Federal Emergency Management Agency - Obama Presidency Oral History

Back

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Index / Organizations

Transcripts

Gil Kerlikowske

...and Customs Enforcement] and others, FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]...
...Customs Enforcement] and others, FEMA [ Federal Emergency Management Agency ], had to be involved in tents. We wen...

Josh Bolten

...Secretary of Defense and the incoming FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency...
...of Defense and the incoming FEMA [ Federal Emergency Management Agency ] administrator, and so on, ha...

Craig Fugate

...served as administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] from 2009 to 2017. Prior to th...
...Federal Emergency Management Agency [ FEMA ] from 2009 to 2017. Prior to the Obam...
...in your thoughts on what the role of FEMA was and its consolidation within DH...
...of Homeland Security]. Well, FEMA has got a lot of things that they do...
...programs. So, when I arrived at FEMA , it was less, I think, of a learnin...

...rest of the administration and what did FEMA do. That, I think, was my firs...
...I think, was my first challenge. Since FEMA had been placed in Homeland Security, ...
...but the big events that we kept seeing FEMA being involved in were the natura...
...Security, most of the White House, saw FEMA as just natural hazards, you know...
...that emergency management, and what FEMA was able to do, was far beyond just ho...
...that was often, I thought, where FEMA could be a tool that could b...
...concerns coming in that disasters and FEMA 's role would be overlooked in favor o...
...was—there wasn't a lot of confidence in FEMA , and I wanted to make sure we coul...
...But I wanted to make sure that whenever FEMA was asked to execute a mission, w...
...I figured it'd got to be something at FEMA . I was interested in meeting with th...
...being named as candidates for the FEMA administrator, which I had told th...
...I'm being nominated for. Within the FEMA structure, there were several differen...
...he's going to nominate you for the FEMA administrator.” I'm like honored...
...tell them that I was being nominated as FEMA administrator, and the only reason ...
...didn't have a whole lot to do with FEMA . I remember I got to meet with Senato...
...flood problem they had, and what FEMA could possibly do in the future fo...
...was confirmed. I got the call from the FEMA chief of staff. “You're confirmed....
...I've just turned fifty, and I'm now the FEMA administrator. This is an interestin...
...notice,” and he said, “No, you're the FEMA administrator.” I said, “I'm not eve...
...said, “No, you're confirmed. You're the FEMA administrator. You need to be up her...
...Secretary Napolitano comes over to FEMA . I get sworn in, and it started. On...
...early, was just rebuilding trust in FEMA , and I wonder, did you trust FEMA? ...
...At the time, you got to remember, FEMA 's reputation after Katrina wa...
...My response was, “I know the people at FEMA . They're good folks. This is not ...
...being fast. Speed was never something FEMA was great at. That was something that ...
...I knew that would work, and I knew that FEMA would not be easy to change, but I kne...
...management professionals to head up FEMA , so what did that signal to you abou...
...what you were hoping to implement for FEMA in the long term? Well, the bigges...
...really felt like my first two years of FEMA was cleaning up issues that ha...
...emphasis was put on they had to know FEMA . I said, “We can teach FEMA. What ...
...their state's success. And that's how FEMA would get theirs.” They were like...
...That's what I found was the problem. FEMA had too often built systems tha...
...in some cases they were using some of FEMA 's hiring authorities we have unde...
...was just putting the management back in FEMA , which there wasn't a lot of, I found...
...I call the outward-facing aspects of FEMA , and didn't fund the internal. Tha...
...that we would need, that we knew FEMA would not be able to cover. Well, ...
...I found that too many people think FEMA should do a lot more than FEMA i...
...think FEMA should do a lot more than FEMA is authorized to do, and then they ge...
...they get really bent out of shape, or FEMA gets in trouble, and they try to do th...
...it? Ultimately, what came around was, FEMA would end up leading it with HUD havin...
...news cycle. So when I got to FEMA , one of my big things was the publi...
...I wanted a Twitter account. I wanted a FEMA Twitter account, and they were like...
...first time I ran into the reluctance at FEMA was when American Samoa happened. The...
...the secretary I had to go, went back to FEMA . This was like probably three or fou...
...clarified what most people thought FEMA could do, but it wasn't always clea...
...do, but it wasn't always clear that FEMA could begin moving resources prior to ...
...and for whatever reason, everybody at FEMA thinks it's always on East Coast time...
...and she is hopping mad that somehow FEMA logistics had made the decision t...
...law, the IG advises. The IG doesn't run FEMA . The second thing is, you're worrie...
...Homeland Security Advisor, came over to FEMA to meet me, size me up. But I wa...
...on, when we did that first briefing at FEMA on hurricane season, you know, we wer...
...trailers, and my expectation was “ FEMA , you've got to figure this out.” H...
...he looked at Shaun. “Shaun, this isn't FEMA 's problem. This is HUD's problem. The...
...I mean, he got that, as much as the FEMA travel trailers, the formaldehyde, al...
...is kind of an interesting point for FEMA . Up until Haiti, essentially I'd si...
