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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
can trace its beginnings to the Congressional Act of 1803. This
act, generally considered the first piece of disaster legislation,
provided assistance to a New Hampshire town following an extensive
fire. In the century that followed, ad hoc legislation was passed
more than 100 times in response to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods
and other natural disasters. Today, FEMA falls under the Department
of Homeland Security. Its task is to respond to, plan for, recover
from and mitigate against disaster.
This responsibility came about piecemeal and was brought into focus
following several devastating hurricanes and earthquakes.
GREATER COOPERATION
In the 1930s, when the federal approach to problems became popular,
the Reconstruction Finance Corp. was given authority to make disaster
loans for repair and reconstruction of certain public facilities
following an earthquake and, later, other types of disasters. In
1934, the Bureau of Public Roads was given authority to provide
funding for highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters. The
Flood Control Act, which gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers greater
authority to implement flood control projects, also was passed.
This piecemeal approach to disaster assistance was problematic,
and it prompted legislation that required greater cooperation between
federal agencies and authorized the president of the United States
to coordinate these activities.
The 1960s and early 1970s brought massive disasters requiring major
federal response and recovery operations by the Federal Disaster
Assistance Administration, established within the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Hurricane Carla struck in 1962,
Hurricane Betsy in 1965, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Hurricane
Agnes in 1972. The Alaskan Earthquake hit in 1964 and the San Fernando
Earthquake rocked Southern California in 1971. These events served
to focus attention on the issue of natural disasters and brought
about increased legislation. In 1968, the National Flood Insurance
Act offered new flood protection to homeowners, and in 1974 the
Disaster Relief Act firmly established the process of presidential
disaster declarations.
However, emergency and disaster activities were still fragmented.
When hazards associated with nuclear power plants and the transportation
of hazardous substances were added to natural disasters, more than
100 federal agencies were involved in some aspect of disasters,
hazards and emergencies. Many parallel programs and policies existed
at the state and local level, compounding the complexity of federal
disaster relief efforts. The National Governor’s Association
sought to decrease the many agencies with which state and local
governments were forced to work. They asked President Jimmy Carter
to centralize federal emergency functions.
ONE FROM MANY
President Carter’s 1979 executive order merged many of the
separate disaster-related responsibilities into a new Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). Among other agencies, FEMA absorbed the
Federal Insurance Administration, the National Fire Prevention and
Control Administration, the National Weather Service Community Preparedness
Program, the Federal Preparedness Agency of the General Services
Administration and the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration
activities from HUD. Civil defense responsibilities also were transferred
to the new agency from the Defense Department’s Defense Civil
Preparedness Agency.
John Macy was named as FEMA’s first director. Macy emphasized
the similarities between natural hazards preparedness and the civil
defense activities. FEMA began development of an Integrated Emergency
Management System with an all-hazards approach that included “direction,
control and warning systems which are common to the full range of
emergencies from small isolated events to the ultimate emergency—war.”
The new agency was faced with many unusual challenges in its first
few years that emphasized how complex emergency management can be.
Early disasters and emergencies included the contamination of Love
Canal, the Cuban refugee crisis and the accident at the Three Mile
Island nuclear power plant. Later, the Loma Prieta Earthquake in
1989 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 focused major national attention
on FEMA. In 1993, President Clinton nominated James L. Witt as the
new FEMA director. Witt became the first agency director with experience
as a state emergency manager. He initiated sweeping reforms that
streamlined disaster relief and recovery operations, insisted on
a new emphasis regarding preparedness and mitigation, and focused
agency employees on customer service. The end of the Cold War also
allowed Witt to redirect more of FEMA’s limited resources from
civil defense into disaster relief, recovery and mitigation programs.
In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Joe M. Allbaugh as the
director of FEMA. Within months, the terrorist attacks of September
11 focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland
security, and tested the agency in unprecedented ways. The agency
coordinated its activities with the newly formed Office of Homeland
Security, and FEMA’s Office of National Preparedness was given
responsibility for helping to ensure that the nation’s first
responders were trained and equipped to deal with weapons of mass
destruction.
Today, FEMA is a 2,500-person agency supplemented by more than 5,000
stand-by disaster reservists. It has a mission to lead America to
prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with
a vision of “A Nation Prepared.”
Brown
Leads U.S. Emergency Preparedness and Response Efforts
Michael D. Brown was nominated by President George Bush as the
first Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R)
in the newly created Department of Homeland Security in January
2003. He coordinates federal disaster relief activities, including
implementation of the Federal Response Plan, which authorizes the
response and recovery operations of 26 federal agencies and departments
as well as the American Red Cross. He also oversees the National
Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration and initiates
proactive mitigation activities.
As under secretary, Brown helps the Secretary of Homeland Security
ensure the effectiveness of emergency responders, and directs the
Strategic National Stockpile, the National Disaster Medical System
and the Nuclear Incident Response Team.
Previously, Brown served as FEMA’s deputy director and the
agency’s general counsel. Shortly after the September 11 terrorist
attacks, he served on the president’s Consequence Management
Principals Committee, which acted as the White House policy coordination
group for the federal domestic response to the attacks. Later, the
president asked him to head the Consequence Management Working Group
to identify and resolve key issues regarding the federal response
plan.
In August 2002, President Bush appointed Brown to the Transition
Planning Office for the new Department of Homeland Security, serving
as the transition leader for the EP&R Division. Brown currently
chairs the National Citizen Corps Council, part of the president’s
USA Freedom Corps volunteer initiative.
Prior to joining FEMA he practiced law in Colorado and Oklahoma,
where he served as a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility
for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and as a hearing examiner for the
Colorado Supreme Court. He had been appointed as a special prosecutor
in police disciplinary matters. While attending law school he was
appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee of the
Oklahoma Legislature as the Finance Committee staff director, where
he oversaw state fiscal issues. His background in state and local
government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with
emergency services oversight and as a city councilman.
Lowe
Heads FEMA Mitigation Division
Anthony S. Lowe is the administrator of FEMA’s Mitigation
Division, appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S.
Senate. He is a former senior legislative counsel for the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition
and a staff member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology
and Government Information.
In his role as head of the agency’s Mitigation Division Lowe
oversees the National Flood Insurance Program, the Hazard Mitigation
Grant Program and other initiatives aimed at eliminating or reducing
risks communities face from natural and man-made disasters.
“My vision for Mitigation Division is that it become the premier
all-hazard risk management organization in the federal government,”
Lowe says. “To get there, we will build strong partnerships
with all risk managers, public and private—including emergency
managers, state floodplain managers and code officials as well as
leaders in government, industry, research and academia.”
A native of King County, WA, Lowe holds a bachelor’s degree
in international political science from the University of Washington,
a law degree from the University of Santa Clara, and a master’s
degree in theology from Virginia Union University.
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