'Minimized' FEMA threatens response; restore status, warns former director.(Federal Emergency Management Agency )

Emergency Preparedness News, April, 2004

The changes made since 9/11 by the Bush administration to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "have minimized its capability greatly" and threaten the agency's ability to respond adequately to disasters, according to James Lee Witt, former FEMA director.

Witt directed FEMA from April 1993 to January 2001, served 25 years in emergency management at the local, state, and federal level, and currently operates an emergency management consulting firm. "I'm not trying to be critical," Witt told EPN. "I'm just very concerned that FEMA has been so minimized within the circle of DHS that it's losing the capability to respond to assist state and local responders."

At the heart of FEMA's past success, according to Witt, is the strong relationships...

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