Texsox Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I will be getting my first taste of working with FEMA. This should be an eye opener. So far I have been very impressed with the completeness of the initial inquiry and the preparedness of the gentleman I spoke with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Let's hope that Obama is smart enough not to appoint some partisan hack with no EM experience to the job. Maybe he'll just keep the current guy in there - he's a Coast Guard general as I recall, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 08:47 AM) Let's hope that Obama is smart enough not to appoint some partisan hack with no EM experience to the job. Maybe he'll just keep the current guy in there - he's a Coast Guard general as I recall, right? To be blunt...that organization needs a complete house cleaning. Up and down the list. It's not just the political appointee at the very top. It's the political appointees up and down the list. Hell the whole DHS disaster needs a house cleaning. I wonder if James Lee Witt might be willing to take the job back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 The Federal Emergency Management Agency, a tragicomic disaster since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 -- and even before that -- looks to be getting a facelift under the Obama administration, sources tell us. First off, the likely plan is to break off the agency from the Department of Homeland Security, a move that by itself would help restore the pride that folks at FEMA felt when it was an independent agency. Second, there's increasing talk that former director James Lee Witt, who took over the then-troubled agency at the start of the Clinton administration and left it eight years later with a much-enhanced reputation, is coming back from retirement to run FEMA for six months to a year, to whip it into shape. After that, so the plan goes, his possible deputy administrator, Mark Merritt, who worked with Witt at James Lee Witt Associates -- where they made a fortune on disasters -- would take over the top job at FEMA. Witt's no stranger to this cleanup role, lest we forget what he inherited when he took the FEMA reins in 1993. FEMA was so badly ridiculed for botching relief efforts after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that outraged senators were threatening to zero out its budget. Then-Sen. Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.) opined that the agency "could screw up a two-car parade." WaPo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 12:55 PM) WaPo. That all sounds pretty good. I may get blasted for this, but, I always felt that FEMA might do well if it and Border Patrol were managed by the military, working along side the National Guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 12:57 PM) That all sounds pretty good. I may get blasted for this, but, I always felt that FEMA might do well if it and Border Patrol were managed by the military, working along side the National Guard. From a tactical and managerial standpoint it makes way more sense. The other problem is that an agency like this can't possibly be ready for every contingency and disaster accross the nation. Its very existance is a set up for failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 01:52 PM) From a tactical and managerial standpoint it makes way more sense. The other problem is that an agency like this can't possibly be ready for every contingency and disaster accross the nation. Its very existance is a set up for failure. All the more reason to align it better with the National Guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted November 26, 2008 Author Share Posted November 26, 2008 Professional, thorough, well prepared. They arrived a couple minutes early. I must say, I am pleased so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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