April 4, 2025 • 24 mins
After a long hiatus, the EOC Podcast returns with the first installment in a timely new series examining FEMA's past, present, and uncertain future. As the emergency management community grapples with unprecedented federal changes, understanding FEMA's evolution provides critical context for navigating what comes next.
From its formation in 1979 under President Carter to its current challenges, FEMA's journey reflects America's evolving approach to disasters. We trace how an agency initially focused on nuclear war preparation transformed through failures during Hurricane Andrew, achieved excellence under James Lee Witt in the 1990s, lost momentum after being absorbed into Homeland Security post-9/11, faced its darkest hour during Hurricane Katrina, and gradually rebuilt its capabilities leading up to COVID-19.
This comprehensive look at FEMA's trajectory reveals much more than organizational history – it illuminates the critical importance of federal emergency support as communities nationwide face increasingly frequent and severe disasters. As host Jeff Perkins notes, "FEMA is the E in the PACE plan" – the emergency option when all other resources are exhausted. With training programs disrupted, staffing reduced, and fundamental questions about federal disaster support unresolved, emergency managers must understand where we've been to navigate the road ahead. Join us for this essential conversation about the agency that serves as America's disaster safety net, and stay tuned for future episodes diving deeper into specific aspects of FEMA's operations and the challenges facing our profession.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the EOC
Podcast, Emergency OperationsConversations.
I am your host, Jeff Perkins,and I'm very happy to have you
with me again.
It's been a long time, folks.
It's been quite a while sinceI've been able to get behind the
mic and actually do an episodehere.
(00:40):
The last episode that we didwas the Los Angeles fires and
kind of a comprehensive overviewof that, and then something
happened after that point andsince that time, man, I tell you
what federal resources havebeen strapped.
There has been some crazinessgoing on Now again, just like
(01:01):
the episode about the LosAngeles fires.
I'm not going to get politicalhere.
I really do not have aninterest in engaging in
political conversation back andforth.
I'm just going to look at thefacts and you know I will say
that it has been a very rockyroad these last couple of months
(01:23):
.
It has been a very rocky roadthese last couple of months and
you know I thought you know, hey, once the dust settles, let me
go ahead and get back on andI'll do an episode at that time.
But unfortunately the dustcontinues to be kicked up.
It is one thing after another.
It seems like nothing is goingto stay the same.
There is monumental changehappening everywhere and no one
(01:45):
is experiencing this more.
I think Now again, I only haveone scope that I see this
through.
But man, FEMA is under someintense, intense scrutiny.
They are really getting it fromall directions and it is, you
know, to say the least,interesting to watch and be part
(02:11):
of this whole situation and thewondering what happens, when do
we go from here?
What does the future look likein terms of federal assistance,
whether that be publicassistance, training, private
(02:33):
assistance, All of these thingsthat the federal government has
owned and us state and localagencies have had to adapt to
and finally figured things out?
In a way, it is all going tochange.
(02:57):
And so, you know, obviouslywaiting for the dust to settle
wasn't going to happen, or elseI just wasn't going to do
another episode.
Waiting for the dust to settlewasn't going to happen, or else
I just wasn't going to doanother episode.
So I figured why not?
Let's dive into it, let's lookat this situation for what it is
and let's unpack it.
You know, the last episode Idid was the wildfires and I
(03:18):
unpacked that and I did it in away that was just the facts, and
that's what I intend to do herebut you know, like I said
earlier is that we don't knowwhat the future forecasting,
what we're going to do, and thenwhen I say we, I mean the
(03:50):
entire emergency managementprofession.
What are we going to do in thefuture?
We have to look to the past,and so I am starting this today
as episode one of a series onFEMA.
(04:10):
Now, this is going to look back,it's going to look at the
present, it's going to lookpotentially towards the future,
and we're going to unpack all ofthe things that FEMA does, all
the things that FEMA did, andI'm really excited about this.
Now I am building the shipwhile I'm sailing it, folks, so
(04:32):
it's not going to be a perfectsymphony of what a podcast
should be.
I am literally going to look atwhat is happening at the
present moment and I'm going todo my absolute best to be able
to string that together and beable to tell the story of what
(04:53):
is FEMA, what do they do, howdoes it affect local agencies
and what do those local agenciesor state agencies, what do they
have to expect as we go forwardin this new world of emergency
management?
