Emergency Managers Want FEMA Out of DHS

The International Association of Emergency Managers is pushing the Obama administration to remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security.

In an article on the Congressional Quarterly website, Daniel Fowler says the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) has formally stated that it wants the Obama administration to pull FEMA out of the DHS and restore the head of FEMA to cabinet level status.

Larry J. Gispert, president of IAEM told Fowler that this has been IAEM’s “informal position all along,” but the board of directors formalized the stance at the group’s annual meeting last week.

“They have an opportunity with the change of administration to . . . do it right, which is to have FEMA be a stand-alone agency reporting directly to the president and the administrator of FEMA sitting in the cabinet,” Gispert told Fowler. “That’s the James Lee Witt model.”

However, not everyone is in agreement. Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson told Fowler that FEMA should stay where it is.

“The FEMA that we knew during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is no more,” Thompson told him. “FEMA has thrived within the department since its reorganization by Congress and that proof can be measured by its stellar response to the Midwest floods, wildfires, tornados and the many hurricanes this past season.”

Obama’s transition team declined to comment to Fowler, so there is no word yet on whether or not the new administration will consider the move.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002988269