well, thank you, Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins. I thank you very much for allowing me this opportunity to appear before the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs. 

It is a great honor to introduce to the Committee Dennis R. 

Schrader for the consideration of his nomination to be Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness of the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Quite a mouthful, but an extremely important position. 

It is really my pleasure to introduce to you Dennis Schrader. He 

is a person who was our first Secretary of Homeland Security in 

Maryland, appointed by Governor Ehrlich, and he had the confidence of our entire congressional delegation. He reached out to all 

of us and worked in a way that was in the best interests of the peoVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:20 Feb 07, 2008 Jkt 037364 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\37364.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
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ple of Maryland. He put their interests first as the Secretary of 

Homeland Security. 

We have regular briefings, and at these briefings, they gave us 

the chance to truly understand what was happening in Maryland 

and to coordinate our work in Maryland with what was happening 

nationally. And it was never partisan. It was always including all 

of us, and I congratulate him on his extraordinary leadership in 

setting up that agency in Maryland. I think it was one of the most 

efficient agencies in the country due to his extraordinary leadership. 

I also want to introduce his wife, Sandy. Sandy and I have been 

colleagues. Sandy is a former State Senator, a great leader in her 

own right for the people of Howard County. So we get two for the 

price of one here, and they are a great duo. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. We have heard that line before. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator CARDIN. I thank the entire family because serving in 

public life is not easy and taking on this challenge will not be easy, 

and it is a real family commitment, and we thank the entire family 

for being willing to make this commitment to public service. 

Let me just very briefly tell you a little bit about Dennis. He 

brings with him an extraordinary background of local, State, and 

Federal experience, and private sector experience. He is the former 

councilman in Howard County, so he understands local government, and I think that is an extremely important part of his responsibility in this new position, is to work closely with local officials so that we all work together on the same page on behalf of 

the people of our community. 

He also brings a distinguished record in the U.S. Navy. He 

served in the U.S. Navy for 27 years. Served three active-duty 

tours, five tours in the U.S. Navy Reserve in assignments that included the Pentagon, Navy Bureau of Personnel, and the Defense 

Threat Reduction Agency. Captain Schrader earned four Navy commendation medals and three Navy achievement medals before retiring earlier this year, and we thank him for his service to our 

country. 

I got to know Dennis best when he was—I call him our ‘‘workout 

specialist’’ for the University of Maryland. When I was Speaker of 

the State Legislature, Dennis was called upon to help us deal with 

the University of Maryland. At that time, it was a public hospital 

in terrible financial condition. Dennis used his extraordinary executive leadership to work out the problems of that hospital so that 

today the University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the 

great academic medical centers in our country. I must tell you, it 

just did not happen. It took an extraordinary game plan and talent, 

and he was part of the team that brought that about, and I thank 

him for that leadership, which I think will also help him as he 

deals with the challenges in FEMA and in Homeland Security and 

making it work in the best interests of the people of our country. 

Mr. Chairman, I am proud to support the nomination of Dennis 

Schrader to be the Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness. I thank the Committee for giving me this opportunity to introduce to you a Marylander that we are very proud of and believe 

will continue to serve the people of our Nation. 

3

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, Senator Cardin, for a very 

thoughtful and obviously sincere statement of support. And you are 

now free to do whatever you would like at this point, but I thank 

you. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. With your permission, I will ask to 

be excused. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Understood. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you very much. 

[Prepared statement of Senator Cardin follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARDIN 

Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Collins, Members of the Committee. 

Thank you very much for this opportunity to appear before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 

It is my great honor and privilege to be here today to introduce Dennis R. 

Schrader for the consideration of his nomination to be Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the U.S. 

Department of Homeland Security. 

Mr. Schrader has had a long and distinguished career serving the people of Maryland and Nation in the private sector, the military and at the local, state, and Federal levels of government. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Dennis 

over the years and it is my pleasure to welcome him to Capital Hill today. 

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Dennis’ wife, Sandy. Sandy 

Schrader is another accomplished public servant, having represented the citizens of 

Howard County from 2002 to 2007 in the Maryland State Senate. Sandy, we are 

all glad you could be here today with Dennis 

Dennis Scharder served in the U.S. Navy for 27 years. Dennis served three activeduty tours and five tours in the U.S. Navy Reserve in assignments that included 

the Pentagon, Navy Bureau of Personnel, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Captain Schrader earned four Navy Commendation Medals and three Navy 

Achievement Medals before retiring earlier this year. We thank him for his honorable service. 

