Composition of FEMA workforce – what are they thinking? UPDATE on NOV. 15
NOTE ON MARCH 30 : PLEASE DO NOT SEND IN ANY MORE COMMENTS ON THIS TOPIC. I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OR ABILITY TO DEAL WITH IT. I KNOW THE PROBLEMS ARE SERIOUS, BUT I CANNOT HELP RESOLVE THEM. IF SOMEONE ELSE WANTS TO START A BLOG. I WILL HELP THE PERSON SET IT UP, IF NEED BE.
In the Sacramento Bee, there are some details today about the new cadre of workers FEMA has recruited; see Nation’s First FEMA Corps Members Sworn In to Begin Disaster Response Service. I was aware this effort was pending, and now know some more about it. To put it mildly, I find this personnel section decision distressing and here are my reasons why.
Many of us have expressed concerned about the quality and competence of the EM workforce and its personnel particularly at the national level. We have a sizeable supply of “educated” emergency managers—that is people who have been in higher education programs and actually have taken courses and have a year or more of higher education. Many of these programs exist in part because of FEMA’s Higher Education Program, which has been around for more than a dozen years and has encouraged more than 200 institutions to offer degrees and certificates in emergency management and homeland security. At the June 2012 Higher Education Conference, one of the concerns expressed was that graduates are not finding jobs. Most academics at the conference said they were telling their graduating students to look for jobs in the private sector. They don’t know why the public sector isn’t hiring them, but that seems to be the case.
While on the one hand we have this formally-educated potential work force, on the other hand we have the actual recruitment and hiring practices currently going on at the regional level. Last year FEMA had 99 disaster declarations. Assuming that more than 100 places throughout the US are in the recovery phase of a disaster, it is a tall order for FEMA to send staff and other resources to the states to help over 100 localities recover. From reports received from those working in the field on recovery projects, a large part of the workforce that FEMA is sending out to assist the affected places are what’s called Reservists or Disaster Assistance Employees (DAEs)—full time but temporary staff who are not regular FEMA personnel. Many of the DAEs do not have an education or a background in emergency management. They may, or may not be college graduates. They may or may not know much about emergency management. At best they probably have had some training but no formal education in emergency management. Large numbers of reservists are being employed to work out in the field and for the regional offices. They are being augmented by an inexpensive additional cadre from AmeriCorps composed of energetic and well-meaning, recent college graduates also with no education in emergency management. So, on the one hand there is a supply of well-trained, well-educated people who are not finding jobs, while there are a lot of people without an education or background in emergency management being given work. It seems to be a mismatch in the supply and demand for the EM workforce.
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I have been with FEMA for 7 years now and one absolute truth is that the pre-2012 DAE workforce was staffed primarily by nepitism and cronyism (family and freinds). I have no problem with this is this as long as they have the education or experience to do the job. It is my opinion that this is not the case which has produced the incompetent workforce we have now. I believe that using USAjobs.gov will help eliminate this problem by finally advertising these jobs nationwide and attracting solidly qualified people.
As a father of a daughter in Femacorp this is a little disheartening to hear. I talk to her when she is able to call, and Her supervisors cannot keep these kids busy. Too much down time waiting for assignments that never materialize, these kids have been tossed into a situation that is just plain crazy. They want to help people, period. The bureaucracy slows the whole process down. They are not being utilized like they should. It is a shame.
Sorry to say, I have been hearing reports from the field that the young people are not getting the kinds of experience they had hoped for. In my view, a great deal needs to be done to improve the supervision of both the reservists and the FEMACorps employees.
With both programs being so new (and FEMAcorps being created fairly quickly), There are always going to be problems. Hopefully, as the programs grow and age, they will be able to learn from current members. I certainly have an interest in seeing how FEMAcorps develops over the coming years.
They have past events to train for and that should cover 80% of what is needed if not more. Lack of leadership is rampant these days, just one more example of wasted resources.
Keep in mind FEMA DAE or Now Reservist came from someplace and some had minimal experiance in FEMA’s methodologies and were taught by those there also. I have no idea what FEMA HQ intends to do for or to the Reserve system, all I know is that it is as critical as the military’s dependence on the reserves and National Guard to their mission. Sure FEMA isn’t all emergency management, it’s project management, grant management, it’s help the citizens, neighbors, families, kids and the rest of the Nation recover from a disaster as fast and efficiently as we can as they seem to continually impact us. With that in mind, all the experianced train up the unexperianced and make them better than when you started.
All:
Just spoke with some old FEMA folks that stayed on-board after the FQS and re-hiring joke. Some got job titles back for positions that htey have never held before. An example is a QAQC Lead was given and deplyed as a project specialist. She had 12 years in QAQC, but has never been a project specialist???
Another thing that I am hearing from the Sandy recovery is that they are sending alot of people home “for the holiday” and not planning on bringing them back because they have no idea what they are doing in their current assignment. For example, they needed Project Specialists, and deployed Project specialists (FQS Job title) from ADD, but when the people got their they had never been a project specialist before!!! So now they are sending them home and trying to get people with a little bit of experience because they do not have the time of willingness to train the inexperienced!
Going home for the holidays is too bad, since so many people are having a rotten holiday.
But it is predictable that doing on-the job-training for a large no. of people is not a popular effort for the experienced.
(Disclaimer: I am not speaking on behalf of AmeriCorps)
I feel a need to clarify certain aspects of the AmeriCorps program, as I have seen a lot of misunderstandings about how the program works. I stated earlier that I was an AmeriCorps*NCCC member, and am in my 3rd year of AmeriCorps as a VISTA member . I was hired as a DAE after NCCC but had to decline it due to being hired later as a VISTA. FEMA Corps members receive the same benefits I did as an NCCC:
-*Health coverage (NOT Dental)
-*Education award for 2 terms (I do not receive one for my 3rd year. Currently set at $5500)
-Team food budget (During my term, this was $4.75/person/day)
-Housing (Supplied by sponsor. Can range from team apartment to cots set up in a storage closet)
-*Living stipend (Roughly $4,000 for the entire 10 months of service)*
-There is a small child care allowance, if you have need (your child cannot travel with you, and it doesn’t cover much, though I can’t remember the actual value)
Anybody who looks down upon an AmeriCorps member for accepting these small benefits, should be ashamed of themselves. The astricked benefits are awarded to all AmeriCorps programs (though, as a VISTA, my stipend is roughly $10,000 for 12 months, as I am responsible for my own housing and food). AmeriCorps members are proudly serving their country in an alternative to military service, and deserve more respect and admiration than is given to them.
