When you read the five priorities you hear the voice of Fugate in each of them. Does it matter how you order these priorities? It just struck me that priority five should be priority one, since without a strong, competent workforce in place you will find it difficult to execute on the other four priorities.
While FEMA has bulked up a bit in staff in the last four years, the disaster reservist program is a work in progress. Based on new work rules that have been implemented, many experienced reservists have declined to serve in the future. While the reforms may have been necessary, it has left the agency with a big doughnut hole in capabilities. It's trying to use FEMA Corps staff to plug that gap, but my experience is that experience counts and there has been a significant degradation in capability -- for now.
FEMA has to be hoping that "the big one" doesn't hit until it can restore its recovery capacity in the future.