Mr. Chairman, one of Dennis’ greatest contributions to the State of Maryland, and 

to the medical community, was his leadership at the University of Maryland Medical System. In the mid-1980’s, the University of Maryland Hospital was an aging 

facility with millions of dollars in annual losses. 

As Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, I worked with my colleagues in 

the State to find a way to turn the troubled institution around. Dennis was a key 

member of the team that was assembled to transform the struggling public entity 

into a modern and financially successful private, non-profit organization. 

Today, the University of Maryland Medical System is a nationally recognized center of excellence, with six hospitals, 10,000 employees, and a revenue base of over 

$1 billion. Dennis has a proven record of implementing organizational and programmatic innovation to turn around a foundering public agency. 

Most recently, Dennis has served as the first Director of Homeland Security for 

the State of Maryland. As Director, Dennis applied his experience from the military, 

the private sector, and his elected service on the Howard County Council to create 

a modern, efficient agency capable of identifying and responding to the threat of foreign and domestic terrorism and natural disasters. 

Dennis built on existing State functions and local initiatives and leveraged new 

resources and strategies to create a continuous, cost effective, and sustainable ‘‘Culture of Preparedness’’ in Maryland. In particular, as Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, Dennis always made a concerted effort to reach out to 

the Maryland Congressional delegation as valued partners in bolstering the safety 

of our citizens. His efforts to reach out across levels of government—and across 

party lines—are a testament to his success in emergency management. 

Mr. Chairman, I am proud to support the nomination of Dennis Schrader to be 

Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness. I thank the Committee for the opportunity to appear on behalf of such a dedicated public servant. Thank you very 

much.

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you very much. 

I appreciate very much the introduction by Senator Cardin, and 

I now formally welcome you, Mr. Schrader, to this hearing. The 

4

Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness is a new position 

within FEMA, created by DHS, Department of Homeland Security, 

to implement part of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which I am proud to say was authored by Senator Collins 

and me, and basically all the Members of this Committee. That legislation was the result of this Committee’s 8-month investigation 

into why the response to Hurricane Katrina was so horribly 

botched at all levels of government and what needed to be done so 

that kind of deadly debacle will never be repeated. 

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some called—and still 

do—for FEMA to be taken out of the Department of Homeland Security. I believed—and continue to believe—that would be a serious 

mistake because it would weaken FEMA, not strengthen the agency. Our legislation strengthened FEMA by making it a distinct entity within DHS, similar to the Coast Guard and Secret Service, 

but it also, I think, strengthened it by putting it together in the 

same Department with the various other agencies that are clearly 

part of the preparedness and response responsibility of our government and within DHS so that the whole really would be, and I 

think is becoming, greater than the sum of the parts. The PostKatrina Reform Act was designed to ensure that FEMA became the 

hub of the Federal Government’s efforts to prepare for and respond 

to disasters of all kinds, and it could best become that hub in DHS 

where the rest of those agencies are. 

One of the most important parts of our efforts to remake FEMA 

into a world-class disaster response agency was to reunite preparedness and response capabilities within FEMA. We don’t want 

to be in the position again where we are trying to build the kind 

of teamwork and logistical relief operations among all levels of government in the midst of the chaos that inevitably follows a disaster, as clearly happened in the days and even hours after Hurricane Katrina struck. 

As part of implementing this requirement of the Act, the Department of Homeland Security created the National Preparedness Directorate to organize and oversee key parts of our national preparedness efforts, and the Secretary placed that directorate under 

the control of a newly created Deputy Administrator for National 

Preparedness, which, of course, is the position for which you, Mr. 

Schrader, have been nominated. 

Along with making sure that preparedness is fully integrated 

into the new FEMA, another major responsibility of yours will be 

to oversee the disaster exercises and training programs that we 

clearly need to fix and make better. We saw that in the lead-up to 

Hurricane Katrina with Hurricane Pam, not being related and 

acted upon in a way to make the response to Hurricane Katrina 

better. 

In our Hurricane Katrina investigation, we also found that some 

of FEMA’s senior leadership lacked sufficient emergency management and homeland security experience needed to effectively do 

their jobs. So we made it a requirement of the Post-Katrina Management Act that people who are put in high positions have the required experience, the relevant experience. And I note with real 

satisfaction, as Senator Cardin’s introduction made clear, that you, 

5

Mr. Schrader, have very relevant qualifications and experience that 

will clearly be an asset to you if you are confirmed. 