My final point is to the positions of the FEMA Corps. My understanding is that they are assigned trainee positions, meaning they are assigned to work with reservists, not replace them.
I’m sorry for all of those who have had to go through the system change with FEMA, but please do not take it out on the people who have willing accepted a life of discomfort in order to help serve the people who have lost everything.
If you have any additional questions about the AmeriCorps Program, please comment below and I will do my best answer (or at least point you in the right direction).
-Anthony
Anthony,
My reply was not a shot at the Americorps people who are hired to do this work. I commend you on taking on this job with such “small benefits”, but there must be another reason you would subject yourself to such harsh conditions for so little pay….hmmmm. You say it is an alternative to military service…are you working towards your citizenship? Why else would you need to have an alternative to military service? If that is the case then these even starts to look worse on FEMA for hiring this type of person in the first place. Is this another “hidden benefit” of Americorp? Work 10 months and get your citizenship?
No, my issue with the entire thing is that FEMA saw it necessary to fire 12,000 people so that they could institute a program that “saves” money. They thought that they would get 12,000 to reapply and fall under the “new rules”. What they actually did was loose almost half of the workforce, (they had less than 6500 reapply) and crippled their ability to handle things like Hurricane Sandy. Now, lets think about this. You loose 45% of your workforce, sure some probably were not worth having to start with, but I kknow of ALOT of people you refused to play Fugate’s games that were exteremly good at their jobs. People who had 8-10 years experience in dealing with the State’s issue’s, handling all of the funding that the States so deperately need after an event. These people worked long hours, 60-80 hours a week, lived in tough conditions such as tents in City Park after Katrina, and devoted their lives to service to this Country. What did they get in return?? NOTHING!, no health insurance, no assurance of a job, NOTHING. They got a paycheck 2 times a month, nothing more. Most never even received a thank you from FEMA for a job well done.
Son, I assume that you are 22-25 years old, and feel like that you have seen the world. But do not confuse your personal ambitions with the real world for those of us who have lived the FEMA lifestyle.
I am sorry that you had to go through that sort of reorganization. I will admit that I’m glad that I didn’t go through with the DAE hiring process just to have to go through it again a year later. The DAE life is not an easy one, but it is a needed one.
Just to clarify my comment about military service: All AmeriCorps members are required to be US citizens. What I meant about the alternative to military service is the ability for members to serve their country and give back to their community. AmeriCorps is a National Service program, which is why I wore my uniform proudly.
I got a little personal at the end of my previous post, and I am sorry for that, but I ask you, please do not confuse youth for niavity. While you are correct that I have never lived the DAE lifestyle, we have all earned each and every experience we have had, no matter what it is.
First, let me give you some background on me, then I will give you my opinion of the situation. I have 25+ years experience in the Fire Service handling emergencies. I was hired as a DAE in January 2003 for the Presidents day snow storm recovery in Maryland, VA, and DC. I worked directly for Region 3, being hired by them for the recovery efforts. I have criss-crossed this country since then, on many disaters with the Public Assistance program.
In April 2012, I decided after receiving my FQS position title as “Senior Project Specialist II” that I would not reapply to become a DAE. This decision was based on the fact that I had held positions in Disaster Recovery JFO’s as high as Deputy Public Assistance Officer. How can you honestly say that someone who has held all but the very top position in a disaster recovery isnt even qualified to serve as a PAC? For those of you who know the initials, you know that a PAC is lower level team leader during a disaster recovery effort. So my decision was made.
Now, let me address some of my opinions:
First and foremost, ANYONE who says that what FEMA does on a disaster is Emergency Management is completely out of their mind. Unless you are part of an IMAT team (and even then sometimes) it has nothing to do with EM. It is simply the handling of Federal funds for use by the State to deal with issues caused by the disaster. Let me put it to you like this, have you, or any DAE you know been sent to an EOC to assist the locality in making disaster management decisions??? No you have not. Those decisions are left to the locality. In 9 years I have never been to an operating EOC to help with “Emergency Management”. I have been to many EOC’s to talk over costs associated with the disaster, review records, and write project worksheets. So as far as I can see, the FEMA DAE workforce is simply used as a tool to write grant applications, not manage emergencies. Earlier comments about DAE’s having degree’s in EM are completely off-base. Now, if you had a degree in accounting you would be perfectly suited.
Second, the “colorful” IMAT teams that are deployed to help with Emergency Management have NO idea what they are doing. I worked for a member of the “WHITE” IMAT team last year in Virginia for the Hurricane Irene recovery. He had NO idea of what he was doing, yet he was the Task Force Leader!! Like a puppy on a leash he simply did what he was told by someone else that didnt know what they were doing. He actually told our Task Force that if our people couldn’t do 3 project worksheets a week that we as the leaders, had to “counsel” them on how to work! I was never trained by FEMA to counsel anyone?? This is a perfect example of what the leadership of FEMA DOESN’T know! I have worked with several PFT’s that have no idea what they are suppose to do on a disaster. The commonly come over and ask, “how do I do this??” I could go on and on, but lets move on to the next subject…
Contractors. FEMA thought it would be a great idea to hire these huge firms to supply people to disaster recovery offices. Fluor, Pilot, Dewberry and several other large companies jumped right on board with this idea! Millions and millions were spent after Katrina with contractors. A typical contractor in a JFO is paid 2-3 times what a DAE makes, add in the company profit margin, per diem, car rental, and hotel and your looking at several thousand dollars per day, and thats just a project specialist. If you want a contract specialist, such as an insurance or electrical specialist, then your looking at several hundred dollars per hour in salary alone. I personally know of a contractor making $300 per hour doing electrical systems. How was that saving money? Don’t misunderstand, I have numerous friends over the years that are contractors. I have always said that if you can steal legally, then go for it. These contractors were put in positions to supervise DAE’s, which is against every rule in the book. I have personally worked directly for contractors in Louisiana after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. If you were every in the Baton Rougue JFO in Public Assistance then you know exactly what I am talking about. Both of those people are great friends, but should not have been a federal employee’s boss. Several of these contractors are still in Louisiana working to this day, 4 full years after the storm, drawing huge paychecks, while DAE’s sit at home with nothing to do. Where is the logic now?
