Ex-FEMA director withholds endorsement of new nominee
James Lee Witt, who headed the agency in the Clinton administration, says he is encouraged by support for making FEMA independent again.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Clinton said Wednesday he is concerned about the future of his former agency, which President Bush is seeking to place in the hands of R. David Paulison.
Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt, who favors removing the agency from the Homeland Security Department and giving it a direct line to the White House, refused to say whether he supports Paulison's nomination to become the agency's permanent chief. Witt called Paulison, who has spoken in favor of keeping FEMA under DHS control, "a really, really good guy."
"He needs to be empowered," Witt said. "I still have concerns about whether he can [run FEMA] where FEMA is right now."
While a number of legislators argued that beyond liberating FEMA from DHS, it is imperative the agency be given Cabinet-level status, Witt did not go that far. Instead, he said, it is important to ensure that the emergency chief has the opportunity to immediately reach the president during a crisis.
Witt cited the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as prime examples of times the agency was able to circumvent bureaucracy to act quickly during a disaster. Both those events happened well before 2003, when the Homeland Security Department was formed, subsuming FEMA.
He said the bipartisan support slowly beginning to grow around removing FEMA from the department and returning it to independent status is encouraging.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., echoed Witt's sentiment Wednesday when he spoke at The Gulf Coast Reconstruction Summit in Washington.
"[Hurricane] Katrina teaches us we have got to bring all assets of the government together," he told reporters after delivering a brief speech.
Davis, who said he believes FEMA would function better outside of DHS control, did not offer an endorsement of Paulison. However, his comments indicated that he disagrees with the acting FEMA chief's support of the willingness of President Bush and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to keep the agency under the umbrella of the department.
"The person [directing FEMA] shouldn't be a bureaucrat," Davis added.