Mr. Schrader, the responsibilities of the position for which you 

have been nominated are critical to our homeland security, and 

your ability to carry them out will make sure that we will never 

again have to ask the question that we asked in our Post-Katrina 

hearings, which is: ‘‘Why weren’t we prepared?’’

Senator Collins. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COLLINS 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, Mr. 

Schrader. 

The FEMA Reform Act written by this Committee—and signed 

into law last year—reunited the preparedness and response functions of a strengthened FEMA within the Department of Homeland 

Security. As the Chairman has indicated, the Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness is a new position created by that 

reform Act, and it will play a critical role in meeting the challenges 

that are set forth in the reform bill. 

The need for this reunification, for this strengthening, and for 

this position was made clear by our investigation into the flawed 

preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. And, thus, the 

responsibilities of the position for which Mr. Schrader has been 

nominated are extensive. They include policy development, contingency planning, exercise coordination and evaluation, emergency 

management training and hazard mitigation, to name but a few. 

Beyond the specifics of a job description, the Deputy Administrator 

for National Preparedness must be a builder—a builder of a new 

FEMA as an integral part of DHS, a builder of a new culture of 

all-hazard preparedness across all levels of government, and, above 

all, a builder of a restored faith within the American people in government’s ability to meet its fundamental obligation of protecting 

our citizens. 

Mr. Schrader brings significant experience and expertise to this 

great challenge. As has been mentioned, as Director of Maryland’s 

Office of Homeland Security, he worked to develop a regional vision 

for homeland security—that has been an issue that the Chairman 

and I have long pushed of having a more regional approach and, 

thus, stronger regional offices, for example. He also was responsible 

for implementing accountable and measurable program oversight 

for all homeland security dollars coming to his State. And he 

helped establish the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center. 

His service on the U.S. Attorney’s Office Anti-Terrorism Advisory 

Council and as the Chairman of the Public Safety Communications 

Interoperability Governance Work Group bears directly upon two 

issues that have long been at the top of this Committee’s agenda. 

No aspect of our Post-Katrina legislation has stirred more debate 

and more disagreement than our intention, our commitment to 

keep a strengthened FEMA within the Department of Homeland 

Security. In the end, our proposal prevailed because it is clear that 

the challenges of the 21st Century require a single agency to plan, 

coordinate, and integrate homeland security and disaster operations. DHS is that agency and FEMA is its core. 

6

1The prepared statement of Mr. Schrader appears in the Appendix on page 17. 

But passing legislation is only one hurdle. The real challenge 

comes in its implementation, in creating a vigorous, coordinated, 

and accountable national emergency management network. I commend Mr. Schrader for his willingness to accept that challenge. I 

look forward to our discussion today. 

Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me note that I have a staff member, 

my deputy chief of staff, Mary Beth Carozza, who worked very 

closely with Mr. Schrader in his position in Maryland. She personally vouches for him, and I look forward to questioning him today. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Senator Collins. That is high 

praise. 

Senator Pryor, if you would like to make an opening statement, 

you are welcome. 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, but I do not have one. 

Thank you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you. 

I will now do the formal introduction. Dennis Schrader has filed 

responses to a biographical and financial questionnaire, answered 

pre-hearing questions submitted by the Committee, and had his financial statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics. 

Without objection, this information will be made part of the hearing record, with the exception of the financial data, which, according to Committee custom, are on file and available for public inspection in the Committee offices. 

Our Committee rules require that all witnesses at nomination 

hearings give their testimony under oath, so, Mr. Schrader, I would 

ask you to please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear 

that the testimony you are about to give to the Committee will be 

the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, 

God? 

Mr. SCHRADER. I do. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you, and please be seated. 

Mr. Schrader, I now welcome your opening statement and invite 

you to introduce at your pleasure the significant number of family 

members you have with you. 

TESTIMONY OF DENNIS R. SCHRADER,1 TO BE DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Let me start by introducing 

family members: My wife, Sandra, who Senator Cardin referred to; 

my daughter, Whitney; my brother, Rick, who I grew up with in 

Buffalo; my aunt Marguerite Collesano, who came from Buffalo; 

and my cousin, her daughter, Jennifer Adams. I thank them for 

being here today. Thank you. As well as many other friends. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you. We welcome you. I did not realize you are from Buffalo. That inherently means you are from 

strong stock. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir. 

[Laughter.] 

Went through a lot of snowstorms. 

7

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Senator Collins, and Members of 

the Committee. My name is Dennis Schrader. I would like to start 

by thanking Senator Cardin for his kind introduction. It was a 

privilege working with him as then-Congressman Cardin during 

my tenure as the State Homeland Security Advisor. I am here 

today as the nominee for Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a critical role that this Committee envisioned as part of the Post-Katrina 

Emergency Reform Act of 2006. 

