FEMA's Managerial Disasters
Friday, September 30, 2005
By: Daniel Auger

Wastewatcher, September 2005

On August 29, Hurricane Katrina came ashore and wreaked havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing billions of dollars in damage and overturning the lives of thousands of citizens.  The recovery may cost as much as $300 billion.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the primary responsibility of ensuring that the money reaches those most affected by Katrina.  However, the agency’s current and past problems may leave taxpayers unwilling to entrust them with the hundreds of billions of dollars they are set to administer.

According to The New York Times, three days before Hurricane Katrina struck, FEMA turned back Wal-Mart trucks filled with supplies and prevented the
Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel.  The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that after the hurricane made landfall, FEMA refused to allow the Red Cross to deliver food and water.  By turning away volunteers, FEMA delayed assisting citizens who desperately needed help. 

In addition to incompetence, FEMA’s reaction was slowed due to bureaucratic reshuffling.  Created in 1979 to protect the country from a massive nuclear attack, FEMA funds were focused primarily on this cause.  Following criticism of how it handled Hurricane Andrew in 1992, FEMA was reformed under President Clinton.  However, when FEMA was folded into the Department of Homeland Security, its priorities again shifted; this time, the emphasis was on (and the money put into) fighting terrorism.  Earlier this year, the Bush administration announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster preparedness function that it had served since its inception. 

Typical, red-tape bureaucracy also played a role in delaying aid.  FEMA workers denied aid requests because forms weren’t properly filled out or certain signatures were excluded.  In one case, Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) was told of a sheriff in his district that had called FEMA and had been told to “e-mail his request.”  The sheriff was knee deep in water and had no electricity.

The problems associated with FEMA after Hurricane Katrina are not new.  Three days after Hurricane Andrew hit, FEMA was nowhere to be found; when it did arrive, mobile hospitals could not set up, and food and water distribution centers were overwhelmed.  Besides a delayed response, FEMA awarded hurricane damage funding for areas away from the disaster.  For instance, more than $29 million in flood relief was given to Mobile, Alabama even after local officials said the county suffered no damage.

After the devastating hurricanes that hit Florida last year, FEMA supplied $30 million worth of furniture, clothes, and appliances to residents who sustained minimal or no damage, including Miami-Dade County.  Inexperienced, corrupt contractors caused FEMA to grossly overestimate payments to Floridians following Hurricane Frances.  In addition, according to a federal audit, Louisiana state officials improperly used some of their $228 million in FEMA funds for a trip to Germany, video equipment, and a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria.

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel revealed that many of the contractors hired by FEMA to assess last year’s damage had criminal records.  In January 2005, FEMA’s director of recovery programs, Dan Craig told the newspaper “Our inspectors are our first line of accountability.”  As one example, Bill Neal, a contractor who was also in charge of training new contractors, had served six years in prison in three different states for criminal sexual conduct, attempted embezzlement of public money, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and cocaine possession.    

The Sun-Sentinel found that 30 of the 130 inspectors it was able to identify had criminal backgrounds; four lost their jobs after they were arrested while under employment (including two for accepting bribes for distributing higher FEMA aid).

Corruption is already rearing its head in the aftermath of Katrina.  According to The Times-Picayune, three Texas truck drivers under contract with the federal government were arrested for looting toys, women’s lingerie, and other items.  The New York Daily News has reported that debit cards distributed by FEMA had been used in “luxury goods stores as far away as Atlanta.”

Even members of the bureaucracy agree that the agency is in dire straits.  In 2003, the Partnership for Public Service measured the best places to work in the federal government; FEMA’s employees ranked its agency last of 28 government agencies.  In a 2004 government survey, only 10 of 84 FEMA professionals ranked the organization as “excellent or good.” 

Through past and present behavior, it is clear that FEMA needs a major management overhaul to handle the billions of dollars it will be entrusted with to aid hurricane victims.  FEMA must be held accountable so the money goes to those who really need it.  This is not a time to squander and misdirect funds, something FEMA has done all too well in the past.