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Federal Emergency Management Agency

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"FEMA" redirects here. For other uses, see FEMA (disambiguation).
New FEMA seal

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. FEMA's purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster which has occurred in the United States and which overwhelms the resources of local and municipal authorities. Generally, the governor of the state in which the disaster occurred must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President of the United States that FEMA and the Federal Government respond to the disaster.

While on-the-ground, logistical support for disaster recovery is a major part of FEMA's charter, the agency is also responsible for the disbursement of government funds for rebuilding efforts and relief funds for individual citizens and businesses. FEMA also provides funds for training of response personnel throughout the United States and its territories as part of the agency's preparedness effort.



Response Capabilities

FEMA's emergency response is based around small, decentralized teams trained in such specialties as medical care, search and rescue, and communications.

National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)

These teams provide medical and allied care to disaster victims. Teams are made up of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc., and are typically sponsored by hospitals, public safety agencies or private organizations.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) provide medical care at disasters and are typically made up of doctors and paramedics. There are also National Nursing Response Teams (NNRT), National Pharmacy Response Teams (NPRT) and Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMAT). Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) provide mortuary and forensic services. National Medical Response Teams (NMRT) are equipped to decontaminate victims of chemical and biological agents.

Urban Search and Rescue (US&R)

These task forces rescue victims of structural collapse and other confined spaces, for example mines.

Mobile Emergency Response Systems (MERS)

These teams provide communications support to local public safety. For instance, they may operate a truck with satellite uplink, computers, telephone and power generation at a staging area near a disaster so that the responders can communicate with the outside world. There are also Mobile Air Transportable Telecommunications System (MATTS) assets which can be airlifted in.

Response to Major Disasters

Hurricane Andrew - 1992

(see also Hurricane Andrew)

In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck the Florida and Louisiana coasts with 165 mph (265 km/h) sustained winds. FEMA was widely criticized for the agency’s response to Andrew, summed up by the famous exclamation, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one?" by Dade County, Florida, emergency management director Kate Hale. FEMA and the federal government at large were accused of not responding fast enough to house, feed and sustain the approximately 250,000 people left homeless in the affected areas. Within five days the federal government and neighboring states had dispatched 20,000 National Guard and active duty troops to South Dade County to set up temporary housing. FEMA had previously been criticized for its response to Hurricane Hugo, which hit South Carolina in September 1989, and many of the same issues that plagued the agency during Hurricane Andrew were also evident during the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001

(see also September 11, 2001 attacks)

In the minutes after the first hijacked plane slammed into the World Trade Center towers, FEMA, as well as emergency services all over the city and state of New York, were mobilized. FEMA had deployed 25 of the 28 Urban Search and Rescue teams at its disposal to the World Trade Center site; however, the New York City Office of Emergency Management was in charge of the WTC recovery effort. FEMA played its largest role in the appropriation of federal funds to aid local and state governments in paying for the disaster. As of 2003, FEMA had received $5.5 billion USD to distribute among local and state agencies to help offset the cost of recovery. Within the $5.5 billion, FEMA was also allotted funds to pay for its own recovery efforts.

Hurricane Katrina – 2005

Evacuees taking shelter at the Reliant Astrodome.

(see also Hurricane Katrina)

August 2005 saw one of the worst natural disasters in United States history. FEMA received intense criticism for its response to the disaster. FEMA had pre-positioned response personnel in the Gulf Coast region, however many were only able to report of dire situation along the Gulf Coast, especially from New Orleans. FEMA was responsible for the evacuation of the thousands of people who remained in New Orleans during the storm, as well as initial recovery work and appropriations. Within three days, a large contingent of National Guard and active duty troops were deployed to the region.

The enormous number of evacuees simply overwhelmed rescue personnel. The situation was compounded by flood waters in the city that hampered transportation and poor communication among the federal government, state and local entities. FEMA was widely criticized for what is seen as a slow initial response to the disaster and an inability to effectively manage, care for and move those trying to leave the city. FEMA was also reported to have deliberately hampered rescue efforts, such as cutting emergency communcations lines, and turning back trucks trying to provide water and fuel. [1]

Then-FEMA Director Michael D. Brown was criticized personally for a slow response and apparent disconnect with the actual situation on the ground. Michael Brown would eventually be relieved of command of the Katrina disaster and soon thereafter resign.

Katrina was seen as the first major test of the nation’s new disaster response plan under DHS. It is widely held that many things did not function as planned. However, formal investigations have yet to determine who exactly is to blame (and to what extent) for the Katrina disaster.

Pursuant to a temporary restraining order issued by Hon. Stanwood R. Duval, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana as a result of the McWaters v. FEMA class-action, February 7, 2006 was set as the deadline for the official end of any further coverage of temporary housing costs for Katrina victims. See Court orders on December 12, 2005 and January 12, 2006.

After the February 7 deadline, Katrina victims were left to their own devices either to find permanent housing for the long term, or to continue in social welfare programs set up by other organizations. There are many Katrina evacuees living in temporary shelters and/or trailer parks set up by FEMA and other relief organizations in the first months after the disaster hit, but many more are still unable to find housing.

A second round of evictions is tentatively planned for March 15th, and in response, activists from across the United States are holding a mass march in Washington, D.C. the afternoon of the previous day. Meanwhile, March 11th is said by many news sources to be the deadline for filing Hurricane Katrina disaster relief applications (though one source does mention this deadline applies only to those who have never contacted FEMA in regards to Katrina before).

The telephone number to receive disaster assistance from FEMA is 1-800-621-3362. Survivors of Katrina can learn more about FEMA assistance, and get forms for FEMA recertification, at a wiki web site FEMAanswers.org.

