FEMA: Another Federal Disaster

[Geee]

American Thinker:

After the less than stellar performance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the hurricane Sandy natural disaster, Americans may well wonder if any federal agency can be counted on to successfully accomplish its designated mission efficiently. Particularly when we also read that the U.S. Postal Service is expecting a net loss of $15.9 billion this year due to declining mail volume and associated revenue. We learned almost simultaneously that the Federal Housing Authority, another self-funding agency, is expected to lose $16.8 billion and will probably require a bailout.

Coupled these facts with the knowledge that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are broke, Medicare and Medicaid are close to bankrupt, and numerous other federal agencies suffer from redundancy, are mismanaged (e.g. the Government Services Administration), have appreciable inefficiencies, and also suffer from funding issues. Citizens can legitimately question the federal government's ability to successfully accomplish even simple tasks on time and on budget.

FEMA, however, was a department enacted with a high purpose: to address the twin concerns of civil defense and disaster mitigation. Specifically, its two core missions are, (1) to improve the federal government's ability to survive a foreign attack (e.g. a nuclear war), and (2) to assist state and local authorities in responding to natural disasters. From its inception FEMA has been a study in evolution of purpose, organization, usage, and politicization. FEMA has often attracted negative attention during natural disasters, attention that triggered in-depth investigations, initiated mission adjustments, caused revisions in organizational structure, and improvements in strategies and tactics. Each change has further exacerbated FEMA's disaster resolution problems. The changes have also increased its politicization, its use of patronage as a reward, and the distribution of "pork barrel" funds to cronies of the sitting the president.