I am very honored by the President’s nomination and glad to be 

here today to address your questions as you consider my nomination. It is a great privilege to be considered for this position and 

to perhaps have a role in furthering our Nation’s readiness at this 

important moment in our history. 

In preparing for this hearing, I had an opportunity to not only 

reflect on the past 30 years of my career, but also to consider how 

much I relied on my family’s support and patience during those 

years. My wife, Sandy, and my daughter, Whitney, who I have just 

introduced, are here with me today, and I would like to thank them 

for their support. The life of a public servant, as you know, can 

mean long hours and much time away from the home. And Sandy 

and Whitney have endured that with both grace and understanding. 

In addition, I also owe much to my parents, whose character and 

selflessness set such a sterling example for me during those years 

I was growing up in Buffalo, New York. Whether it was my father 

working two jobs at a time or my mother working part-time in addition to her household responsibilities, they instilled in me a sense 

of civic responsibility that I carry with me today. 

If confirmed as the Deputy Administrator for the National Preparedness Directorate, I would address the concerns of many State 

and local officials, private sector companies, and individual citizens 

who play key roles in our national preparedness. I would advocate 

an approach that expects the unexpected. The task at hand requires superior planning, excellence in training and exercises, and 

an ongoing assessment process that measures improvement. 

I have had the benefit of being coached and mentored by a variety of outstanding individuals throughout my career. Just a couple 

of examples: Rear Admiral Fred Kelly inspired me to work toward 

my professional engineer’s license, and Captain James Kovalcik 

showed me how to think outside the box to solve tough government 

contracting problems. The breadth of their knowledge and depth of 

their character have been an inspiration to me throughout my career, and I am grateful to them. 

During my 7 years on active duty in the Navy, I saw firsthand 

the importance of large-scale contingency planning, both on a national and international basis. In 1980, I found myself on the isolated island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean with the ‘‘Can Do’’ 

Seabees. There I learned the value of readiness when you are so 

far removed from basic medical services we take for granted. 

In 1981, I learned about and prepared for the risk of tsunamis 

and typhoons on the Pacific Island of Guam. 

8

From 1982 to 1984, I contributed to the forward-based construction in Sicily and was sobered by the terrorist attack on our Marine 

barracks in Lebanon just a few hundred miles away. 

Finally, during my time at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1985, I 

routinely exercised with the Presidential Treatment Unit, only to 

suddenly have to press it into service on a Friday evening in July 

that year for President Reagan. 

After returning to the private sector in 1987, I spent 16 years 

working with health professionals who came to work every day 

with the mission of saving people’s lives. When lives are on the 

line, you work as a team where everyone expects you to be preparing and improving your skills and systems on a daily basis. 

Health care is a logistics and equipment-intensive business which 

often encounters the unexpected. For example, in the early 1990s, 

a major neighborhood substation exploded, and we operated the 

medical center on emergency power for 3 days while the transformer was replaced. In 1999, we spent $35 million preparing for 

Y2K and enjoyed the evening of December 31 in the command center while the uneventful New Year passed. 

On two occasions, we came close to evacuating patients, but in 

each case our organizational preparation saved the day. 

In 2002, we used the Emergency Management Institute training 

courses to design a full-scale field exercise that tested our incident 

command system for a WMD event. It was a major wake-up call 

for our team. That training we received from EMI highlighted the 

importance of the common citizen’s role in the culture of preparedness. Many of our citizens volunteer every day. I personally served 

19 years in the Naval Reserve, and our citizens want to contribute, 

and we must welcome their participation. We have got to make it 

easy for them. If confirmed, I hope to build upon the good work 

being done at both the Citizen Corps and Ready programs. 

In our national preparedness efforts at the Federal level, we 

have to engage our State and local partners who provide the core 

public safety and public health capability across this country. In 

1997, I recall as a county council member voting for over $30 million in bonds to replace our county radio system and observed how 

expensive these systems can be for local government. We owe a 

great deal to the Nation’s thousands of local elected officials and 

their teams, and I look forward to working closely with them in the 

future. 

Since September 11, 2001, the Nation has been mobilized to meet 

the challenge at hand. In the past 4 years as a State official, I 

managed the State’s response to numerous local events, including 

Hurricane Isabel, an I–95 tanker fire, a threat to our harbor tunnels in Baltimore, as well as coordinating the State’s assistance 

during the response to Hurricane Katrina. The public demands and 

deserves our best efforts. We continuously challenged ourselves to 

be better as we reached out to our neighboring States and local jurisdictions. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of collaboration to foster a regional approach. 

