"FEMA and Disaster: A Look at What Worked and What Didn't From a FEMA Insider...."

<http://www.truth-out.org/part-two-fema-and-disaster-look-what-worked-and-what-didnt-fema-insider-1993-2000/1312555495>


The Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA - became an object of derision as it appeared to sit by helplessly as thousands suffered and died in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But many have forgotten that FEMA responded quickly and effectively to countless emergencies and disasters during the 1990s. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, the Oklahoma City Bombing, all saw a swift response from FEMA, a sharp contrast to FEMA's performance after Hurricane Katrina......

Leo Bosner worked at FEMA for nearly 30 years, from the time of the agency's establishment in 1979 until his retirement in 2008. I have known Leo for 21 years and really appreciated the work he did inside the bureaucracy, often at the risk of his own job, to make this vital agency work. We are lucky to have someone with so much experience let us in on how FEMA worked or didn't work through five presidents. In this four-part Solutions series, Bosner traces the development of FEMA during those years and offers his observations as to why a government agency like FEMA would perform so well one time and so poorly the next ...

Witt took over as head of FEMA in April 1993. On his first official day on the job, Witt stood by the guards' desk at the entrance of FEMA headquarters shaking hands with the somewhat startled FEMA employees as they trudged toward the elevators: "How do you do, I'm James Lee Witt ... How do you do, I'm James Lee Witt ... How do you do ... " For employees who had seldom if ever actually met a FEMA director, this was certainly a change....

<http://www.truth-out.org/sites/default/files/FEMA-and-Disaster-by-Leo-Bosner.pdf>