See this story, Trump nominates a top FEMA official to lead the agency.
The question I have is about his future direction for the agency. Lots there about disaster response, but what about mitigation and building disaster resilience. Will he continue Brock Long's areas of emphasis or will we regress to response, response, response?
The other question I have is how is it that it has taken President Trump weeks and months to nominate critical positions like attorney general and defense secretary and this one comes in the same week that a resignation is announced. To me, this means that this has been in the works for a while. Or they decided to pick a name out of a hat and once again they started with the state of Alabama, since it is the first in the alphabet — and Jeffrey is the pick!
The good news is that both he and Pete Gaynor, deputy administrator, who I personally know are Marines and thus have some leadership and management skills to bring to the profession of emergency management. They should also know what truth and honor are about.
My advice to the nominee is twofold.
- Don't become complicit
- A Holdeman quote, "Only you can take away your integrity." No one can make you lie; it is your choice.