So hang on tight, folks, we'regoing to go ahead and we're
going to get right into this.
(05:14):
We're going to start unpackingthis and we are going to start
today with this new series,episode one the story of FEMA.
The story of FEMA, let's getright into it.
So let's rewind to the 1970s.
Obviously, there was somepretty good music happening in
(05:36):
that time, but also America'sdisaster response was, let's
just say, less than ideal.
It was a little messy, right.
So there was various agencies,some in the DOD, the Department
of Defense, others in HUD orHousing and Urban Development,
Department of Commerce.
They were all responsible fordifferent aspects of emergency
(05:56):
management.
It was chaotic, it wasduplicative and it was slow.
Right, Speed of government.
Right, it was exactly whatyou'd expect.
So in 1979, President JimmyCarter at the time he signed
Executive Order 12127, and thatofficially created the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, orFEMA.
(06:17):
Now it was designed to be aone-stop shop, a single federal
agency for coordinating theresponse to disasters, big and
small.
Now FEMA absorbed variousfunctions from five different
agencies.
That included the FederalInsurance Administration, the
(06:38):
National Fire Prevention andControl Administration and the
National Preparedness Agency.
That consolidation was a bigdeal.
It meant that for the firsttime, the federal government had
a dedicated agency for planning, response, recovery and
mitigation.
But in the early days it wasvery, very rocky and
(06:59):
unpredictable.
Kind of seems relevant, right.
So FEMA was immediatelypoliticized, of course, and like
so many other federal entities,it had to figure out its
identity on the fly.
So it's easy to forget, butFEMA wasn't originally created
(07:20):
for natural disasters.
The things that we think aboutFEMA now hurricanes, wildfires,
whatever it was primarilyfocused on one thing, and that
one thing seems a great dealdifferent than what we deal with
now, and that was the potentialfor nuclear war.
So during the Cold War, FEMA'sbudget and planning prioritized
(07:43):
continuity of government.
In the event of a nuclearattack on the United States.
That meant stockpiling supplies, building bunkers and creating
secret evacuation plans for topgovernment officials.
And while that work had value,especially in the eyes of the
national security leaders at thetime, it came at the expense of
(08:03):
real-world natural disasterpreparedness.
During this era of FEMA, theirresponse to floods, earthquakes
and all the other things that wethink of FEMA now was often
criticized by many as slow andineffective.
Internal management wasdescribed by some as bloated and
(08:25):
overly focused on doomsdayscenarios, disconnected from the
needs of actual communities foremergencies that were actually
happening.
One example is the 1989earthquake in California that
took place during the WorldSeries.
Fema was widely seen assluggish in coordinating a
(08:46):
federal response.
Critics pointed to the agency'sCold War fixation as the reason
they were unprepared for anactual, real-life, real-time
disaster.
So now let's fast forward fromthat to 1992, and Hurricane
Andrew comes in and justabsolutely devastates South
(09:08):
Florida, Kills 65 people,leaving hundreds of thousands of
people homeless.
And FEMA's response?
It was, in a word, a disaster.
Their response was equally asdisastrous as Hurricane Andrew
itself.
Federal officials were slow toarrive, Relief supplies were
(09:29):
misallocated, Bureaucratic redtape held up recovery efforts
for weeks.
Imagine that Public outragefollowed, and rightfully so.
But FEMA became a nationalpunching bag at that time and
congressional hearings were heldand the media tore that agency
completely apart.
But here's the silver liningright, it was a wake-up call.
(09:53):
You know, obviously somebodydid an AAR and identified that
there needs to be some sort ofaction taken.
Right, we cannot continue tomarch forward with the way that
we've been handling these things.
So, you know, FEMA at the timeidentified that they definitely
need to wake up and adjust howthey do things for emergencies
(10:20):
that actually happen.
And how do we help localsrecover and respond to these
emergencies.
So in the aftermath of HurricaneAndrew, there was a bipartisan
agreement that FEMA needed someserious reform.
So President Clinton at thetime appointed James Lee Witt as
(10:41):
the FEMA director in 1993, thefirst director with actual
emergency management experience.
That appointment would changeFEMA as we know it.
So under James Lee Witt FEMAtransformed, and I do not say
that lightly, it was an absolutetransformative experience that
(11:05):
they went through once Mr Witt,or Witt, was put in charge.