In closing, the Congress has set the preparedness bar very high 

for FEMA, DHS, and the Nation. I would welcome the opportunity 

to meet that challenge and respectfully ask this Committee to conVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:20 Feb 07, 2008 Jkt 037364 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 P:\DOCS\37364.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
9

firm my nomination to lead the Preparedness Directorate at 

FEMA. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear before 

you, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks very much, Mr. Schrader. That 

was a very strong and encouraging statement. 

I must tell you, I would imagine Senator Collins feels the same 

thing I do. There is a lot of frustration in Congress these days for 

all of us, but when you are involved in this Committee, as this 

Committee was, in the investigation Post-Katrina, when you are 

able to work with your colleagues to adopt legislation and to try to 

drive a reorganization of FEMA and DHS that makes them more 

effective in protecting the American people, when the Department 

creates a position such as yours and then fills it with somebody so 

eminently qualified, it is very satisfying to see it happen. Now, you 

have got to do the work, but I think you are an excellent choice. 

One of the key aspects of the Post-Katrina Act was obviously to 

put preparedness back in FEMA, reuniting it with response. If you 

are confirmed, you will have very important responsibilities for 

fully integrating preparedness into FEMA, and I want to ask you 

to talk for a moment about some of the measures you would plan 

to take to ensure that preparedness is fully and successfully integrated back into FEMA. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, by starting, sir, I think the first step is 

making sure that we have the very best possible career leadership 

at the agency, and I think the first responsibility that I would 

have, if confirmed, is to make sure the key leadership roles in 

FEMA are filled with quality people. But we also need to make 

sure, while we are doing that, we have diversity. We need to have 

a mix of different folks particularly that know how to reach out to 

different areas. As you said, DHS offers a tremendous resource to 

the agency, and the integration of that will require folks who can 

work in a matrix leadership style reaching out to other folks. 

For example, within DHS they have set up—and I experienced 

this as a State official, working with the information analysis people. Mr. Allen’s group is very good. We worked with them. So we 

need to be able to reach in and collaborate with folks, as well as 

across, interagency, because FEMA will be required to lead the effort to pull together, folks from the Health Department, HHS, and 

the Department of Justice. So it really is a frame of mind in terms 

of how you approach leading. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. I thank you for that answer. 

One of the additions that the new legislation makes is to require 

the development of a comprehensive assessment program for how 

the grants that we all support and are trying to increase from the 

Federal Government to State, locals, and first responders are actually being used. 

As part of this position, Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness, you will have a responsibility for implementing a comprehensive assessment program so that taxpayers and Members of 

Congress know how the money we are sending is being spent. 

Given the inherent difficulties, which I know you are aware of, 

having had the experience you have, in defining whether a given 

State or locality is well prepared for a disaster or a catastrophe like 

10

Hurricane Katrina, how will you go about trying to measure this 

as the law requires? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Let me start by saying 

that the first thing that Governor Ehrlich told me when we got 

started was that he wanted me to stay on top of all the money coming into the State, and it took a while to pull all that data together, 

but over 5 fiscal years, we realized that we had over $438 million 

coming into the State. We set up project management functions to 

oversee all that, and what I learned and I realized at the Federal 

level is there are two things that are critical. One, we need to have 

the regional offices at FEMA, which have the relationships with 

the States, be more engaged in that process. And now through the 

wisdom of this Committee, that has been made possible, that would 

be something that would need to be done. 

Second, we need to support the States in what I call program 

management. We have to begin to have an expectation, and that 

has started. The last two grant cycles required that the States create program management functions. But I think we need to engage 

in that process and make sure that there are projects that are 

being implemented. 

At the State level, we did that. We had regular briefings with all 

of the agencies involved in putting projects together, and we 

tracked those projects, and we made sure that the money was 

being invested effectively. And I think that is the kind of thing we 

have to do nationally, but we have to do it through the regional offices. We cannot manage it out of Washington. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. I appreciate that, and I particularly appreciate the emphasis of the regional offices. But what would you 

see the regional offices doing to assess the preparedness of State 

and local agencies? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Two things, and I use the term ‘‘crawl, walk, 

run.’’