Fugate said that he was doing this to save money for the taxpayers…..huh? How does that work? You fire every DAE that works for you, approximately 12,000 people by your own count, then generate the application process, which crashes by the way, direct resources to review all of these applications, have “parties” in Atlanta to review all of the qualifications, form the Americorp, train all of them to do a DAE’s job (that was already trained but fired), then rehire all of the folks that played your game because there was no other way to stay employed. Now you tell the ones that actually did reapply and get hired that they have to “bunk-in” with a complete stranger on all disasters now because you want to save money??? Then you tell the Americorp volunteers that they get health and dental benefits, and that they get their college loans paid if they work for 10 months? Wake up people.
The funny thing about this entire situation is the response of FEMA to Hurricane Sandy. Like I said I resigned (or did not reapply as you see fit) in April of 2012. Last week I received a call from ADD on my cell phone asking me to go available so that I could be deployed to New York….HUH???? I never really understood why FEMA was the second most hated Federal Agency behind the IRS until now.
I will enjoy watching FEMA fall flat on their face in the recovery efforts, good luck.
As you know, I have been writing in this blog about the likely difficulties coming as officials get into the longer-term recovery from H. Sandy.
You add a dimension I had not covered.
I know the workforce issues are very serious. A colleague and I are collecting information for a book chapter and perhaps an article on the subject.
This is something I will stay with for a while, though it is not my main focus.
Thanks for writing.
Claire
Just a friendly update…..
Last Friday I again received a call from ADD to change my status to “available” so that I could be deployed. I spoke with the gentleman on the phone and explained that i had resigned from FEMA in April, that I had not reapplied, and that he should not be calling me. He explained that with the current workload and manpower shortages, that they were calling ANYONE on the “old” list that had any experience. I explained to him that I had a full-time job and would not change my status to available and be deployed to a disaster away from home (and my new job!).
My question is….why hasn’t the “NEW” FEMA updated it’s own records to remove people who never re-applied for their jobs? Why would they need to call everyone on the “old” list if they didn’t need people? And why aren’t we hearing anything about this on the news if they are that short of manpower?
It sounds like desperation.
An interesting article and responses that contain a tremendous amount of frustration at being told all your knowledge, skills, and experiances is not adequate for the new FEMA. However what is extremely disparaging and discouraging is the assumption that all FEMA PFTs are as incompetent as those mentioned in some of these posts. Having worked in emergency management for a multitude of years for a couple of federal and local agencies I am amazed at the limited view I have read by some. Not all of FEMA’s PFTS staff is incompetent and not all work in JFOs or Recovery Offices, so the lens some see is limited and myopic. I do agree that there are those who should be released from their management roles and responsibilities, I do agree that all because some live in Washington DC only means they live there and are not smarter than anyone else or may be not as smart as a box of rocks. FQS hit all of FEMA’s staff, some that were qualified were in deed qualified, some just on paper or thin air, and some were placed as you as trainees. Ok, the system is not good and needs repair; suggest the repair and influence their adoption – lead not cry. Budgets are a reality we have to live with, force reduction via funds and experiance is painful and yes the American citizen pays. If it is broke fix it, use the resources you have available.
Again, I believe an apology for the FEMA PFTs that you have not any experiance with deserve 1) apology and 2) a chance to prove themselves, that however is in the hands of the same people who selected your FQS position and level. And perhaps most important, for those who serve with those incompetent PFTs train, educate, and coach them and force their improvement – lead up versus passive aggressive manure.
Have a nice day.
I am disgusted and amazed at all the negativity surrounding the FEMACorps. It is simple ignorance to not give them a chance to see how the young volunteers (almost) fit into disaster response. Disgruntled DAE’s are projecting their dismay with the FQS change that was simultanously timed with the arrival of FEMA Corps. One does not necessarily go hand in hand with the other.
I am a DAE and FEMA is currently my sole employment but that will have to change if I intend to keep paying my bills. But honestly, I don’t mind. I do believe that disaster relief work is right up the alley of unpaid volunteers with a command and support structure of reservists, CORE, and PFT’s. The US public will not miss those disgruntled DAE’s who are not interested in trying to change for the better.
Seriously… enjoy retirement or look for a new job. Just don’t create negativity that is pointless and will serve nothing but to vent your own fears due to the unknown.
So you are perfectly fine with being FEMA Qualification System (FQS) qualified in a position then later told you had to re-apply for that position or you would no longer have a job??? You are okay with 250 people being deployed to the National Law Enforcement Training Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, who they have led us to believe are Subject Matter Experts, to decide if you were going to be rehired and in to what position, all the while not be allowed to know who those 250 people were who decided our fate or what credentials they actually hold??? What if that person who decided if you were rehired had no real education, or what if he didn’t care for you too much. You don’t think that played out heavily in this rehiring process??? We had been previously told if we were not satisfied with our initial FQS position would could request to be re-evaluated. I know many who had asked for a review and were all told there was nothing that could be done. Some of those DAE’s had a great deal of education and were lumped in as a trainee or rated in a lower position then they have been working in for years and you are okay with that???
Nevermind the fact that just in travel expense for airfare, just the airfare portion of the two to three week retreat to Atlanta, cost upwards of a half a million dollars (add in meals and incidental expenses, hotels, rental cars, and other approved travel expenses, as well as salaries of 250 personnel) they spent a good deal of money in an effort to supposedly be more interested in saving money. For an agency wanting to now save every nickel they can get their hands on, it seems rather wasteful to have spent all that money (a few million when you add in the costs associated with the Department of Treasury handling the initial application process) making all the DAE’s re-apply and be rehired when most of the issues could have been solved with some policy changes and clear guidance from headquarters (HQ)… clear guidance we have still yet to receive, and some tweaks at the Regional level.
Reservists have no real protections, though we give all every time the telephone rings. We are, or we were, the backbone of the agency at a Joint Field Office (JFO) and the people who deal directly with the disaster survivors, as well as the state and local governments during an event. Many of us have built relationships through years of service and working within our respective Regions with the people we would have to We had been the boots on the ground and policy makers inside the beltway have been making decisions that affect what we do and how we do it, when a great many of them have never left their comfortable office on ‘C’ Street in Washington.