So he decentralized FEMA'soperations, he gave regional
directors more power, heimproved coordination with state
and local governments.
He focused on mitigation andpreparedness, not just the
response part.
(11:26):
So during this time FEMA waselevated, actually to a
cabinet-level status, giving theagency more authority and more
visibility.
And the results spoke forthemselves.
From 1994, there was the NorthRidge earthquake, there was the
Oklahoma City bombing and FEMA'sresponses were praised as
(11:48):
organized, efficient andcompassionate.
This was FEMA's golden age.
For the first time the agencyhad real credibility with the
public, with Congress and withthe emergency management
community.
All right now this is going tobe something that a lot of
(12:08):
people remember, A lot of peopleremember.
Then came 9-11.
September 11th 2001,.
Terrorist attacks changed thenational focus and FEMA's place
within the federal government in2003 was completely changed.
(12:30):
Fema was absorbed into thenewly created Department of
Homeland Security and that madeit not a cabinet-level position
anymore.
The cabinet-level position wasthen the director of Homeland
Security and FEMA was underneaththem.
Now, this move was controversial.
Critics warned that foldingFEMA into the Department of
Homeland Security wouldpotentially dilute its mission,
(12:54):
with too much focus on terrorismand not enough on these
commonly occurring naturaldisasters.
And that was, you know, reallydue to the experience that FEMA
had gone through previously,with the focus on nuclear war
(13:14):
and not enough focus on theactual preparedness, response
and recovery related to actuallyoccurring things that affect
Americans on a regular basis.
Now, when it became part of theDepartment of Homeland Security
, those fears were not wrong.
So the years after 9-11, FEMAlost a lot of funding.
(13:38):
So now that it was part of thisnew DHS or Department of
Homeland Security, the fundinghad to be split amongst all of
these different agencies.
So FEMA really wasn't fundedthe way that it was, as it was a
cabinet level position.
They also lost the authorityand they lost a lot of momentum.
(13:59):
Preparedness programs weredefunded in favor of
counterterrorism and it was apivot that had major
consequences down the line.
So here we go, fast forwardingagain.
Let's go forward a couple ofyears and boom, 2005, hurricane
Katrina.
This was FEMA's lowest point.
(14:22):
Now, just saying the wordKatrina to anyone that worked in
emergency management at thattime, man, they know what you're
talking about.
You know.
All you got to do is do aGoogle search of Kanye West and
Hurricane Katrina and you'll seesome of the fallout that came
(14:46):
from that storm, and that was abig one.
That was a doozy.
Now, in August 2005, thathurricane, Hurricane Katrina.
It made landfall in Louisianaand Mississippi and the levees
completely failed.
Thousands were stranded and itwasn't hard to find images of
people trapped on rooftopspleading for help.
And it really shocked the world, not just the United States
(15:09):
world, not just the UnitedStates.
Now, FEMA's response was andthis is being generous an
operational failure, and that'sno secret it is now.
I got my bachelor's degree inemergency management and the
response of FEMA to HurricaneKatrina is a massive lesson that
they teach on what not to do.
(15:32):
So that speaks for itself.
Now, during that storm, theleadership of FEMA was
disorganized, Communicationsystems failed everywhere,
Resources were misallocated,People died waiting for help.
That never came.
Michael Brown, the FEMAadministrator at that time,
became infamous after PresidentBush praised him with the now
(15:54):
infamous line Brownie, you'redoing a heck of a job.
The backlash was immediate.
Fema was investigated, thenreformed, then ridiculed,
reformed, again, ridiculed.
More public confidence in theagency plummeted to almost
non-existent.
But again, just like afterHurricane Andrew, Katrina
(16:17):
sparked reforms.
It led to the Post-KatrinaEmergency Management Reform Act
of 2006, which gave FEMA moreauthority within the Department
of Homeland Security andrestored some of its
preparedness functions.
Now we go into the more modernera of FEMA's existence, of
(16:43):
FEMA's existence.
So the post-Katrina FEMAobviously is very different than
the pre and during Katrinaexistence had moments of
redemption.
So the agency's response toHurricane Sandy in 2012 was
actually widely praised by many.
