Sucess of reforms after Katrina bolster arguments FEMA should remain within DHS, witnesses tell House panel

A House subcommittee hearing Tuesday on progress being made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on implementing the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act was dominated by discussion on how the Act improved FEMA's integration into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), thereby strengthening both organizations.

Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response, argued that evidence of the effectiveness of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) demonstrated that FEMA should remain within DHS.

"We can choose ignore the great stride FEMA has made in their preparedness and response to the ice storms, fire, tornadoes, and floods since PKEMRA has been enacted. We can choose to discount the reality that Congress--not once, but twice--decided to locate FEMA within the Department. We did it with PKEMRA and with the Homeland Security Act in 2002."

The Post-Katrina Act placed restrictions on possible reorganizations by DHS and provided the administrator of FEMA with a direct line to the president. The Act also integrated preparedness and response functions into FEMA. As such, the Post-Katrina Act has met with approval from a range of first responder groups, who agree that FEMA should remain within DHS, Cuellar declared. Those groups include the International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Firefighters, International Association of Chiefs of Police, and others.

The Post-Katrina Act has strengthened FEMA, which has acted to speed response, develop plans, and to increase collaboration with state and local governments since the Act's passage, testified Corey Gruber, FEMA acting deputy administrator for National Preparedness.

"An improved level of preparedness and the enhanced performance of response and recovery actions in recent disasters have demonstrated noteworthy progress in implementing the PKEMRA reforms," Gruber stated.

"As a prime result of the PKEMRA legislation, our nation's emergency response system is more anticipatory than ever; our regions and the National Response Coordination Center have newfound capabilities, such as the ability to host daily video teleconference calls with federal and state interagency partners; our national response teams are more numerous and more robust; we are more effectively pre-staging resources and commodities; and we are deploying new capacity such as our housing task force," he added.

Since the Post-Katrina Act, FEMA and DHS have avoided conflicts over where responsibilities lie during a catastrophe, noted William Jenkins, director of Homeland Security and Justice at Government Accountability Office (GAO). For example, DHS has avoided appointing a principle federal officer, a representative of the homeland security secretary that critics feared would conflict with FEMA's federal coordinating officer. Of course, Congress also withheld funds for appointing a principle federal officer, he added.

In addition, the DHS Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) has been careful not to duplicate efforts within FEMA related to emergency communications, Jenkins revealed. OEC has sent representatives to meetings of FEMA regional staff to share information and coordinate efforts. FEMA reported it would hire interoperability coordinators within each of its 10 regions in 2009.

Congress also has tasked FEMA with a number of improvements to the National Response Framework and other plans and strategies and DHS headquarters oversees FEMA's efforts to complete these tasks, Jenkins said.

When considering removing FEMA from DHS, policymakers should recognize that "organization or form of FEMA should follow its function," contended Daniel Kaniewski, deputy director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at The George Washington University.

FEMA's responsibilities to coordinate responses and to mitigate risk in all-hazard scenarios call for it to remain in DHS, Kaniewski stated.

"If DHS is to execute its incident management responsibilities, it should be vested with the critical preparedness and response missions of FEMA," he argued. "Without FEMA, DHS will have little statutory or organizational capability to effectively manage the response to an incident."

In addition, the homeland security secretary, as a permanent member of the US President's cabinet, can serve as a powerful advocate for FEMA and gather resources for its management during an emergency, Kaniewski added. Removing FEMA from DHS also would create bureaucratic confusion and hurt employee morale with yet another reorganization.

DHS Inspector General (IG) Richard Skinner, drawing his arguments from the recent IG report titled "FEMA: In or Out?", also supported leaving FEMA within DHS.

Skinner countered arguments for FEMA's independence by noting it did not perform well as an independent agency during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 nor during TOPOFF exercises in 2000. Success experienced by FEMA in the interim was attributable to the leadership of former FEMA chief James Lee Witt rather than its status as an independent agency, Skinner asserted.

Removing FEMA from DHS also would weaken DHS, which would lose an important component integrated into its financial management, information technology and procurement functions, Skinner said. Reorganizing FEMA and DHS ultimately would destabilize both organizations, he added.

FEMA also enjoys a close working relationship with other components of DHS as part of the bigger department, Skinner observed. The agency can draw upon the resources of its fellow DHS components quickly in times of emergency due to the close relationships that have been fostered within DHS.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) joined the hearing to offer some examples of how those close relationships could yield productive results in particular emergencies.

"When the federal government is called to assist in search and rescue, FEMA tasks the Coast Guard. When asked to help restore communications, FEMA tasks the Department's National Communication System," Thompson remarked.

"When asked to establish a mass air evacuation, FEMA relies on TSA. FEMA's positioning within the Department of Homeland Security is critical to its ability to leverage the resources of DHS components," he said.

Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has introduced legislation to remove FEMA from DHS.