One more thing, we were told and assured in a Video Conference when the question was asked if the addition of the FEMA Corps personnel would not hinder deployments of Reservists. I personally believe that we were told a bold faced lie because I know many people who have been available for a long while now in Public Assistance (PA), Logistics (Log), and other Cadre’s and have not been deployed because FEMA Corps personnel are now being used to fill those positions at current disasters and likely future operations. At the time, everyone was so overly concerned with questioning if and how their pay would be grandfathered than really addressing the issue of having to compete for a deployment with a FEMA Corp team, that it silently slipped by the wayside. Experienced personnel are left sitting on the bench while the second string is in, how’s that playing out for everyone so far?
I have no doubt these are good people at FEMA Corp but I really am disturbed by how they have been allowed to come in, take our jobs, work for less pay, have some sort of a hint of health benefit, and I’ve also heard and read that the discussion is there for them to somehow get preferential employment hiring ‘status’ in the future for Permanent Full-time (PFT) positions when existing Reservists have been asking and begging for ‘status’ and health insurance for some time. I don’t know about you but there is a lot of talent and seasoned expereince within the Reservists that is going completely untapped and unused and will likely leave the agency all together; who could afford to sit around unpaid and be required to be available 24/7/365 for a deployment that may never come?
Winds of Change-
“Seriously… enjoy retirement or look for a new job. Just don’t create negativity that is pointless and will serve nothing but to vent your own fears due to the unknown.”
Enjoy retirement?? What about those of us who are still working and have no retirement yet? It’s easy for you to say “I’ll just sit at home and collect my retirement”. What about those of us with families to support, those you are not old enough to retire?? What about the ones who are old enough to retire, but can’t because they have no retirement?? FEMA doesn’t care.
Really? As an American Citizen I enjoy the RIGHT to express whatever opinion I see fit, be it positive or negative. As a tax-paying citizen I enjoy the RIGHT to say when something is being shoved down the throats of the American people under the cover of “saving money”.
As far as venting my “fears of the unknown”, I am never farther from the truth of that statement. I have a great job on the other side of the disaster recovery fence. It was FEMA who lost out on my skill set when they started this smoke and mirror show. I have no “fear” as you call it of the unknown because I knew exactly what I was going to do when this started and I did it. But I still have the RIGHT to express whatever opinion I have.
From someone who spent the last 3 years of my life on constant deploymemt, moving from one disaster to another, never spending more than 1 week at home at any given time, I must have been pretty good at my job. So yea, I have a negative opinion about the way this was handled.
Just another example of redistribution of wealth throughout the country.
I have been employed by FEMA almost 9 years and it breaks my heart that this is the turn they made. I did not reapply for the position, I hope that somehow, all of us disheartened are missed. I also agree with John. We have spent so many month (in my case up to 9 month out) and have given it my all and to have to re- apply for the position I have so whole heartily given myself to this great nation?
I have been employed by FEMA almost 9 years and it breaks my heart that this is the turn they made. I did not reply for the position, I hope that somehow, all of us dishearttened are missed. I also agree with John. We have spent so many month (up to 9 month out) and have given it my all and to have to really for the position that I have so whole heartly given myself to this great nation?
I so wanted to vote for Hillary on the last election. She was promising to pull FEMA from under homeland securitry!!!! Well, it was a great idea and now…well, you know the rest of the story!!!! Dat blast it!!!!
Thank you fellow FEMA Reservists for stepping up to the plate with accurate descriptions of life at the NEW FEMA. More FACTS–not theories–from insiders living it.
I wasn’t going to post again because I believed no one took my first two posts seriously. After the near-simultaneous announcement of FEMA Corps and the FIRING of the Reservist Workforce back in March, I’ve spent the last six months researching into the depths of what has really been going on, sharing it with House Oversight committee members, the DHS/IG and various Media outlets with absolutely NO ACTION, except for one brave reporter who bailed after two stories. I understand that it’s an election year and everyone is busy putting out the fires set by our Federal Government, but I found it inconceivable after putting a few bits of research out here and there that FEMA employees could remain so blind or in denial after all the gut punches thrown by FEMA management. In fact, the messenger was attacked/censored in Social Media before anyone vetted the claims! However, TODAY I am comforted and my hope is renewed by the eloquence and courage of my colleagues. I am still a Reservist on paper and haven’t given up yet–but I call myself “former fema gal” because I refuse to play Fugate’s and his minions’ game. I intend to be around when they have been properly ousted by a new Administration or the coming CORRUPTION investigation they deserve. The PUBLIC, THE TAXPAYERS are the ultimate LOSERS if they are not stopped, as my co-workers have said. You see, unlike our untouchable, unaccountable PFT overlords, most, granted not all Reservists choose the work, the ;long hours, the travel, months away from home and family, and tolerate the inane bureaucracy and chronic disregard because we want to serve our fellow citizens and possibly do some good in this world.
I have been a FEMA Reservist for almost 6 years and served in 10 disasters, 2 where I was a manager in Community Relations. When I was hired the oral board made it quite clear that being a DAE (now Reservist) was a great job for a retiree or someone with a flexible job schedule, so that you could leave on short notice and be away from home for a minimum 30 days. There are no benefits (recently got sick leave while deployed), no health insurance, etc. I was mentored and began unofficially mentoring other DAEs during my second deployment. Until Oct 1, 2012, you were required to be “available” for callout, 60 days a year. Since Oct 1st, you must be “available” 365 days a year except for a 60 day leave period. There is no standby pay, and if you refuse 3 deployments in a year, outside the leave period, you may be terminated. I have BA in Sociology, and 28 years law enforcement, including assignment as a hostage negotiator, among other “people” skills. Most of us Reservists have had successful careers in business, law enforcement, firefighting, education, and military. We still have a desire to help our fellow citizens, but are now faced with unreasonable deployment/availability rules. Many of us will throw in the towel, and leave the job of dealing with distressed survivors, local, state and national officials, completing daily reports, conducting town hall meetings, and doing other jobs that require life skills and experience to 18-24 year olds in FEMA Corps. FEMA will get what it pays for and the survivors of disasters will suffer.
What I find fascinating about this article and the “new FEMA” is that FEMA felt the need to fire the entire Stafford Act Workforce and have people re-apply for their own positions; yet they chose to use the same inept PFT executives to make critical FQS (Qualification) decisions based on only partial employment and training records and NO interview processes.
MANY reservists (as they are now called) were given “Qualified” credentials for positions they had never held and MANY others were deemed not qualified for positions they had worked in for years and in some cases, decades; while their co-workers and even supervisors considered them to be “Experts” in those positions.
