White House taps experienced emergency manager to lead FEMA

President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he would nominate Craig Fugate, an experienced first responder who now leads Florida's division of emergency management, to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A career firefighter in a state known for natural disasters, Fugate has served as Florida's state coordinating officer in 23 declared state emergencies, 11 of which were presidentially declared disasters. "Craig has what it takes to help us improve our preparedness, response and recovery efforts, and I can think of no one better to lead FEMA," Obama said.

Karen Cobuluis, a spokeswoman for the National Emergency Management Association, said the organization "is very happy that someone of Craig's experience has been nominated to lead FEMA."

Fugate, who has been a member of the board of directors at NEMA for several years and chairs the response and recovery committee there, is well-known in the emergency management community, she said.

Fugate inherits an agency much better organized and prepared for handling disasters than it was during the catastrophic blow dealt by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but he still faces enormous challenges. FEMA former Administrator David Paulison told Government Executive in late January that developing a plan to provide emergency housing in the event of another disaster on the scale of Katrina remained a significant challenge for the agency.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano planned to appear with Fugate on Thursday in New Orleans to announce his appointment. In a statement, Napolitano said, "Craig Fugate is no stranger to emergency management, or to FEMA. He is one of the most respected emergency managers in the nation, and the work he's accomplished in Florida serves as a model for other states to follow."

Napolitano also said Jason McNamara would become FEMA's chief of staff. McNamara is an associate vice president and director of emergency management-homeland security in Dewberry's Emergency Management, Disaster and Mitigation Services Group. Dewberry is a professional services firm in Fairfax, Va.

Rich Cooper, a principal at the lobbying firm Catalyst Partners who served as business liaison director at the Homeland Security Department from 2003 to 2006, said in a recent interview that the days of appointing inexperienced emergency managers to lead FEMA are long gone.

Fugate was one of several qualified emergency managers whose names were floated in Washington as potential FEMA administrators, which Cooper said was a sign of how seriously the Obama administration viewed the post.

"Everyone understands how important this position is," said Cooper.