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.
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