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Right. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Because in building the relationship with the 

State, we do not want to play ‘‘gotcha’’ with the States. We want 

to begin the assessment process so that we get accustomed to working with each other. I think we need to stay focused on the eight 

national priorities. Over the last several grant cycles, we have 

made it very clear that there are eight priorities, things like implementing the National Incident Management System, the National 

Response Plan, like the Interoperability Program, just to name a 

few. 

We should focus on those eight priorities and begin to make sure 

that there are assessment measures. For example, we have already 

been assessing interoperability at the State level. We ought to take 

those measures and use them and then begin to orient the States 

to the fact that we are going to be assessing performance. So crawl, 

walk, run would be, I think, the most appropriate because we have 

to build that trust relationship. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Good answer. Sensible answer. I have got 

a little more time, but I am going to use it to ask you some of the 

standard questions that we ask all nominees. 

11

First, is there anything you are aware of in your background that 

might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to 

which you have been nominated? 

Mr. SCHRADER. No, sir. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Do you know of anything, personal or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to which you have 

been nominated? 

Mr. SCHRADER. No, sir. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Finally, do you agree without reservation 

to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before 

any duly constituted Committee of Congress if you are confirmed? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thank you very much. Senator Collins. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Schrader, I want to pick up on the discussion on interoperability. This afternoon, the Chairman and I will be offering an 

amendment to the homeland security appropriations bill to designate some funding for interoperability programs in the States 

and the regions. This is something that both of us have been working on for a very long time. It was disheartening in the aftermath 

of Hurricane Katrina to hear the same kinds of interoperability 

problems that hampered the response on September 11, 2001. They 

were still there in Hurricane Katrina. 

You have served on Maryland’s Interoperability Council. Give us 

your thoughts, please, on where we should be going with interoperability, your assessment of the efforts of States, and how can we 

encourage a more regional approach? Maryland is probably more 

sensitive to that than most States because you have to work with 

Virginia and Washington, DC. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Right. 

Senator COLLINS. But give us your thoughts on that challenge. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, Senator. Let me start by saying that the 

first thing that we did in Maryland is to establish a governance 

process under Governor Ehrlich’s leadership that brought together 

all the counties and local jurisdictions and the State enterprise, 

and we met every month for many months, and we developed a 

master plan for the State. That is the first thing. And this was 

predicated on a study, a seminal document that was produced 

about 4 years ago called ‘‘Why Can’t We Talk?’’ And it was a national consensus document that had five issues, and they said if a 

State is going to do interoperability, they need to pay attention to 

governance, there needs to be coordinated planning, you need to 

have focus on budgets and projects, and you are going to in some 

cases have to invest and replace some equipment. 

So at the State level, it is within the States’ purview to organize 

this governance process and have a master plan. I think those are 

absolutely critical. 

I will give you one example about the regional part of it because 

one of the things I am very proud of, in the Midatlantic States, we 

had organized a 501(c)(3) organization called the ‘‘All Hazards Consortium,’’ and in the last grant cycle, in 2006, we got West Virginia, 

Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia together, and we put in a 

proposal for a quad-State interoperability project. 

12

When we did that, we signaled the staff at DHS that we were 

going to do it. When it came to the review process, they did not 

have the mechanisms to be able to deal with it. However, to their 

credit, we had a closed-door meeting with them subsequent to that 

and said, you guys need to fix this, and to their credit they did. 

And my understanding is that this year in the grant guidance, it 

was put in there, and there were over 150 regional projects submitted by the States. 

We are really proud of the fact that Maryland initiated that because the people in western Maryland said to us, look, it is great 

that you are working in Baltimore and Washington, DC, but it is 

more important to us what the county in West Virginia to the 

south of us and the county in Pennsylvania to the north of us think 

because there is only 10 miles separating us. We need more of that 

kind of thinking, and we need to encourage it. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

I want to ask you about the status of the revisions to the National Response Plan. As you are well aware, this is the document 

which all emergency managers—State, local, and Federal—take 

their cues from on how to respond to a disaster. Many of the witnesses who testified before us during our investigation said that 

the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina was so poor in part 

because the original National Response Plan had only been issued 

just shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck and, thus, first responders and emergency managers had little time to absorb its 

changes, to be really familiar with the document. 

Now, DHS is in the process of a second round of changes to the 

National Response Plan to incorporate the lessons of Hurricane 

Katrina. But the problem is DHS was supposed to have completed 

that task and issued the revised plan in June. We are now well 

into hurricane season. 