Criticism

In 1997, James Bovard criticized FEMA for subsidizing rebuilding in places that are vulnerable to natural disasters, asking, "[D]o we really want to help rebuild homes and government property in areas that should never have been built on in the first place?" He also claimed that localities are less likely to fund their own snow removal if they know the federal government will bail them out in the event of snow emergencies [2]. Moreover, he said that FEMA is used by incumbent presidents to shore up political support [3]. The Cato Institute's Handbook for Congress argues that private companies could perform the tasks carried about by FEMA, and that this would encourage home construction in safer areas[4]:

Any time there is a natural disaster FEMA is trotted out as an example of how well government programs work. In reality, by using taxpayer dollars to provide disaster relief and subsidized insurance, FEMA itself encourages Americans to build in disaster-prone areas and makes the rest of us pick up the tab for those risk decisions. In a well-functioning private marketplace, individuals who chose to build houses in flood plains or hurricane zones would bear the cost of the increased risk through higher insurance premiums. FEMA's activities undermine that process. Americans should not be forced to pay the cost of rebuilding oceanfront summer homes. This $4 billion-a-year agency should be abolished.

FEMA does encourage disaster victims to reduce future losses by considering "taking steps to rebuild safer and smarter," advising them to [5]:

  • Take measures to reduce losses in the future;
  • Encourage community to participate in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
  • Consider buying flood insurance.

South Florida newspaper Sun-Sentinel has an extensive list of documented criticisms of FEMA during the four hurricanes that hit the region in 2004.[6] Some of the criticisms include:

  • When Hurricane Frances hit South Florida on Labor Day weekend (over 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County), 9,800 Miami-Dade applicants were approved by FEMA for $28 million in storm claims for new furniture; clothes; thousands of new televisions, microwaves and refrigerators; cars; dental bills; and a funeral even though the Medical Examiner recorded no deaths from Frances. A U.S. Senate committee and the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security found that FEMA inappropriately declared Miami-Dade county a disaster area and then awarded millions, often without verifying storm damage or a need for assistance. [7][8]
  • FEMA used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by the 2004 Hurricanes, the state's coroners have concluded. Ten of the people whose funerals were paid for were not even in Florida at the time of their deaths. [9]

Since Hurricane Katrina, some critics have called for FEMA to be removed from the Department of Homeland Security, saying that its position in the department badly hindered the agency's response, and that FEMA is beyond repair. Sen. Joe Lieberman called for Congress to dissolve FEMA and rebuild it from scratch, but within the DOH.

A Senate panel has also come to the conclusion that it would be better to abolish FEMA. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who was the leader of an inquiry by the Senate said FEMA was in "shambles and beyond repair." The panel called for a new agency which will be called the National Preparedness and Response Authority if FEMA is abolished. The rest of the Senate panel's recommendations included less dramatic changes, such as creating a Homeland Security Academy, which would better prepare FEMA officials.

"Conspiracy Theories"

FEMA's annual budget is partially secretive. While it remains unknown what some parts of FEMA's 6.4 billion dollar budget (1) will be spent on (2), forced government disclosures of FEMA's past activities paints a revealing picture. Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was a secret exercise to test governmental response to foreign or domestic disturbances that threatened the continuity of the State. Rex 84 and other tests like it demonstrate that FEMA's role extends far beyond responses to natural disasters or foreign/domestic terrorist attacks, and into the area of policing and undermining popular movements in which governmental authority is threatened. A July 5th, 1987 Miami Herald front page article is credited with bringing some of these secret activities into the open, at least amongst the mainstream media.

FEMA critics are quick to point out the executive orders that pertain to FEMA's role in a national emergency scenario 3:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An "emergency czar" was appointed.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned if contaminated beyond reasonable means of decontamination, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

There are numerous websites circulating information about "FEMA concentration camps" scattered throughout the United States. The language of such claims is enough for most people to dismiss them as the work of conspiracy theorists and therefore not of any credibility. However, Rex 84 makes it clear that FEMA and the DOD have engaged in test scenarios that at the very least imply the existence of such facilities. Furthermore, there is considerable documentation within the "conspiracy theorist" scene of the actual location of hundreds of these supposed camps. Considering the implications of Rex 84, and not forgetting that the State has indeed used such internment camps in the past (Japanese American internment), it would seem logical that many of these "FEMA concentration camps" really do exist in the capacity in which they are described. 4

List of FEMA Heads

As director of the agency:

  • James K. Hafer, E.O.P. Office of Emergency Preparedness, May 1975 - April 1979
  • Gordon Vickery (acting), April 1979 - July 1979
  • Thomas Casey (acting), July 1979
  • John Macy, August 1979 - January 1981
  • Bernard Gallagher (acting), January 1981 - April 1981
  • John W. McConnell (acting), April 1981 - May 1981
  • Louis O. Giuffrida, May 1981 - September 1985
  • Robert H. Morris (acting), September 1985 - November 1985
  • Julius W. Becton, Jr., November 1985 - June 1989
  • Robert H. Morris (acting), June 1989 - May 1990
  • Jerry D. Jennings (acting), May 1990 - August 1990
  • Wallace E. Stickney, August 1990 - January 1993
  • William C. Tidball (acting), January 1993 - April 1993

As Director of Cabinet-level agency:

As Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response within the Department of Homeland Security

As Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the Department of Homeland Security

As Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management within the Department of Homeland Security

FEMA in Fiction

Most fictional representations play off the Agency's supposed ability to assume dictatorial powers in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

See also

References

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