Harvey Johnson opened with a short statement: Remarkable improvements increasing capabilities over the years. Last nine months a good example of what we can do in changing FEMA from being reactive to that of proactive
We have a stronger MERS capability, stronger partnerships with state and locals, private sector. Staffing has been increased from 1,500 employees to 4,000 with a wide range of different skill sets
Greater outreach to the state and local partners has been made. Better at engaging federal partners. Worked to ensure they are reaching special needs populations.
Question: There is this increase in the number of employees, if someone wants to become a DAE, what qualities are you looking for?
Answer: DAE are hired using a different system. All the cadres have different skill sets. Looking for the same integrity and honesty that we look for our full time FEMA employees. A SES member was appointed to improve the DAE usage.
Question: FEMA Public affairs often missing in the dialog with media, etc. What will keep the FEMA Administrator from going backwards on what has been accomplished?
Answer: Behind every appointed person there is a career person. Across the board we have been intent on hiring key people to continue the work so that the transition will not be an issue.
Question: What was the most frustrating thing to overcome in order to accomplish the turn around?
Answer: We put a stake in the heart of Katrina. Relationships with state and local leaders have been improved. To be effective you almost need to touch every individual in America for them to recognize it. It is a constant cause. Media keeps going back to Katrina. The GAO and everyone else has moved on.
Question: What are some of the areas that you see as gaps as the new administration comes in?
A: We have a gap analysis that has been done. We looked at seven capabilities that we have a red, yellow, green chart to rate states so we have an idea of how we can help them. We are using grant dollars to help fix shortcomings. Some states have made great progress, for example in knowing where nursing homes are and knowing if they have done planning. Need more emphasis on planning.
Holdeman Question: How do you personally see the relationship between emergency management and homeland security, putting aside the organizational charts. Which one is overarching?
Question: This question has been debated extensively at senior levels. Don't know if we've answered it. HSPD-5 makes the DHS as the incident manager. Spreads across the spectrum. When Intelligence comes up. Incident management can pop up. Specifically by incident EM is a subset, Response and recovery only. But, a daily basis EM is active every day. Guidance for how we plan for events. Personally it distracts us from other work that we need to do.
Holdeman Question: What role do you see FEMA playing in dealing with global warming/climate change. Is it climate adaptation combined with mitigation, or what?
Answer: Climate change has not being addressed by senior people at FEMA. Need to look at it. Flood mitigation is an example
Question: There are differences between FEMA and Coastguard and how they do public information. How do you see those differences?
Answer: The Coast Guard has a good news story everyday. They do not normally say no. Two hundred years of history, good connections especially on the nation's coasts. FEMA and what we provide to disaster victims we have bureaucratic face to citizens. We end up saying no to citizens and coming across as a bureaucratic institution. In the Coast Guard is insular, people stay 30 years and senior staff have advanced degrees. FEMA has not traditionally invested in its people. We have worked on that. In FEMA many people speak to the media and the message is not managed closely. The Coast Guard has a great reputation and the legacy overcomes any faults.
Question: What about ESF-15?
Answer: FEMA does a good job in public information. They are hiring more people in the regions. ESF-15 is an ESF that has not yet found itself. It is not solid yet. It is hard to keep up with the dynamic nature of the current media environment. It has been a struggle to make our public information efforts improve.
Question: What are the management issues that you face to move FEMA forward?
Answer: What is FEMA and what do you want it to be will be a debate in the coming year. Vision process has been worked hard. The budget is about the vision, the business process is about the vision. Don't' become distracted by the issues of everyday. This is not your Father's FEMA. We have made FEMA much broader. FEMA is a much broader agency than it was two years ago. Business processes have been totally revamped. Our record shows that we have created a new organization. We fixed mistakes that were 20 years old. Greater depth in our business practices which is the backbone. We have a doctrine now and a plan to follow. We have created metrics to hold people accountable. Better job in investing in people and processes. They are not visible to others and don't reflect the major changes that we have made.
Question: What plans if any has FEMA made to communicate directly with people with the collapse of newspapers and other traditional media?
Answer: We have started using social media. IPAWS in a disaster to send alerts out in disasters. We are beginning to learn how to do it. Found that Twitter was not the best for a media interview [See related blog posting on that topic]. Use YouTube more often. Through your blog writings perhaps you can help us.
FEMA regional administrators and regions need to be the key people. Get back out where the rubber meets the road. Weekly calls with regions to coordinate our messages and stay in touch. There will be a seamless transition for the new leadership. Nancy Ward will take the reigns for the time being. Transition planning has been helpful.
Holdeman Question: What do you see as the greatest terrorist threat, especially from a WMD type of event?
Answer: We have the 15 scenarios, eight planning scenarios, Period of heighten alert , plans for each level, IED, pandemic is an issue. Anthrax could be an issue.
Question: What are your personal plans?
Pushed everything until later. Will work to have dinner at home with my wife at 7PM on a Wednesday night. First month is get back to have a normal personal life. Plans on getting his resume out there for consideration.
FEMA Dog year was mentioned. Every year at FEMA is like seven years off your life. He is walking out of here knowing that we did a lot to improve the agency. A bit anxious that things will continue. Career senior service will keep things rolling. Have confidence that things will be ready for the challenges of the future.
Be objective in what you write, don't cut us slack, just be fair. It prompts us to do a better job.