...state, and I had sent staff from, not FEMA , but from the Florida Division o...
...I'm in the EOC, wearing khakis and a FEMA polo shirt. We're seeing what else w...
...Coast Guard to customs and borders, FEMA , and I said, “We already have tw...
...we got. All right, I'm going back to FEMA because we've got more stuff to do,...
...to do. International response is not FEMA . But I'm sitting there, and they star...
...teams down. They didn't want any more FEMA stuff. I'm thinking on my feet going, ...
...I really think that was the time where FEMA got seen as something besides jus...
...the execution. I think that elevated FEMA 's visibility, the fact that we didn'...
...Stafford Act disaster declarations, so FEMA did the first—and as far as I know, th...
...reports, but the communication guys at FEMA are, quite frankly, amazing, and w...
...to recover well. Our experience at FEMA , the thing I was most proud of, was...
...didn't change anything we were doing at FEMA for hurricane season. It did cause ...
...between how they were managing BP and FEMA 's support role there, which wa...
...it's going to be the governor's, and FEMA 's going to have the lead federal rol...
...be governors lead, feds in support. FEMA would coordinate that. But we woul...
...their hurricane evacuations responses, FEMA would be the primary support to th...
...weighing the pros and cons of getting FEMA involved directly in the response t...
...helps articulate the job description of FEMA , and where it exists, and the realit...
...the purview of the governors, and FEMA 's the mechanism to support that, bu...
...the mechanism to support that, but as FEMA is a crisis management agency, a lot o...
...the event itself. These are things that FEMA is familiar with and has to address i...
...disasters. It was this idea that, Well, FEMA doesn't want to be in charge of the oi...
...But there's a lot of other things that FEMA does every day that could hav...
...to focus on the spill itself, and using FEMA , under their direction, to do liaiso...
...was agencies not wanting to use FEMA for the fear that FEMA would take ove...
...wanting to use FEMA for the fear that FEMA would take over and be in charge. I'...
...take over and be in charge. I'm like, FEMA is never in charge. We always work fo...
...working for another federal agency, but FEMA is the ultimate support agency, and w...
...all this stuff about, We'll overextend FEMA , and I'm like, No, FEMA is a bi...
...overextend FEMA, and I'm like, No, FEMA is a big organization. The way we dea...
...about how you first came in—how was FEMA financially? I mean, what was the wel...
...going through Congress that whenever FEMA needed money, we would just rid...
...was a lot of wartime supplementals. So FEMA was never fully funded for disasters...
...to. We had imposed enough discipline at FEMA , and were really trying to just kno...
...institute any furloughs. The only time FEMA shut down was when we had th...
...be counted against the appropriation. FEMA would ask for the full amount. Afte...
...ask for the full amount. After 2011, FEMA would have sufficient funds going int...
...this different stuff, it never affected FEMA . We had plenty of money to do th...
...of damage, and it fell right within FEMA 's capability to respond to it withou...
...weren't in their budgets, but because FEMA did not need any additional funding—an...
...your tie, and all that stuff, but at FEMA , I was wearing what I would call log...
...I would call logo wear—khakis and a FEMA shirt. I had gotten these button-dow...
...these button-down shirts with the FEMA logo, my name on it, administrator...
...to say, Okay, that's somebody with FEMA . I was wearing that. We were no...
...going up, and I'm wearing khakis and a FEMA shirt, not the most dressed-up perso...
...the hurricane seasons briefs, I wore a FEMA logo, so we'd be in the Sit Roo...
...it had cooled off, so I was wearing a FEMA windbreaker, my FEMA shirt, an...
...so I was wearing a FEMA windbreaker, my FEMA shirt, and khakis. We go in there, an...
...states, you know, cabinet secretaries. FEMA is fairly far down on that peckin...
...really serious? It's almost like, for FEMA historically, administrators were i...
...that they didn't hire a suit to run FEMA . They hired somebody that had bee...
...you about is just a year in the life of FEMA . What are the regular cycles an...
...and seasons to the work, and what does FEMA do when there aren't disasters t...
...One of the things I was trying to break FEMA out of—but for practical purposes yo...
...That should be the high point of FEMA 's preparedness, so that cycle o...
...and I would propose something, and then FEMA would pull a policy that nobody ha...
...it turned out it was broken up all over FEMA . We had policies in the flood program...
...open to the entire team, to anybody at FEMA that wanted to watch one of our Tuesda...
...but, to me, part of what was missing at FEMA was the ability to focus on th...
...to disasters, coming in, waving the FEMA flag, and all this stuff. This i...
...government at that time, DHS and FEMA , decided that after Katrina, the...
...in these big disasters. When I got to FEMA , I was talking about this. I'm talkin...
...for Homeland Security, was actually in FEMA . We did that for the entir...
...the head of faith-based initiatives at FEMA was Reverend David Myers. And Davi...
...a bad thing—and this is my favorite. At FEMA we developed a course—and sometimes th...
...World Central Kitchen started that. FEMA actually made that eligible to do that...
...was this going to be our Katrina? Has FEMA improved? I was going, “Look, I'm no...
...getting the question anymore about, was FEMA better. In fact, we started gettin...
