There is a lot of talk about the incoming President-Elect Obama's priorities for emergency management. A lot of the comments actually talk about the homeland security priorities when they are actually talking about emergency management. This is, of course, a result of the homeland security takeover that occurred after 9/11. One of the first casualties of that takeover was FEMA.
In the Clinton Administration, with James Lee Witt at the helm, FEMA went from worst to first, a Cabinet level independent agency that concentrated on emergency management issues with the full support of the President. FEMA should be returned to that status as soon as possible.
Yes, it is true that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for emergency management agencies in this country. However, one of the principles of emergency management is collaboration. An effective emergency management agency, at any level of government, is able to build relationships and consensus. As noted in ICMA Emergency Management: Principles and Practices for Local Government, as well as many other publications, an effective emergency management agency is more focused on coordination and collaboration, and less on command and control.
Another of the principles is to be comprehensive. Again, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but most emergency managers will tell you that the agency responsible for emergency management needs to be in direct connection with the Chief Executive, and not buried in another agency with a more singular focus and multiple levels of bureaucracy in the way.
With the direct support of the Chief Executive, and with a good emergency manager who focuses on finding the win-win situations and spending just as much time on mitigation and recovery as on preparedness and response, the end result is an effective and efficient organization that sees the big picture and the long term. Improving government efficiency and effectiveness is a solution that fits all sizes.
WFTND Blog Information
An emergency manager trying to make a difference.
The name of the blog comes from a conversation with my daughter, where she told me that I was always looking to help people be prepared for the inevitable emergencies in life.
I started this blog as a place to assemble all the information that I was getting every day and to share my thoughts and ideas on emergency management.
I had no idea how much of the blog would wind up being what's in the news. While it does not take a lot to add a blog entry, I just did not realize how much of my day was involved with simply keeping up with what's going on. All of the posts, whether what's in the news or comments or just a piece of information, have a purpose; to get us thinking, to get us talking, and to make things better - in other words, to make a difference.
Hopefully this blog will save you some time and energy, or help you in some other way. If you would like to see something, please let me know.
Posting an article does not imply that I agree with the comments in the article. In fact, in many case, I do not agree, but feel that the comments should be part of the discussion. All opinions are welcome. I only ask that you remain considerate and professional of other opinions.
CLICK ON "MY WEB PAGE" ON THE WFTND BLOG PROFILE PAGE FOR MY LINKEDIN PUBLIC PROFILE
The name of the blog comes from a conversation with my daughter, where she told me that I was always looking to help people be prepared for the inevitable emergencies in life.
I started this blog as a place to assemble all the information that I was getting every day and to share my thoughts and ideas on emergency management.
I had no idea how much of the blog would wind up being what's in the news. While it does not take a lot to add a blog entry, I just did not realize how much of my day was involved with simply keeping up with what's going on. All of the posts, whether what's in the news or comments or just a piece of information, have a purpose; to get us thinking, to get us talking, and to make things better - in other words, to make a difference.
Hopefully this blog will save you some time and energy, or help you in some other way. If you would like to see something, please let me know.
Posting an article does not imply that I agree with the comments in the article. In fact, in many case, I do not agree, but feel that the comments should be part of the discussion. All opinions are welcome. I only ask that you remain considerate and professional of other opinions.
CLICK ON "MY WEB PAGE" ON THE WFTND BLOG PROFILE PAGE FOR MY LINKEDIN PUBLIC PROFILE
Favorite Quotes for the Emergency Manager
- “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “Failing to plan is planning to fail”
- “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” Denis Waitley
- "Station 51, KMG365."
- “One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” Arnold H. Glasgow
- “An ostrich with its head in the sand is just as blind to opportunity as to disaster”
- “The powers in charge keep us in a perpetual state of fear keep us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” Douglas MacArthur
- “My ideas have undergone a process of emergence by emergency. When they are needed badly enough, they are accepted.” Buckminster Fuller
- “Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”
- "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, ..." Rudyard Kipling
- "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley
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