It was faster, it was morecoordinated, it was better
integrated with local and stateagencies and under the
(17:06):
leadership of people like CraigFugate, another experienced
emergency manager, FEMAemphasized whole community
preparedness, resilience and theuse of technology in disaster
management.
All right, so now we're fastforwarding again and we're
getting to a point where peopleare really going to start to
(17:28):
remember what things were like.
So now we go to the dreadedCOVID-19 pandemic, and FEMA
played a big part in that.
They played a supporting role,helping to distribute personal
protective equipment or PPE.
They deployed field hospitalscoordinated with state health
(17:51):
departments.
But the pandemic revealedcracks in the broader emergency
management system supply chainissues, interagency,
miscommunication andinconsistent federal guidance.
The right hand wasn't talkingto the left.
It also blurred the linesbetween public health emergency
management, which raisedquestions about how FEMA fits
(18:14):
into a world increasingly shapedby long-duration, complex
crisis, shaped by long duration,complex crisis.
So, after COVID-19, where do wego?
So obviously, FEMA has come along way since its inception in
1979.
It's had shining moments.
It's had embarrassing failures.
(18:39):
It's been a Cold War civildefense agency, a response
agency, counterterrorism supportagency and a pandemic logistics
agency.
But through it all, one thing isclear FEMA does matter.
It is the last resort whenlocal and state agencies have
exhausted all of their resource.
It's the last people that youcall for help when you have
(19:06):
nothing else.
You've got to have a backup.
So in my line of work we alwaystalk about pace planning.
You have your primary, youralternate, your contingent and
your emergency.
Now, a lot of the time thatthat you know that's about
communications.
You know when, when one line ofcommunication fails, you know
(19:27):
what's your alternate, what'syour backup plan, what's your
backup to the backup, and so onand so on.
When it comes to emergencymanagement as a whole, FEMA is
the backup plan.
Fema is the E in the PACE plan,and when you've exhausted all
of your resources, you need thatE in the PACE plan.
(19:48):
So you know it's important, yougot to have it, have it.
Now.
I'm not going to sit here anddefend FEMA and say that
everything that they do isperfect and that there was no
need for reform.
No, I would never say that,because that's just not reality.
There was absolutely a need forreform.
(20:09):
There was absolutely room forimprovement.
Maybe it was a little bloated,you know.
And another thing that FEMAdoes is they provide training,
they create curriculum, theydesign positions within the
incident command system and thenthey train people on those
(20:32):
positions and then thosepositions are staffed and
carried out for localemergencies when they happen,
and carried out for localemergencies when they happen.
Well now, without that guidanceand you leave it up to the
states to figure out their ownway there is going to be no
central system that's relied onand used.
(20:55):
The curriculum is going to bedifferent, the credentialing is
going to be different, thecurriculum is going to be
different, the credentialing isgoing to be different.
(21:17):
So there is definitely someconcern when it look at the past
and we can learn from it and wecan say how do we make the
future better.
Now, again, there's a lot ofquestions that have to be
answered.
The dust finally has to settle.
We have to stop kicking up newdust to be able to move forward
(21:41):
in a way that allows us as anation, and emergency management
as a profession, to chart ourbest course forward, and it's
going to take the entireemergency management community
working together to make thathappen community working
together to make that happen.
(22:01):
Now, natural disasters arebecoming more frequent and again
, I'm not going to get politicalon this, but they're also
becoming more severe and afederal role is extremely
important as those continue tohappen.
(22:22):
Now, in future episodes of thisseries, I'm going to dig deeper
.
I'm going to dig deeper intohow FEMA works, or how it
doesn't work in today'senvironment.
We're going to talk about grantfunding delays, staffing cuts,
the temporary closure of thetraining academy and the future
of federal emergency managementas a whole.
But today I wanted to set thestage.
(22:43):
Fema's story isn't just ahistory lesson.
Like I said, it's a blueprintfor understanding where we go
from here.
So, ladies and gentlemen, Iwant to thank you for bearing
with me, Thank you for waiting,Thank you for having patience,
Thank you for not going away andthank you for listening today,
(23:06):
and I ask that you continue tolisten, and I ask that you keep
an open mind and I ask that youhave hope.
Have hope that the dust willsettle, have hope that our
profession emergency managementas a whole, will continue to
survive, and have hope thatmaybe, just maybe, there are
(23:32):
brighter days on the horizon.
So, if you're struggling, talkto somebody.