What assurances will you give us that you will make completing 

this plan, the revisions, a priority? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, one is that I have not been privy to the internal details of what has been going on in the Department as far 

as the development of the revisions. But I will say, coming from a 

State perspective, when I received the original document, it was 

400 pages long, and you can imagine sitting in a State Governor’s 

office with a handful of people getting a 400-page document. My 

initial thoughts were, it was too long, it was too Federal centric, 

and it did not lay out roles and responsibilities that could be easily 

understood from a State because all incidents start at the State 

and local level. 

So my sense was that the National Response Plan should really 

be more organized around what happens on the front end at the 

State and local level and then expands from there. 

I have made these comments to leadership at DHS and FEMA, 

and I have been assured that is the approach that is being taken 

in this revision. 

Having said that, if I am confirmed, this would be at the very 

top of the list, getting this plan out there, because, quite frankly, 

in its original form it really was not a plan, per se. 

The second thing I would also mention is that what we really 

need to do is we need to modernize the planning system nationally. 

13

We need to build on that guidance that comes out of the Federal 

Government and work through the regions with our State and local 

governments to better put together real operational plans, very 

similar to what has been done in the last 40 or 50 years within the 

Department of Defense. There is a well-worn path along those 

lines. 

So it is not just reissuing the plan. It is really moving to the next 

step and making it even better. And I think the National Plan Review was an excellent initiative, and I felt, as a State advisor when 

that came through, that was really a very positive step forward toward engaged partnership. But we need to do a lot more. 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Senator Collins. 

Senator Pryor, I am delighted you are here. I would say to Mr. 

Schrader, and maybe others, Senator Pryor is the Chairman of our 

Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness 

and Integration, so he is directly interested in your area of responsibility, if confirmed. 

Senator Pryor. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PRYOR 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And as part of that 

work, we had a hearing in the Subcommittee on June 21 where we 

talked about the fact that 85 percent of our Nation’s critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector. And your soon-to-be colleague, Marko Bourne, stated the other day that FEMA does not 

have a private sector outreach office or any office that provides a 

direct line of communication between FEMA and the private sector. 

So the first question for you is: Do you plan to create some sort 

of official line of communication, whether it be an office or a process through your office? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, Senator, let me first start by saying that 

I spent 9 years at General Motors early in my career and also 16 

years in a private sector hospital. Having been in that hospital on 

September 11, 2001, trying to get ahold of the FBI and figure out 

what was going on was very difficult. 

That has changed dramatically, but a lot more needs to be done. 

We need to make it easier for the private sector to participate. 

In the process of being briefed, I have had an opportunity to be 

briefed by Martinez Fonz’s office and him personally on the work 

they are doing. I think this is an example of where FEMA and 

DHS can collaborate. What we need to do is—and this is what we 

did in the State of Maryland also. The governor gave me nine people, and we ran the entire State enterprise with nine people. But 

the trick to it was we had key people in 14 agencies and offices, 

as well as partnerships with the Federal local offices like the FBI. 

We did not have to own everything ourselves inside the office. It 

was the relationship building and the task of organizing that got 

it all done—and we got a lot of work done. 

I will also say we had a private sector outreach program in 

Maryland which was very effective, and we did it through the critical infrastructure program because, as you said, 85 percent is 

owned—my philosophy, working on behalf of the governor, was 

14

that you cannot have a critical infrastructure program without 

working with the private sector. 

We had an exercise, for example, where we tested interdependencies and created interdependencies awareness. We had 200 people there. Over 100 of the folks represented in the room were from 

the private sector through the relationships we had built. 

So it can be done, but it is a cultural issue, and it really requires 

an orientation to the private sector that I would bring. 

Senator PRYOR. You mentioned that we need to do those things. 

Is it your intention, assuming you are confirmed, to come up with 

a concrete plan to try to implement them? It sounds like you have 

private sector experience and State experience. Is it your goal to 

bring that experience to the Federal level? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Absolutely. There is no question, if I am confirmed, that would be my intention. I would also mention what I 

have found to be the barriers in government. Oftentimes the perception is that, well, when private sector people approach government, their only intention is, A, to sell something or, B, there is 

a concern about I do not want to violate the procurement laws. And 

what we had to do in Maryland—and I am sure there will be similar challenges in the Federal sector—is to get staff comfortable 

with the idea of partnering with the private sector because you are 

talking about different cultures, but it can work. The private sector 

has enormous resources to bring to bear, but it has to be 

preplanned. And those relationships have to be established up 

front. 

Senator PRYOR. I think that is critical myself. 