DAE’s/SAE’s (translated as Disaster Assistance Employees/Stafford Act Employees… being the same thing, just with different acronyms) were the people doing all of the work in the field since FEMA’s inception. Yet instead of working on fixing the REAL personnel problems, the Agency’s leadership chose not to terminate or even evaluate the PFT staff (identified by the GAO, the IG and even PBS’s, “FRONTLINE” as the crux of the Agency’s problems), they instead chose to implement a secret program of replacing these dedicated Disaster Response and Recovery personnel with cheaper, easier to manipulate “FEMA Corps” employees in the name of, “Saving Money”.
Let’s be honest, these moves have nothing to do with creating a better workforce or even HELPING the American Public recover from a Major Disaster, it is all about THE PERCEPTION of saving money while at the same time eliminating people that know more about how to do this type of work than their PFT Counterparts.
Permanent Full Time (PFT) employees are WIDELY recognized as cronies (political appointees, friends of friends, family members, or people promoted, “to get rid of”. Personnel that have been literally, “kicked up the ladder” following the departure of James Lee Witt and the substantial “quality” PFT workforce that left the Agency for greener pastures as a result.
James Lee Witt spent years getting rid of the incompetent cronies and replacing them with experts only to have President Bush Junior fill FEMA back up with a whole new group of them.
Great “Hope” existed in the Workforce at the Election of President Obama, that he would get rid of the Republican Leadership in FEMA and put in a REAL Agency Leader; but instead,. just the opposite happened. FEMA got someone that called the entire DAE workforce, “Walk-ons” without having ANY understand of their dedication and contributions to the Agency and the American public. Even this article calls this workforce, “not regular FEMA personnel”… Nothing could be further from the Truth!
The only thing that makes DAE’s different from the PFT/CORE employees is that they are sent to some of the most devastated and dangerous areas in America and THEY are the ones that help people actually Recover from Disasters. The PFT and CORE Staff are sitting in nicely furnished Regional Offices or at Headquarters working until 4:00PM EST.
As mentioned above, DAE’s don’t get ANY Medical Benefits (Something else President Obama Promised; but failed to deliver) and sometimes are forced to even live out of their Compact Rental Cars (in areas where they are deployed where no housing exists). They spend MONTHS away from their loved ones and at times have been forced to work hours that would most certainly prompt Labor investigations in the Private Sector (or any other Government Agency). Then many have been even denied PAY after working those hours. They are NOT fairly compensated for overtime (unlike PFT/CORE or Even CONTRACTOR personnel!); but rather are paid overtime based on the Stafford Act Employee Pay-scale.
If you are surprised by ANY of this, Don’t take MY word for it, simply watch the several PBS Specials regarding FEMA filmed over the past 10-years.
Frankly, the majority of PFT employees in leadership roles now within FEMA (but especially and specifically those in Information Technologies/Communications) wouldn’t last 10-days in either the private sector (or ANY other Government Agency) because they have quite literally no real training, no hands-on field experience and literally no idea what they are doing in ANY IT/Telecommunications discipline, never mind having ANY idea of how things work in the field. Recently, a Regional PFT IT Section Chief told me, “You’ll need to wait until they deploy some DAE’s because after talking it over with everyone, none of us know how to do that and we don’t have time to figure it out”. Doesn’t that say it all?
A good example of IT/Telecommunications incompetence can be seen by looking at the IT/Telecom personnel on FEMA’s newly created “IMAT” or Incident Management Assistance Teams. There is not one single experienced, qualified, or even vaguely knowledgeable IT/Communications Lead or Deputy in ANY of the FEMA IMAT Groups! I have deployed as a Section Lead to 6 disasters with these teams including Hurricane IKE and have been forced to see my staff wait around and watch as these jokers ran around talking about how important they are, while failing to accomplish their missions.
Not only are they not AT ALL familiar with basic IT/Telecom; but have consistently demonstrated that they are not even aware of ANY of the facility, setup or functional needs of ANY FEMA field sites or personnel slated to be working in those sites.
In every single Disaster where they have taken point (instead of DAE’s), they have made dramatic mistakes that have put people in Danger and have cost taxpayers millions of dollars, NEEDLESSLY. Most are so incompetent at IT/Telecom that they wouldn’t be able to get a job at Staples selling Ink Cartridges, never mind an IT/Telecom role in ANY other Government Agency. Why were they given these jobs? To get rid of them from somewhere else because of incompetence or because a crony friend(s) was responsible for hiring into that position.
I personally know of three teams where not only can the IT/Telecom leaders not configure a FEMA computer to Join a FEMA Wireless Network, they don’t know how to do basic Microsoft work like, “Map A Network Drive” or “Configure a BlackBerry for Tethering”. And these are the people responsible for setting up our IT and infrastructure during a disaster? I was at one disaster where they wouldn’t listen to a DAE that was trying to explain why something wouldn’t work. Instead they made everyone do what they wanted… after three days of doing what the IMAT Leaders wanted, only to find out it would not work for the exact reasons described by the DAE, they sent that DAE home. Then THEY left (and abandoned the problem, leaving that issue to their DAE replacements to fix!)
We also consider the majority of IT/Telecom decision makers (at Headquarters and Mount Weather) as literally and flatly, “incompetent”. An example of this would be our own Chief Information Officer who did not even know that MERS (Mobile Emergency Response Support) or DR (Disaster Response) Teams even existed (and after years in her job); nor did she know what they do (as confirmed by her outrage in a conference call several months ago). For those that are not aware, these are the two teams that have been the primary resource working with IT/Telecom DAE’s in the field to establish IT/Telecom infrastructure at field facilities for DECADES. These two groups (that are actually quite good at what they do) are now being decimated by the, “Politics of Headquarters”.
Finally, there is the issue of how they treated the really good DAE’s that we ALL KNOW and look for when we are deployed. The ones that actually HELP us. I know of one IT/Telecom “Reservist” that I have worked with on several disasters that spends most of his time supporting not only everyone on the ground where he is deployed; but also FCO’s, Section Leads and other Command Staff Leaders at OTHER Disaster sites by way of his Blackberry; because to quote them directly, “our Regional and Headquarters PFT IT/Telecom employees are useless and don’t care about our needs while this guy can fix everything and anything, instantly! He doesn’t make excuses, he has the answers and is always willing to help us!”. ***
So what does this all mean? It means the more things “Change”, the more they stay the same! It also means that Administrator Fugate has no love for Reservists or despite his claims, to make things better for the American public. He cares about two things and ONLY two things. Making it LOOK LIKE he saved the American People some money and at the same time, how this perception will earn HIM more money on his next job.