If you're having a hard timewith dealing with the
unpredictability of our futureas a profession, if you've lost
your job, if you're confused ornot sure where to go, talk to
(23:52):
somebody.
Talk to somebody about it.
There is now a whole new groupof people that are going through
a very similar experience.
You are not alone and there arepeople to help.
So thank you for listening toanother episode of the EOC
podcast emergency operationsconversations.
My name is Jeff Perkins and I'mhappy that you joined me today,
(24:15):
and I ask that you join me forthe next episode and all the
ones after that.
I'm going to go ahead and closethe EOC for today and I look
forward to our next episode.
Take care, Stay safe, Take careof each other.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the EOC
Podcast, Emergency OperationsConversations.
I am your host, Jeff Perkins,and I'm very happy to have you
with me again.
It's been a long time, folks.
It's been quite a while sinceI've been able to get behind the
mic and actually do an episodehere.
(00:40):
The last episode that we didwas the Los Angeles fires and
kind of a comprehensive overviewof that, and then something
happened after that point andsince that time, man, I tell you
what federal resources havebeen strapped.
There has been some crazinessgoing on Now again, just like
(01:01):
the episode about the LosAngeles fires.
I'm not going to get politicalhere.
I really do not have aninterest in engaging in
political conversation back andforth.
I'm just going to look at thefacts and you know I will say
that it has been a very rockyroad these last couple of months
(01:23):
.
It has been a very rocky roadthese last couple of months and
you know I thought you know, hey, once the dust settles, let me
go ahead and get back on andI'll do an episode at that time.
But unfortunately the dustcontinues to be kicked up.
It is one thing after another.
It seems like nothing is goingto stay the same.
There is monumental changehappening everywhere and no one
(01:45):
is experiencing this more.
I think Now again, I only haveone scope that I see this
through.
But man, FEMA is under someintense, intense scrutiny.
They are really getting it fromall directions and it is, you
know, to say the least,interesting to watch and be part
(02:11):
of this whole situation and thewondering what happens, when do
we go from here?
What does the future look likein terms of federal assistance,
whether that be publicassistance, training, private
(02:33):
assistance, All of these thingsthat the federal government has
owned and us state and localagencies have had to adapt to
and finally figured things out?
In a way, it is all going tochange.
(02:57):
And so, you know, obviouslywaiting for the dust to settle
wasn't going to happen, or elseI just wasn't going to do
another episode.
Waiting for the dust to settlewasn't going to happen, or else
I just wasn't going to doanother episode.
So I figured why not?
Let's dive into it, let's lookat this situation for what it is
and let's unpack it.
You know, the last episode Idid was the wildfires and I
(03:18):
unpacked that and I did it in away that was just the facts, and
that's what I intend to do herebut you know, like I said
earlier is that we don't knowwhat the future forecasting,
what we're going to do, and thenwhen I say we, I mean the
(03:50):
entire emergency managementprofession.
What are we going to do in thefuture?
We have to look to the past,and so I am starting this today
as episode one of a series onFEMA.
(04:10):
Now, this is going to look back,it's going to look at the
present, it's going to lookpotentially towards the future,
and we're going to unpack all ofthe things that FEMA does, all
the things that FEMA did, andI'm really excited about this.
Now I am building the shipwhile I'm sailing it, folks, so
(04:32):
it's not going to be a perfectsymphony of what a podcast
should be.
I am literally going to look atwhat is happening at the
present moment and I'm going todo my absolute best to be able
to string that together and beable to tell the story of what
(04:53):
is FEMA, what do they do, howdoes it affect local agencies
and what do those local agenciesor state agencies, what do they
have to expect as we go forwardin this new world of emergency
management?
So hang on tight, folks, we'regoing to go ahead and we're
going to get right into this.
(05:14):
We're going to start unpackingthis and we are going to start
today with this new series,episode one the story of FEMA.
The story of FEMA, let's getright into it.
So let's rewind to the 1970s.
Obviously, there was somepretty good music happening in
(05:36):
that time, but also America'sdisaster response was, let's
just say, less than ideal.
It was a little messy, right.
So there was various agencies,some in the DOD, the Department
of Defense, others in HUD orHousing and Urban Development,
Department of Commerce.
They were all responsible fordifferent aspects of emergency
(05:56):
management.
