The president has proposed returning FEMA's functions to the states and created an advisory council to study reforming the agency. FEMA has faced criticism and the threat of extinction before. It was criticized for responding too slowly, and too weakly, to a series of disasters, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Within a few years, the agency turned itself around to become one of the most recognized brand names in government. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, politicians wanted to be seen at disasters sites alongside FEMA staff. Now, the government can learn from the past to revitalize FEMA today.
FEMA's mission is to help people before, during, and after disasters. The federal government's role in disaster assistance dates back to at least the Freedman's Bureau, which helped displaced southerners after the Civil War. Until the 1960's, the federal government's role was limited, and disaster relief was carried out primarily by states, localities, and the Red Cross.
President Lyndon Johnson broke tradition in the 1960s by making a habit of visiting disaster sites, and presidents after him followed his lead. News reports gave generally positive attention to presidents who visited disaster sites and acted as a consoler in chief. By the 1970s, however, mayors and governors were frustrated by the complexity of seeking disaster relief and asked for a one-stop shop within the federal government. The result was the creation of FEMA in 1979 as part of a system of disaster response in which the federal government provided relief at the request of governors and the discretion of the president. The system encouraged governors to apply for relief even for smaller disasters, and as a result, federal government spending on disasters increased.
FEMA's mission is to help people before, during, and after disasters.
By the 1990s, expectations for FEMA had outpaced its capacity, and it reached a low point after slow response to major hurricanes in the South. Senator Ernest Hollings made headlines by calling FEMA “a bunch of bureaucratic jackasses” as the agency coordinated recovery from Hurricane Hugo in his home state of South Carolina in 1990.
Facing members of Congress who called for its elimination, FEMA turned itself around. The turnaround relied on at least four ingredients. It had an enterprising and visionary leader, James Lee Witt, who had the ear of the president and Congress. Witt went to members of Congress and asked them to give him a year to reform the agency. FEMA streamlined its national security–oriented programs to focus on its core disasters mission. The agency also invested in its people, giving them a sense of mission, rotating staff to new jobs to give them new perspectives, and asking managers to maintain an open door policy to symbolize the agency's openness to new ideas. Finally, the agency took advantage of momentum for reform during an era of Reinventing Government to orient staff toward better customer service.
FEMA's challenges today are different, but it can find the ingredients for reform in how it responded to criticism in the 1990s. FEMA needs a leader with emergency management experience, knowledge of the needs of state and localities, and the ear of the White House and Congress. After Hurricane Katrina in 2006, Congress passed legislation that required the FEMA administrator to have emergency management experience. The need for substantive expertise as well as political savvy remains today.
FEMA can't entirely avoid the consequences of national security issues including cyber attacks, terrorism, hypersonic missiles, and emerging threats from synthetic biology and AI. They are part of the larger homeland security threat landscape. If anything, FEMA's efforts as the lead federal agency during the COVID-19 pandemic show what it can accomplish in coordinating other agencies and shoring up supply chains. President Trump named FEMA as lead federal agency for managing the pandemic in March 2020, taking over from the Department of Health and Human Services. Reform for FEMA may include discussion of an increased role in national mobilization, supply chains, and logistics when the nation as a whole is faced with a threat.
FEMA's mission of helping people, before, during, and after disasters is simply stated, but challenging to carry out. FEMA is often drawn into long term recovery that can take years if not decades. Those seeking to reform FEMA may ask what role FEMA, as opposed to other agencies, should have in helping regions with economic recovery long after the acute period of a disaster has passed. If FEMA is asked to refocus its mission, it may want to consider the balance between work before and after disaster. The majority of hazard and disaster resources are devoted to response and recovery after the fact, despite most studies showing at least a two-to-one return on investments in mitigation and preparedness programs before disasters. Shifting people, attention, and funds to before a disaster could help save lives and property after.
Shifting people, attention, and funds to before a disaster could help save lives and property after.
FEMA's reorganization in the 1990s revitalized the agency's workforce. Today, most emergency managers work outside of the federal government in states, localities, nonprofits, and the private sector. Reform at FEMA could help support training, education, and career paths for emergency managers across the country. The workforce was stretched thin by an especially heavy 2017–18 hurricane and wildfire season, followed by the upheaval of the pandemic.
Improved customer service in an era of chatbots and AI requires a different focus from the 1990s era of 1-800 telephone lines. In the three decades since, FEMA has accumulated rules, procedures, and programs, that can place a burden on disaster survivors seeking aid. Streamlining FEMA programs so that they are easier to access, faster, and deliver aid in a more targeted way would be one way to improve service to the public. All organizations can tend toward focusing on the internal processes and rules of the organization rather than the outward need of the people it serves. Pruning rules and procedures so that the organization refocuses on helping the public is one way to reinvigorate customer service for the 21st century.
FEMA has always been caught between being blamed for being too slow in responding to disasters on one hand, and being blamed for waste, fraud, or abuse on the other. Its vital mission of helping people faced with hazards and disasters can be renewed for the 21st century, just as it was in the 1990s. A new focus on its core disasters mission, including enhanced disaster preparation, streamlined services, and building in the wider emergency management field outside of FEMA can reinvigorate the agency and help America be ready the next time disaster strikes.