When you look at what FEMA does, obviously terrorism is a 

focus, and it should be. But there are many more natural disasters 

than there are terrorist events, and the bread and butter of FEMA 

is to be prepared to respond to the natural disasters. From your 

standpoint, is there a difference in planning for a natural disaster 

versus planning for a terrorist event? Or does it require the same 

preparation? 

Mr. SCHRADER. I would say that the process of preparation is the 

same, but the people that you have to bring together are slightly 

different, and let me give you an example. 

We had a tanker explode on I–95, which backed traffic all the 

way down through Virginia toward Norfolk. So there is a lot of coordination that goes on in that I–95 corridor. That turned out to 

be not a terrorist incident, but on the front end, there is an investigation that has to go on very rapidly to determine if it is or it 

is not. 

We had built the relationships through our Joint Terrorism Task 

Force where we had the Coordination and Analysis Center working 

very closely with the State Emergency Operations Center, and I am 

not going to tell you it was perfect. There was always a little bit 

of friction. But we made it work. And what we found is that backand-forth communication on a real-time basis allowed us to very 

quickly determine it was not a terrorist incident, and then very 

quickly a unified command was set up. 

So the bottom line is it worked in that case. If it had been a chlorine tank that was exploded by a terrorist, the process would have 

been exactly the same. I would argue that what we need to do are 

15

more real-time incident analyses to improve our processes and 

more functional drills rather than so many—what I have found in 

my experience is there is far too much emphasis on doing full-scale 

exercises for the media and the cameras with very long documents 

that have lessons learned that sit on a shelf, instead of doing more 

critical analysis of what are the key issues. 

So I would argue that the process is very similar, but the people 

are going to vary in the process. 

Senator PRYOR. You mentioned in your prepared statement that 

it is important to enhance multi-State partnerships. How do you 

plan on enhancing those? And how do those partnerships play a 

role in national preparedness? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, let me start by saying two things. One is 

I very much believe that there need to be in every region of the 

country multi-State alliances. There is one in the Pacific Northwest 

that is very mature that I have become aware of and talked to 

those folks. The Northeast has begun to evolve. The Southeast part 

of the country has some structure in place that is evolving. And, 

of course, in the Midatlantic, we had a very robust group that we 

put together. 

The reason that becomes so important is we have to have a 

mechanism for the States to collaborate State to State. They are 

never going to accept the Federal Government imposing their will 

as almost a superior. What we need is a partnership, and when the 

States can—what I found in the Midatlantic, when we as the 

States were able to collaborate together in our 501(c)(3), we then 

went to Region III and were able to work as full partners. 

The second thing we need to do is we really need to grow the capability in the regions for program management and to put the 

right kind of people there that are leaning forward. They have to 

also be oriented to move not just from natural disasters but also 

to reach out and work with the Department of Justice and the FBI. 

One last thing I would mention is there are tremendous regional 

resources in the Federal Government if one is oriented toward collaboration. We found, for example, our U.S. Attorney was an invaluable resource in the State of Maryland, and we leaned on 

them, and they provided us tremendous support. The same thing 

with the FBI. The FBI gave us space to work out of. They provided 

computer systems. We just had to be willing to work together. And 

so we need to promote this collaboration, not only between agencies 

but between the States and local jurisdictions. 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks very much, Senator Pryor. 

Mr. Schrader, thanks for your testimony and your willingness to 

serve. I must say I am very impressed by your record that you 

bring with you to this position, your military service, your service 

in the nonprofit sector and in the public sector. It is really quite 

extraordinary. And I am impressed by the way you handle yourself. 

So I think the President has made an excellent decision here, and 

I know I do not have to say this, but I think your family has a lot 

to be proud of. They probably know that already. 

I would say that, without objection, the record is going to be kept 

open until 12 noon tomorrow for the submission of any written 

questions or statements for the record. 

16

The Committee’s next markup is next Wednesday, August 1. It 

is my intention to bring your nomination before the Committee at 

that time. I hope we can get it out and, with a little luck and help, 

through the Senate before we recess for August so that you can be 

officially in place. 

Senator Collins, would you like to add anything? 

Senator COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really think you 

summed it up well. I have a few more questions that I am going 

to submit for the record, but I think based on the careful review 

the Committee has done of this nominee that he is clearly very well 

qualified for this important position. And I share your pleasure 

that the Administration has nominated someone who really fits 

what we had in mind when we created this new position as part 

of the FEMA reform act last year. 

So I join you in supporting the nominee, and I appreciate your 

expeditious consideration. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. Thanks, Senator Collins. Thank you 

again. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Collins. 

Chairman LIEBERMAN. The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:54 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(17)

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