This comment was shortened by Claire on October 14.
John I completely agree with what you are saying. I have been with the Agency since 2005 in the DAE/Reservist capacity and have too seen first hand how people are promoted, not by knowledge or skill level, but by who they know and how they know them. I’m sorry, but as a taxpayer first, I am sick to my stomach of people attaining positions they have absolutely no knowledge of. Let me give an example. I worked a previous disaster where the Section Chief (a PFT IMAT person) was hire a few years back and during this entire deployment, kept asking everyone what to do because he wasn’t sure, didn’t have much of a clue of how to do things. I believed in the mission and cleaned up his mess every time, usually without it going noticed. Who always got the credit? You guess it, the PFT IMAT Section Chief. Likely received one of those nice, plushy, yearly bonus too I’d imagine. I have seen DAE’s spend months and years deployed to a Regional Office and Warehouse, doing little of nothing, getting paid salary as well as their M&IE as well. All at the taxpayers expense, when those people do little, and I mean litterally nothing except decide where they are going to go shopping next, what golf course to hit up, and how they can get out of work tomorrow. How is it that we (taxpayers) have to stand for people getting paid ungodly amounts of money to do little of nothing? When will the IG or the GAO or CONGRESS wake up to what is going on? After all, Congress created the Stafford Act, perhaps it is time for an overhall and a thorough house cleaning from top to bottom of an Agency I’ve seen waste so much money there isn’t a cliche worthy enough to describe it.
I really wish the DAE/Reservists would come to realize, we’ve all been screwed over by Fugate. He hasn’t liked us from the start and it is quite obvious to anyone with an open mind and willing to just do a little research, they are tying to force those that remain out. When was the last time any current DAE/Reservist has heard from Craig regarding this entire transformation??? That’s right, you haven’t. He has not been on one single VTC, he hasn’t sent out one single email, we haven’t even seen any smoke signals from him since this whole thing has started, but he’s all over the coutry bragging about what a great deal he’s made with CNCS to create the FEMA Corps groups, and how he’s done a wonderful thing with the United Negro College Fund to educate more minorities. Wouldn’t one think, if he tryly appreciated all that the Reservists/DAE’s do and have done, that he would have been out there from the onset explaining and reassuring us DAE’s that he was attempting to make the Agency better and address concerns that we have been hoping for for years? No, we get to hear occassionally from Serino, Coleman, and Fenton (and that is if we are lucky), in what is supposed to be two-way communication but that is only half true. You need to be deployed in order to get the chance of asking a question during the VTC because sending an email to the employee communication email box is a worthless waste of time, you’ll get a canned message that doesn’t address the question or even attempt to answer it.
Let me address another issue. Earlier this summer President Obama granted seasonal (yes, I said seasonal) firefighters the right, ability, priviledge (I could care less what you want to call it) he gave them access to federal health benefits. That’s a fact as I live and breath and write this reply. Why have they not extended the federal health benefits yet to DAE/Reservists? They can allow seasonal firefighters health insurance, but us FEMA Reservists, who basically are under the same stresses (without a fire), have to find and pay for our own? Oh wait, I know why… With the CNCS FEMACorp kids (young adults), they won’t have a real need for actual Reserivsts/DAE’s any time in the future, unless the New Madrid goes up in a shaking whirl of smoke.
Wake up my fellow Reservist friends, those of us that are left. Unless you are independently wealthy or don’t mind being poor, you better have a fall back plan as a means for income, because it likely won’t be coming from FEMA anytime soon.
OMG…what an awesome article… I agreed with 99% of the comments. Great article!
For any of us who are at all conspiracy-minded, please note that the alleged drop in the unemployment rate last month was due in large part to an increase in government jobs and an increase in part-time jobs. Could it be that this program is actually just another cynical ploy to get the President re-elected? For example, since records have been kept, there has never been a September in which the employment of 20-24 year olds increased – except last month when there was not only a gain, but a huge one – 101,000. Coincidence?
Thank you Thank you Sir for paying attention! Part of my theory as to why this sudden fire/rehire process of Reservists popped up THIS ELECTION YEAR and why FEMA Corps was implemented at the same time is this: By firing/rehiring most of us–they (re)created 7100 jobs on paper, mind you we lost 3000 to unemployment (aka the federal dole, senior entitlements, pensions) which serves their social-engineering agenda of degrading America’s standard of living and individual wealth and self-sufficiency. AND 1600 NEW jobs were added with FEMA Corps, though only several hundred are actually working. Unfortunately, they are working in our entry level positions around the country in disasters, being trained by us as well, which adds insult to injury.
And there is this, which I failed to include in my first post. Once the bureaucrat strangers at FEMA HQ decided who among us were to be rehired and knew who accepted the official job offer, which hundreds refused, Phase II hiring will offer our remaining open positions to the general public and ADD @3000 NEW RESERVISTS in a curious hiring blitz! If they needed Reservists, why did they get rid of 3500 establsihed, vetted Reservists? Logic anyone?
They forced out the people they didn’t want, who are mostly mature and white, to be blunt, to selectively hire from the masses, who will have to be trained/investigated at taxpayer expense under new condtions that no one can sustain/retain, financially or skill-wise. Does this make sense to anyone out there?
Along your line of thinking John, they will claim credit for thousands more jobs created in Phase II but have actually just replaced a single employee who was forced out. However, from the Social Justice White House agenda, they have an added bonus of getting to PRE-SOLICIT/ cherry pick our replacements, not on merit or experience, but through politically beneficial cronyism that sustains their power. It’s REDISTRIBUTION of your tax dollars and our jobs. It’s disguised class warfare. It’s insidious and immoral.
Hopefully, when the election is over, we all can get back to normal. And hopefully, fewer conspiracy theories.
Let’s just stick to the facts here folks.
* * * Are you calling my posts conspiracy theory or just John P? How quickly you dismissed our “facts” but didn’t provide any of your own as rebuttal. Revealing. Don’t you want the answer to YOUR QUESTION in your post? You can research my facts and sources. I haven’t made this up and I am living this. When was your last internal FEMA experience and when did you last read our policies? My job is gone as are those of my many dedicated colleagues. FEMA Corps is real and FEMA and White House officials are quoted as saying they are cheaper to deploy than an equal number of Reservists. See links.
