Category Archives: FEMA

Proposed DHS Budget Criticized by Former Executives

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From The Atlantic Magazine, article titled Trump’s Unbalanced Homeland Security Budget; The president prioritized border security and immigration enforcement in his blueprint, but it risks coming at the expense of other equally important priorities.

Among the authors is former DHS Secretary Chertoff. Here is one excerpt:

Indeed, paying for border security and interior enforcement by cutting funds to the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, and capping investments in agencies like the United States Secret Service and the United States Coast Guard is akin to double-locking your front door, but leaving your side door open—and your windows, and your garage door, and turning off your alarm.

Proposed Cuts to FEMA Budget

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The title of this WashPost article does not mention FEMA, but if you read down to the second half of the article you can see what cuts the new administration proposes: To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security.

Updates:

Bear in mind, the cuts to EPA, NOAA, Coast Guard and other federal agencies also will have an impact on emergency management as we currently know it.

The Diva suggests you get ready to defend programs you want and to protest the cuts.

Challenges and Opportunities for FEMA

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This is an unusual posting in that it’s essentially a “white paper” that was prepared by a notable group of academics who work in the field of hazards, disasters, and emergency management.  They prepared this paper for the incoming FEMA appointees. Since those appointees are not yet known, at the moment the paper is out for review and comment.

Here is the 9-page document titled Urban Challenges and Opportunities for FEMA During the Trump Administration.

Please send comments to Ben Wisner and/or Aaron Clarke-Ginsberg.  Bear in mind I did not participate in this effort but am supportive.

Are Some Communities Surviving on Disaster Relief Funds?

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This is a new and important topic for those of us interested in the recovery phase. Your comments are invited.

From a FL newspaper, see this article: FEMA money keeps many Florida counties afloat.

This article references a Bloomberg News article from a month ago, which was titled:
The Areas America Could Abandon First.  Some excerpts:

You could drive a shrimp boat 1,300 miles along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Fort Myers and not pass a single county or parish that voted against Donald Trump. The cities and towns along that shoreline had better hope he remembers their support: Without increasing levels of federal spending, climate change could push parts of them out of existence.

So far this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent $1.1 billion on what are called Individual Assistance payments, which help households recover from natural disasters. There are no limits on the number of times a household can apply, so the program isn’t just a safety net; for some people, it’s effectively a subsidy to live in areas that are especially vulnerable to hurricanes, floods and storm surges.

Article on FEMA Needing to Learn from History

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From the latest issue of the HSAJ, this remarkably candid article by Quinton Lucie: What Comes Around, Goes Around (and Around and Around): Reviving the Lost History of FEMA and its Importance to Future Disasters

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lacks a coherent historical record. Often this results in the agency repeating the mistakes of its past. By creating a comprehensive public record of FEMA and national emergency management efforts over the last half century, FEMA can break its cycle of repeating past failures and rediscover successes that were otherwise lost to current emergency management leadership.

FEMA Releases Updated National Planning Frameworks

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Details from FEMA:

Today, FEMA and its partners released the updated National Planning Frameworks for each mission area: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery. The National Planning Frameworks, which are part of the National Preparedness System, set the strategy and doctrine for building, sustaining, and delivering the core capabilities identified in the National Preparedness Goal of building a secure and resilient nation.
The Frameworks present a paradigm shift in the way we approach preparedness through a risk-driven, capabilities-based approach. Historically, preparedness was considered a separate, distinct mission area; but now the Frameworks address national preparedness as a whole, through the core capabilities that compose the five mission areas.

National preparedness is a shared responsibility—everyone has a role to play to ensure that our nation can address its greatest risks. FEMA supports the mission of strengthening the security and resilience of the nation by working to improve the ability of all to manage incidents, events and emergencies. The Frameworks do this by creating a shared understanding about how we, as a nation, coordinate, share information, and work together to achieve our missions, as well as define our roles and responsibilities from the fire house to the White House.

Recognizing the need for an all-of-Nation approach to preparedness, and an open and transparent government, input was gathered from the public, stakeholders and all levels of government. FEMA received thousands of comments during the various review and comment periods. As a result, the Frameworks offer practical, real-life examples of things people are doing to keep our nation safe and resilient.

The updated National Planning Frameworks also incorporate critical edits from the National Preparedness Goal refresh, including updated core capabilities, lessons learned from real world events and continuing implementation of the National Preparedness System, including an increased emphasis on cyber threats, and updates on the roles and responsibilities of coordinating structures in each mission area. The updated Frameworks also align with new policies and directives, such as PPD-21, Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, and EO 13636, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.

FEMA is hosting a series of engagement webinars to highlight key changes to the Frameworks and to answer questions participants may have. All webinars are open to the whole community, including individuals and communities, the private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations and all governments.
For a copy of the document, summary of changes, and webinar registration information visit: http://www.fema.gov/national-planning-frameworks. For more information on national preparedness efforts, visit: http://www.fema.gov/national-preparedness.

See also the comments from readers that follow this announcement from FEMA.