Overhaul of emergency management system urged

Several House lawmakers on Thursday called for a major overhaul of the nation's emergency management system, including removing the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Homeland Security Department.

"Today, confidence in FEMA and, by extension, the Department of Homeland Security, is at an all-time low," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

With the next hurricane season fast approaching, some lawmakers believe Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is taking a huge gamble in the way he has reorganized preparedness and response functions within the department.

Last summer, Chertoff announced that preparedness activities would be removed from FEMA and put in a new directorate. FEMA, the secretary said, would focus on its core mission of response and recovery to disasters.

But Chertoff's vision has never been tested. The changes were slated to go into effect last October, meaning they had not been made by the time Hurricane Katrina struck in late August.

"When Katrina came, we operated under the old system and the system failed," Chertoff said.

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday continued what has been an onslaught of criticism directed at Chertoff and DHS over the federal government's response to Katrina. Some Democrats have called for Chertoff to resign.

"FEMA cannot be fixed inside the DHS belly but should return to its independent status," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.

"Whether FEMA stays in DHS or not, we have to put FEMA back together again," added Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "FEMA has been weakened and responsibility has been spread out all over DHS. Preparedness responsibility is in one place and response is in another."

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, told the NewsHour Wednesday he also is open to making major changes.

"One answer, instead of just firing Chertoff ... might be to relieve [DHS of] this particular responsibility -- this first responder responsibility -- that you see in FEMA, and move it somewhere else where it will probably get a little bit better response."

Davis' spokesman, Robert White, said: "Clearly, where FEMA belongs, organizationally, is something that Congress is going to discuss this year."

Chertoff resisted calls to overhaul FEMA and change how the department is structured to prepare for and respond to disasters. He said he stands by his decision to remove preparedness activities from FEMA, adding that it would be "a huge mistake" to make FEMA an independent agency.

Chertoff said he restructured the department in part because preparedness activities were too dispersed among FEMA and other divisions. He said the new Preparedness Directorate is unifying activities such as grants, planning and training.

He also noted that the department now has a new undersecretary for preparedness and a chief medical officer.

The secretary acknowledged, however, that the clock is ticking because the next hurricane season starts in June. FEMA is still without a permanent director or deputy director, and Chertoff only this week announced reforms that must be made at the agency.

"FEMA has to reload before the next hurricane season," Chertoff said.

But Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee are not convinced that DHS is doing the right thing and have proposed legislation to overhaul FEMA.

The Plan to Restore Efficiency and Professional Accountability in Responding to Emergencies (PREPARE) Act would require FEMA to have a director who had experience in emergency management and who would report directly to the president during all incidents of national significance.

The bill, which has yet to be introduced, also would "reunite" preparedness and response functions at DHS by placing FEMA in the new Preparedness Directorate. The FEMA director would be the department's undersecretary of preparedness.

"I recognize that making these operational changes may be difficult and even embarrassing ... but they must be done to prevent future massive failings by the government," Thompson said.