It was chaotic, it wasduplicative and it was slow.
Right, Speed of government.
Right, it was exactly whatyou'd expect.
So in 1979, President JimmyCarter at the time he signed
Executive Order 12127, and thatofficially created the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, orFEMA.
(06:17):
Now it was designed to be aone-stop shop, a single federal
agency for coordinating theresponse to disasters, big and
small.
Now FEMA absorbed variousfunctions from five different
agencies.
That included the FederalInsurance Administration, the
(06:38):
National Fire Prevention andControl Administration and the
National Preparedness Agency.
That consolidation was a bigdeal.
It meant that for the firsttime, the federal government had
a dedicated agency for planning, response, recovery and
mitigation.
But in the early days it wasvery, very rocky and
(06:59):
unpredictable.
Kind of seems relevant, right.
So FEMA was immediatelypoliticized, of course, and like
so many other federal entities,it had to figure out its
identity on the fly.
So it's easy to forget, butFEMA wasn't originally created
(07:20):
for natural disasters.
The things that we think aboutFEMA now hurricanes, wildfires,
whatever it was primarilyfocused on one thing, and that
one thing seems a great dealdifferent than what we deal with
now, and that was the potentialfor nuclear war.
So during the Cold War, FEMA'sbudget and planning prioritized
(07:43):
continuity of government.
In the event of a nuclearattack on the United States.
That meant stockpiling supplies, building bunkers and creating
secret evacuation plans for topgovernment officials.
And while that work had value,especially in the eyes of the
national security leaders at thetime, it came at the expense of
(08:03):
real-world natural disasterpreparedness.
During this era of FEMA, theirresponse to floods, earthquakes
and all the other things that wethink of FEMA now was often
criticized by many as slow andineffective.
Internal management wasdescribed by some as bloated and
(08:25):
overly focused on doomsdayscenarios, disconnected from the
needs of actual communities foremergencies that were actually
happening.
One example is the 1989earthquake in California that
took place during the WorldSeries.
Fema was widely seen assluggish in coordinating a
(08:46):
federal response.
Critics pointed to the agency'sCold War fixation as the reason
they were unprepared for anactual, real-life, real-time
disaster.
So now let's fast forward fromthat to 1992, and Hurricane
Andrew comes in and justabsolutely devastates South
(09:08):
Florida, Kills 65 people,leaving hundreds of thousands of
people homeless.
And FEMA's response?
It was, in a word, a disaster.
Their response was equally asdisastrous as Hurricane Andrew
itself.
Federal officials were slow toarrive, Relief supplies were
(09:29):
misallocated, Bureaucratic redtape held up recovery efforts
for weeks.
Imagine that Public outragefollowed, and rightfully so.
But FEMA became a nationalpunching bag at that time and
congressional hearings were heldand the media tore that agency
completely apart.
But here's the silver liningright, it was a wake-up call.
(09:53):
You know, obviously somebodydid an AAR and identified that
there needs to be some sort ofaction taken.
Right, we cannot continue tomarch forward with the way that
we've been handling these things.
So, you know, FEMA at the timeidentified that they definitely
need to wake up and adjust howthey do things for emergencies
(10:20):
that actually happen.
And how do we help localsrecover and respond to these
emergencies.
So in the aftermath of HurricaneAndrew, there was a bipartisan
agreement that FEMA needed someserious reform.
So President Clinton at thetime appointed James Lee Witt as
(10:41):
the FEMA director in 1993, thefirst director with actual
emergency management experience.
That appointment would changeFEMA as we know it.
So under James Lee Witt FEMAtransformed, and I do not say
that lightly, it was an absolutetransformative experience that
(11:05):
they went through once Mr Witt,or Witt, was put in charge.
So he decentralized FEMA'soperations, he gave regional
directors more power, heimproved coordination with state
and local governments.
He focused on mitigation andpreparedness, not just the
response part.
(11:26):
So during this time FEMA waselevated, actually to a
cabinet-level status, giving theagency more authority and more
visibility.
And the results spoke forthemselves.
From 1994, there was the NorthRidge earthquake, there was the
Oklahoma City bombing and FEMA'sresponses were praised as
(11:48):
organized, efficient andcompassionate.
This was FEMA's golden age.
For the first time the agencyhad real credibility with the
public, with Congress and withthe emergency management
community.