...and others were starting to say, FEMA beat us there, or they were seeing FEM...
...FEMA beat us there, or they were seeing FEMA on the first day versus three day...
...that was the question I got asked. “Is FEMA going to have another Katrina? Is FEM...
...FEMA going to have another Katrina? Is FEMA going to fail us again? Can we trus...
...there for several days, and they saw FEMA there early, and they saw u...
...talking about hurricane season, “Was FEMA in better shape?” Now the narrativ...
...which is politics. It's important for FEMA to be apolitical, but you can't avoi...
...think word had come down from him that FEMA ain't a political tool. Don't bothe...
...around the president could just see FEMA failing this and costing th...
...First thing is, he did a briefing at FEMA . And this is what I tell people, ...
...significance. The president coming to FEMA for briefings, well, President Bush ha...
...the secretary of defense sitting in FEMA 's briefing room was very unusual...
...gave direction to the cabinet that “ FEMA 's the lead. We've got a plan. Let'...
...No freelancing. Everything runs through FEMA .” I don't think people understand ho...
...to execute the plan. It goes through FEMA . There was no question abou...
...states were just clobbered. Why would FEMA have to wait to go out and do a...
...about stuff. My favorite was a former FEMA administrator who complained that w...
...Framework and working through the FEMA [National] Response Coordination Cente...
...went through Andrew, but his time at FEMA was short, and they were dealing wit...
...Yeah, this goes back to when I got to FEMA . Almost all of our stuff wa...
...and go, “Have you registered with FEMA yet?” “No.” “Well, you need to go ove...
...AmeriCorps and had brought that into FEMA , and we were calling it FEMA Corps. W...
...that into FEMA, and we were calling it FEMA Corps. We had our first class that ha...
...these AmeriCorps—we were calling them FEMA Corps. There wore t-shirts, they wer...
...telling people to call 1-800-621- FEMA . “Are you registered?” “No.” “Can ...
...We have a whole group of folks at FEMA , that they're grants administrators...
...the majority of what people think FEMA does is done by the local and stat...
...and local governments. Increasingly, FEMA was not in that initial respons...
...about the impact of this legislation on FEMA ? Yes. There was a lot of piece...
...tribal governments is the failure of FEMA to recognize their sovereignty. Wh...
...it wasn't so much me asking, but it was FEMA 's credibility. Think about it wit...
...started to address this issue. Even for FEMA staff, the more we got engaged in it, ...
...on their terms, and not make them fit FEMA , but adjust FEMA to that. When w...
...and not make them fit FEMA, but adjust FEMA to that. When we start talking abou...
...is all these different agencies and FEMA folks—and I was supposed to travel wit...
...with him, which meant that when he left FEMA , he was going back to the White House...
...start talking about adaptation,” that's FEMA . We do mitigation. We fund stuff. W...
...a lot of things we began looking at at FEMA , and we began asking differen...
...thing people forget. Almost all of what FEMA pays out in rebuilding is becaus...
...them vent, they said all the stuff that FEMA wasn't getting right, and the senato...
...ideas, but what you're trying to do, FEMA cannot do. Statutorily it is just no...
...issues, who were like ravens—burn FEMA at the stake—but at the same time, h...
...to be the answer. And you can beat on FEMA , it wasn't going to change th...
...the risks? I always saw our job at FEMA was—our job is to get the yes. If w...
...state of Oklahoma. When I first got to FEMA , my first hearing with Senator Cobur...
...he had been so critical and vocal about FEMA . All right, let's go listen, and fin...
...you came to the end of your time as FEMA director, looking back, what do yo...
...ways, towards the end, he became one of FEMA 's biggest cheerleaders. He took ou...
...holding up all the stupid stuff that FEMA was doing in his eyes to holding FEM...
...FEMA was doing in his eyes to holding FEMA up as an example to, “This is how yo...
...like that where Senator Coburn praises FEMA , when President Obama says it's abou...
...process. That was an outcome that made FEMA fit the rest of the federal governmen...
...Every time there was a change order, FEMA had to approve it. It was costing ...
...intractable between the state and FEMA when we went to the cost estimate. W...
...stuff. We never could agree to stuff. FEMA only wanted to repair it, but the...
...but there wasn't enough damage for FEMA 's program to do that. All that stuff...
...the trauma of Katrina, is, he came to FEMA . Again, I don't think people get that...
...away from everything else. Coming to FEMA may seem like not a big deal, bu...
...administration, so I got some of our FEMA Corps kids there. They were in one o...
...yours. They're the reason we have FEMA Corps.” He says, “Oh right, that'...

Thomas Tidwell

...emergency funding that's available from FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]...
...funding that's available from FEMA [ Federal Emergency Management Agency ]. For nine years of budget hearings...

Valerie Jarrett

...put in place really competent people. FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]...
...place really competent people. FEMA [ Federal Emergency Management Agency ], for example, stumbled and fel...
...afterwards. But our reorganization of FEMA and putting sound leadership in charg...

Federal Emergency Management Agency - Obama Presidency Oral History

Transcripts

Related Topics