FEMA’s fate debated

WASHINGTON—With President Barack Obama urged by some to reinstate the Federal Emergency Management Agency to separate cabinet-level status, a new federal report argues that such a move would hurt the nation’s homeland security “apparatus.“

The debate over FEMA’s fate comes amid reports that Florida’s disaster management chief Craig Fugate is one of the leading candidates to head the much-criticized federal agency.

The White House wasn’t commenting Wednesday on Fugate’s chances or what, exactly, Obama intends to do with the disaster-relief agency that was absorbed into the huge 22-agency Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

During his campaign for president last year, Obama repeatedly criticized FEMA’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and seemed to indicate he would reorganize FEMA into a free-standing agency.

“The director of FEMA will report to me,“ Obama declared in a campaign speech in New Orleans.

But in his report this week, the Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner argues that taking FEMA out of the department would cause “considerable upheaval, to both FEMA and the department.“

Skinner’s “white paper” also argues that FEMA benefits from shared resources with other department agencies such as intelligence gathering, communications and search and rescue capabilities..

Asked Wednesday about Skinner’s report, White House spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai said it “will be considered as the Administration continues to evaluate what is and is not working in our federal emergency response system.“

Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor, the top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security subcommittee on management, investigations, and oversight, said Wednesday he agrees with Skinner that FEMA should stay put.

“Taking FEMA out of DHS could do more harm than good by restricting its resources and bringing back the bureaucratic barriers that impede coordination and sharing of information necessary for effective responses to manmade and natural disasters,“ Bilirakis said.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at 1 (202) 662-7673.