All right now this is going tobe something that a lot of
(12:08):
people remember, A lot of peopleremember.
Then came 9-11.
September 11th 2001,.
Terrorist attacks changed thenational focus and FEMA's place
within the federal government in2003 was completely changed.
(12:30):
Fema was absorbed into thenewly created Department of
Homeland Security and that madeit not a cabinet-level position
anymore.
The cabinet-level position wasthen the director of Homeland
Security and FEMA was underneaththem.
Now, this move was controversial.
Critics warned that foldingFEMA into the Department of
Homeland Security wouldpotentially dilute its mission,
(12:54):
with too much focus on terrorismand not enough on these
commonly occurring naturaldisasters.
And that was, you know, reallydue to the experience that FEMA
had gone through previously,with the focus on nuclear war
(13:14):
and not enough focus on theactual preparedness, response
and recovery related to actuallyoccurring things that affect
Americans on a regular basis.
Now, when it became part of theDepartment of Homeland Security
, those fears were not wrong.
So the years after 9-11, FEMAlost a lot of funding.
(13:38):
So now that it was part of thisnew DHS or Department of
Homeland Security, the fundinghad to be split amongst all of
these different agencies.
So FEMA really wasn't fundedthe way that it was, as it was a
cabinet level position.
They also lost the authorityand they lost a lot of momentum.
(13:59):
Preparedness programs weredefunded in favor of
counterterrorism and it was apivot that had major
consequences down the line.
So here we go, fast forwardingagain.
Let's go forward a couple ofyears and boom, 2005, hurricane
Katrina.
This was FEMA's lowest point.
(14:22):
Now, just saying the wordKatrina to anyone that worked in
emergency management at thattime, man, they know what you're
talking about.
You know.
All you got to do is do aGoogle search of Kanye West and
Hurricane Katrina and you'll seesome of the fallout that came
(14:46):
from that storm, and that was abig one.
That was a doozy.
Now, in August 2005, thathurricane, Hurricane Katrina.
It made landfall in Louisianaand Mississippi and the levees
completely failed.
Thousands were stranded and itwasn't hard to find images of
people trapped on rooftopspleading for help.
And it really shocked the world, not just the United States
(15:09):
world, not just the UnitedStates.
Now, FEMA's response was andthis is being generous an
operational failure, and that'sno secret it is now.
I got my bachelor's degree inemergency management and the
response of FEMA to HurricaneKatrina is a massive lesson that
they teach on what not to do.
(15:32):
So that speaks for itself.
Now, during that storm, theleadership of FEMA was
disorganized, Communicationsystems failed everywhere,
Resources were misallocated,People died waiting for help.
That never came.
Michael Brown, the FEMAadministrator at that time,
became infamous after PresidentBush praised him with the now
(15:54):
infamous line Brownie, you'redoing a heck of a job.
The backlash was immediate.
Fema was investigated, thenreformed, then ridiculed,
reformed, again, ridiculed.
More public confidence in theagency plummeted to almost
non-existent.
But again, just like afterHurricane Andrew, Katrina
(16:17):
sparked reforms.
It led to the Post-KatrinaEmergency Management Reform Act
of 2006, which gave FEMA moreauthority within the Department
of Homeland Security andrestored some of its
preparedness functions.
Now we go into the more modernera of FEMA's existence, of
(16:43):
FEMA's existence.
So the post-Katrina FEMAobviously is very different than
the pre and during Katrinaexistence had moments of
redemption.
So the agency's response toHurricane Sandy in 2012 was
actually widely praised by many.
It was faster, it was morecoordinated, it was better
integrated with local and stateagencies and under the
(17:06):
leadership of people like CraigFugate, another experienced
emergency manager, FEMAemphasized whole community
preparedness, resilience and theuse of technology in disaster
management.
All right, so now we're fastforwarding again and we're
getting to a point where peopleare really going to start to
(17:28):
remember what things were like.
So now we go to the dreadedCOVID-19 pandemic, and FEMA
played a big part in that.
They played a supporting role,helping to distribute personal
protective equipment or PPE.
They deployed field hospitalscoordinated with state health
(17:51):
departments.
But the pandemic revealedcracks in the broader emergency
management system supply chainissues, interagency,
miscommunication andinconsistent federal guidance.
The right hand wasn't talkingto the left.
