As if we needed another reason...

to have an opinion about the administration.
i just watched Tom Friedman on Charlie Rose last night, giving his
utopian spin on globalization and communications technologies as they
"flatten the earth." his utopianism aside, he offers an interesting
appeal to the Bush Administration and the neocons in general in terms
of their ideas and policies surrounding technology, global trade and
energy. He expressed hopes that Bush will surprise critics and change
policy directions for the better. If the admin's approach to FEMA is
any indication, we're in for a surprise, but certainly not for the
better.

Begin forwarded message:

Destroying FEMA
By Eric Holdeman
The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/
AR2005082901445.html

Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A17

SEATTLE – In the days to come, as the nation and the
people along the Gulf Coast work to cope with the
disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we will be
reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal
agency capable of dealing with natural catastrophes of
this sort. This is an immense human tragedy, one that
will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond
the capabilities of state and local government to deal
with. It requires a national response.

Which makes it all the more difficult to understand
why, at this moment, the country's premier agency for
dealing with such events – FEMA – is being, in
effect, systematically downgraded and all but
dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security.')

Apparently homeland security now consists almost
entirely of protection against terrorist acts. How
else to explain why the Federal Emergency Management
Agency will no longer be responsible for disaster
preparedness? Given our country's long record of
natural disasters, how much sense does this make?

What follows is an obituary for what was once
considered the preeminent example of a federal agency
doing good for the American public in times of
trouble, such as the present.

FEMA was born in 1979, the offspring of a number of
federal agencies that had been functioning in an
independent and uncoordinated manner to protect the
country against natural disasters and nuclear
holocaust. In its early years FEMA grew and matured,
with formal programs being developed to respond to
large-scale disasters and with extensive planning for
what is called "continuity of government."

The creation of the federal agency encouraged states,
counties and cities to convert from their civil
defense organizations and also to establish emergency
management agencies to do the requisite planning for
disasters. Over time, a philosophy of "all-hazards
disaster preparedness" was developed that sought to
conserve resources by producing single plans that were
applicable to many types of events.

But it was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in
1992, that really energized FEMA. The year after that
catastrophic storm, President Bill Clinton appointed
James Lee Witt to be director of the agency. Witt was
the first professional emergency manager to run the
agency. Showing a serious regard for the cost of
natural disasters in both economic impact and lives
lost or disrupted, Witt reoriented FEMA from civil
defense preparations to a focus on natural disaster
preparedness and disaster mitigation. In an effort to
reduce the repeated loss of property and lives every
time a disaster struck, he started a disaster
mitigation effort called "Project Impact." FEMA was
elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, in recognition of
its important responsibilities coordinating efforts
across departmental and governmental lines.

Witt fought for federal funding to support the new
program. At its height, only $20 million was allocated
to the national effort, but it worked wonders. One of
the best examples of the impact the program had here
in the central Puget Sound area and in western
Washington state was in protecting people at the time
of the Nisqually earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001. Homes
had been retrofitted for earthquakes and schools were
protected from high-impact structural hazards. Those
involved with Project Impact thought it ironic that
the day of that quake was also the day that the
then-new president chose to announce that Project
Impact would be discontinued.

Indeed, the advent of the Bush administration in
January 2001 signaled the beginning of the end for
FEMA. The newly appointed leadership of the agency
showed little interest in its work or in the missions
pursued by the departed Witt. Then came the Sept. 11
attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security. Soon FEMA was being absorbed into the
"homeland security borg."

This year it was announced that FEMA is to
"officially" lose the disaster preparedness function
that it has had since its creation. The move is a
death blow to an agency that was already on life
support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed
not to become involved in disaster preparedness
functions, since a new directorate (yet to be
established) will have that mission.

FEMA will be survived by state and local emergency
management offices, which are confused about how they
fit into the national picture. That's because the
focus of the national effort remains terrorism, even
if the Department of Homeland Security still talks
about "all-hazards preparedness." Those of us in the
business of dealing with emergencies find ourselves
with no national leadership and no mentors. We are
being forced to fend for ourselves, making do with the
"homeland security" mission. Our "all-hazards"
approaches have been decimated by the administration's
preoccupation with terrorism.

To be sure, America may well be hit by another major
terrorist attack, and we must be prepared for such an
event. But I can guarantee you that hurricanes like
the one that ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi
yesterday, along with tornadoes, earthquakes,
volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, windstorms, mudslides,
power outages, fires and perhaps a pandemic flu will
have to be dealt with on a weekly and daily basis
throughout this country. They are coming for sure,
sooner or later, even as we are, to an unconscionable
degree, weakening our ability to respond to them.

The writer is director of the King County, Wash.,
Office of Emergency Management.



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