It’s the passive, lazy excuse of labeling anything un-PC or unusual as “conspiracy theory” that brought this wonderful nation to its current reprobate condition. Passive critics who attack and doubt but do not verify and investigate. What a pity.
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/article/detail/fema-cncs-look-to-add-disaster-volunteers-4464
http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/news/reingold_chronicle.shtml
I meant John regarding conspiracy theory. He brought up the term.
I do not work in the field and do not have the kind of resources the FEMA IG or the GAO do to research the issues.
I can only post what people send me and cannot verify their facts. I am hoping the various opinions and inputs will allow readers to do their own sort.
But I want the discussion to stay on target and not get into ideology or conspiracies.
Claire
The facts are we are living this election year shake up. Many were let go without notice,(Fact) we were all forced to reapply for our jobs (Fact) and while were were doing that FEMA Corp employees went to work (Fact) while we are available 24/7 (Fact) and wondering if we will ever work for FEMA again. It is very disappointing for our government to treat us like we are not valuable employees. It is not a conpiracy, it is politics as usual.
Wow. With all due respect, you are all wrong about the purpose and future of FEMA Corps. Unfortunately, we Reservists seem to operate in a truth vacuum because no one ever presents an accurate picture of our conditions of employment, our duties, our competence, or the unique lifestyle prescribed by our employer. Since March 2012, the White House and Administrator Fugate have been cleaning house to make room for those well-intentioned but very naive and inexperienced FEMA Corps kids. The ENTIRE RESERVIST WORKFORCE (@ 10,000) were suddenly NATIONALIZED-ripped from Regional control and now run entirely from WASHINGTON DC Headquarters. We were ALL fired and forced to re-apply for our own jobs, positions that FEMA had just spent two years and millions of taxpayer dollars vetting us for then suddenly took away, justifying the move to make things FAIR AND EQUITABLE. Heard those words anywhere lately?
The FEMA Corps deal is for five years initially and is a model to be spread to other agencies per the former CNCS CEO (Velasso). FEMA’s Administrator found a way to get rid of Reservists–trained, fully-qualified workers with established working relationships with State and Local authorities and priceless program knowledge that varies in its application from State to State. FEMA Corps is a job stimulus redistribution agenda of taking jobs from established OLDER, educated, experienced workers and offering them to a youthful constituency of 18-24 years olds at a reduced cost. Many of us were rehired on paper, about 6500 of 10000. The others refused to accept the new policies and conditions for employment which basically deconstructed our jobs, setting a GOAL of deploying us once a year for perhaps 30 days but REQUIRING US TO BE AVAILABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT 365/24/7! We lost 3500 workers instantly through a ridiculous, often vague re-hire process meant to force us to quit and reduce our numbers. We now sit at home with a job title but no work and FEMA Corps is being trained in every area of our operation and working non-stop in our place. There are many documents that prove FEMA Corps was set up to REPLACE Reservists, not support them.
Taxpayers spend @$36,000 to train and supply each FEMA Corps kid and they get more than $4000 for the 10 month term. I estimated another $24K in pay and benefits. They also get full health care including generic scripts at $0 copay. Limited Dental. Up to $400 monthly for child care and at the end of service, a $5500 education grant to use in seven years. They also qualify for outright school loan forgiveness and Americorps/CNCS is working out a plan to get them SPECIAL HIRING STATUS for federal jobs. Reservists receive NO BENEFITS OR HIRING STATUS OF ANY KIND, though many have loyally served FEMA on disasters for decades in some cases. Keep in mind we Reservists are dedicated and were recalled repeatedly to do our job whereas FEMA Corps rotates every 10 months, so we will constantly be training replacements, wasting time and money on disasters on people who will disappear. Why would FEMA set up such a program unless they intend to keep FEMA Corps and replace us?
This is just scratching the surface. The right question to ask was “What are they thinking?” I know what. There are others that see but we have been shut down, censored, and intimidated by fellow employees. Congress, who has authority over FEMA through the Stafford Act was shut out of this power grab/social justice program straight from the Executive Branch, which seems to operate unilaterally the past few years. They are pushing National Service to fill public positions with younger, controllable populations and displace certain types of workers who must resort to unemployment and social security, etc. to survive in this dying economy-by design.
Oh, and the latest partnership deal signed at FEMA was on 9/28 with the United Negro College Fund to directly streamline minority college student hiring into FEMA ranks by creating emergency mgmt degree programs in minority only schools and give them preferential hiring opportunities just like the FEMA Corps kids who took our jobs.
Do your own research because it’s hiding in plain sight. Wake up people–you’re next.
Thanks for taking the time to write and explain your views and perspective on this matter.
We need more input from experienced field workers on this topic. I hope more Reservists will write in.
Claire
Where do you think the previous comments came from ? They came from EXPERIENCED DAE/Reservists. I also served for the past five years, and what they are reporting is absolutely accurate. They are so well written I can’t add a thing.
Couple of background things:
- Many of the Reservists work in specific programmatic roles, such as Community Relations which is largely a liasion to make contact with the general public and community officials – EM folks could fit in here, but the pay is low since this is a fairly low level/low skill/high volume role. Much of the activity in IA and PA is fairly focused – managing mobile home operations, engineeering/costing evaluations etc. There are positions and I do not know how much EM education is given credence. Suspect that EM experience is higher on the relevancy list, so it is important for even folks with higher ed degrees to have some proven EM related experience.
-There are CORE (Cadre of On-Call Reserve Employees) positions often advertised at FEMA, HQ and Regions, which is a good place to break into FEMA. Many of the Permanent Full Time positions are taken by returning Veterans these days, with or without EM, local government or recovery background (mostly without) thus it is very hard to get a PFT position unless you are already in the Government. CORE positions are not subject to Veterans preference so it is a place that those with education and expeience that cant compete with Veterans often are able to break into FEMA. Many reservists that have proven themselves move into these positions. They are usually advertised along with the PFT positions on the FEMA site and USAJOBS. The CORE positions pay better that Reservists in accordance with the GS Scale, work full time and with benefits, but the position is not a permanent. They are contract term jobs, usually limted to 2 or 4 years.