It also blurred the linesbetween public health emergency
management, which raisedquestions about how FEMA fits
(18:14):
into a world increasingly shapedby long-duration, complex
crisis, shaped by long duration,complex crisis.
So, after COVID-19, where do wego?
So obviously, FEMA has come along way since its inception in
1979.
It's had shining moments.
It's had embarrassing failures.
(18:39):
It's been a Cold War civildefense agency, a response
agency, counterterrorism supportagency and a pandemic logistics
agency.
But through it all, one thing isclear FEMA does matter.
It is the last resort whenlocal and state agencies have
exhausted all of their resource.
It's the last people that youcall for help when you have
(19:06):
nothing else.
You've got to have a backup.
So in my line of work we alwaystalk about pace planning.
You have your primary, youralternate, your contingent and
your emergency.
Now, a lot of the time thatthat you know that's about
communications.
You know when, when one line ofcommunication fails, you know
(19:27):
what's your alternate, what'syour backup plan, what's your
backup to the backup, and so onand so on.
When it comes to emergencymanagement as a whole, FEMA is
the backup plan.
Fema is the E in the PACE plan,and when you've exhausted all
of your resources, you need thatE in the PACE plan.
(19:48):
So you know it's important, yougot to have it, have it.
Now.
I'm not going to sit here anddefend FEMA and say that
everything that they do isperfect and that there was no
need for reform.
No, I would never say that,because that's just not reality.
There was absolutely a need forreform.
(20:09):
There was absolutely room forimprovement.
Maybe it was a little bloated,you know.
And another thing that FEMAdoes is they provide training,
they create curriculum, theydesign positions within the
incident command system and thenthey train people on those
(20:32):
positions and then thosepositions are staffed and
carried out for localemergencies when they happen,
and carried out for localemergencies when they happen.
Well now, without that guidanceand you leave it up to the
states to figure out their ownway there is going to be no
central system that's relied onand used.
(20:55):
The curriculum is going to bedifferent, the credentialing is
going to be different, thecurriculum is going to be
different, the credentialing isgoing to be different.
(21:17):
So there is definitely someconcern when it look at the past
and we can learn from it and wecan say how do we make the
future better.
Now, again, there's a lot ofquestions that have to be
answered.
The dust finally has to settle.
We have to stop kicking up newdust to be able to move forward
(21:41):
in a way that allows us as anation, and emergency management
as a profession, to chart ourbest course forward, and it's
going to take the entireemergency management community
working together to make thathappen community working
together to make that happen.
(22:01):
Now, natural disasters arebecoming more frequent and again
, I'm not going to get politicalon this, but they're also
becoming more severe and afederal role is extremely
important as those continue tohappen.
(22:22):
Now, in future episodes of thisseries, I'm going to dig deeper
.
I'm going to dig deeper intohow FEMA works, or how it
doesn't work in today'senvironment.
We're going to talk about grantfunding delays, staffing cuts,
the temporary closure of thetraining academy and the future
of federal emergency managementas a whole.
But today I wanted to set thestage.
(22:43):
Fema's story isn't just ahistory lesson.
Like I said, it's a blueprintfor understanding where we go
from here.
So, ladies and gentlemen, Iwant to thank you for bearing
with me, Thank you for waiting,Thank you for having patience,
Thank you for not going away andthank you for listening today,
(23:06):
and I ask that you continue tolisten, and I ask that you keep
an open mind and I ask that youhave hope.
Have hope that the dust willsettle, have hope that our
profession emergency managementas a whole, will continue to
survive, and have hope thatmaybe, just maybe, there are
(23:32):
brighter days on the horizon.
So, if you're struggling, talkto somebody.
If you're having a hard timewith dealing with the
unpredictability of our futureas a profession, if you've lost
your job, if you're confused ornot sure where to go, talk to
(23:52):
somebody.
Talk to somebody about it.
There is now a whole new groupof people that are going through
a very similar experience.
You are not alone and there arepeople to help.
So thank you for listening toanother episode of the EOC
podcast emergency operationsconversations.
My name is Jeff Perkins and I'mhappy that you joined me today,
(24:15):
and I ask that you join me forthe next episode and all the
ones after that.
I'm going to go ahead and closethe EOC for today and I look
forward to our next episode.
Take care, Stay safe, Take careof each other.
Thank you.
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