-FEMA Corps, which I believe is a subcomponent of the Corporation for National and Community Service, now that FEMA has signed an MOA with CNCS, is 18-23 year-olds, not necessarily college graduates, but they are college students I believe. There are no requirements for educational background in certain subject areas to enroll. These folks would take jobs along side other FEMA reservists in similar positions, though these students are targeted at specific jobs that are supposed to be more suitable to their limited education and experience. I believe the intent is for these folks to work their way into the FEMA full time workforce after they complete their 18 months with the program, but I am not sure of how that would be done.
-Regarding recovery roles, we find that folks with broader local government, and other organizations that have worked with communities, including experience in areas such as City management, planning, economic development, housing, etc) as well as folks with Peace Corps backgrounds, or with education in Public Administration, Sociology, Political Science work out well as we are not dealing so much with EM elements after the response is over, but the more complicated and long term community function and community dynamics issues. Even there, in Recovery, just like with the operations in the field early, many of the positions are very program specific – IA and PA and Mitigation, that even there those background I mentioned may be overshadowed by technical needs or standard grant program roles needed.
Is the FEMA the one that adds the most value on the ground at an emergency? Why not provide those same financial resources to the local relief agencies which seems to bear the brunt of the cost and impact?
The one thing that this blog didn’t touch on is broken hiring process at FEMA and the Federal Government at large. People who get jobs in the Federal Government are good at getting jobs in the Federal Government – not necessarily good at the job they applied for. The process is broken. It relies on automated word searching to determine if an applicant is qualified. There is a cottage industry of people who can be hired to get you a Federal job, regardless if you are qualified. Most honest hardworking people with experience have a difficult time navigating the mindless bureaucracy of the Federal hiring system and therefore get shutout.
Good point. So many qualified people I know have tried to enter federal service, but got nowhere.
Too bad. We sure could use a reinvigorated federal workforce.
I’d love to know what these “cottage industry of people who can be hired to get me a Federal Job” are…I’d pay to get a federal job in EM, as I’ve been applying to everything, even GS-7 jobs with two masters degrees and get ‘minimum qualifications not met”
I guess you are saying you wish you could find someone to facilitate the hiring process. To my knowledge no such service exists.
The feds need the equivalent of a “head hunter” process, I guess.
Claire
There is quite a large difference between the FEMA Corps members and the individuals who have completed higher education in emergency management. I am an AmeriCorps*NCCC Alum (the program that FEMA Corps is housed within) who joined straight out of college with a degree specialization in disaster reduction and emergency planning. While I am educated in emergency management, it is accurate that a majority of the members, at the time, were not.
FEMA Corps members are given about $4,000 as a living stipend (not to be confused with an income or salary) to support themselves during their 10 months of service. Many people who are educated and looking for employment in emergency management would not, or could not, live in a manner required for participation in a program like that.
It is true that inexperienced people are getting involved in EM opportunities while experienced individuals are sitting on the sideline, looking for work, but this isn’t because of a mismatch between supply and demand. It is because the inexperienced individuals are the ones who are willing to live highly mobile lives with little stability and small or non-existent paychecks. FEMA Corps members and Reservist positions require a skill-set and lifestyle that few formal educations can teach.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply and info that I had no way of knowing.
We do owe thanks to the FEMA Corps and Reservists. I was once a Reservist myself and have a lot of respect for that group.
I still maintain that when filling positions at the higher levels, FEMA would benefit from hiring more people with higher education degrees than is true now.
Wow, there is so much more to the FEMA world…that most folks do not have a clue about. FEMA, to me, is becoming the most insensitive organization in this country. Of course, Mr. Fugate would not know this. Whoever said that there are folks that do not know how to do their jobs…well, I will have to take the fifth to that one. How about folks coming to work and sleeping right in front of the surviors? Yeap, it is fine. They are a tad tired so they sleep. I am sure if someone was to say that a book could be written about FEMA without reprisal…there would not be enough paper to put the words on. Really. Oh well, we have a choice. Stay or leave…..
I agree that not all jobs are high level. In my view, the recovery process is not well understood, rarely well- executed at all levels of government, and in need of more intelligent planning and execution. Hence, bring in some more of the educated emergency managers as supervisors and advisers to local government. Let’s do more thoughtful recovery and less muddling through.
Hello Claire!
I very much agree; the need to be able to optimize the use of scarce resources for disaster preparedness, response, and ultimately recovery is an issue of great significance. We have become better at emergency response, but the complexities associated with community recovery continue to challenge our abilities. We need new paradigms and a re-consideration of our goals and how to reach them.
Recoverydiva:
Your statement 9/14 is on the right track but local governments can’t afford the training required by FEMA and State mandates so it is either a volunteer or part time job at best.Until it hits home with some disaster. Number one FEMA can NOT come in unless requested by the State period. Governor has to make that written request. Read Stafford Act 1988.I am currently a DAE until the end of this year.I agree we need better management in PFT levels who know how to work with the ground troops in the communities in any type of disaster.instead of sitting up in the tower. Football coaches have to be on the field not in the stands coaching. Most DAE’s work long hours 10 -14 a day in centers plus drive time to and from different locations. If your bound to a chair all day long let me know how well you fair and 30 minute lunch. maybe 2-3 weeks with no days off as a rule. Not as glorious job as you may think. A few jobs allow to move around . Its a good day when everything works OK too.
I might add that the jobs that DAE and what I believe these FEMA Corps members will be assisting with don’t really require formal a emergency management education. They need to know how to follow the PA and IA guidance and assist communities and citizens fill out the reams of paperwork required.
If we want to talk about a significant segment of emergency managers that should look towards a formal EM education, it would be the numbers of retired fire/law enforcement/military leaders who took a career in emergency management just because they’ve been in a couple EOC activations. Many take the next step to obtain advanced degrees in this field for their new career, but a significant number don’t.
I know very little about the DEA to Reservist change. All I know is from my experience as FEMA Corps member. We do not get loan forgiveness or full health insurance. We get limited health maintenence plan from work related injuries. We recieve a monthly living stipend of 300 dollars since we are not Vista. We are hoping for competitive status just a federal employees. I didn’t know that reservists didn’t recieve that benefit. We were told we would supplement and not replace DEA employees. That might’ve been a lie.
Thats exactly the thing Steve, I dont know that anyone except the “higher ups” knows exactly what the future holds and what plans they have set in motion!