Chertoff announces major changes for FEMA

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday acknowledged that his department's response to Hurricane Katrina was "unacceptable" and announced measures intended to strengthen the government's emergency response capabilities.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will establish a permanent workforce focused on disasters and will decentralize its disaster relief centers when a significant number of people are displaced, Chertoff said in remarks at the National Emergency Management Association's midyear conference.

"I also have the responsibility to fix what went wrong," Chertoff said. "As the president has said, the results of our response to Katrina were unacceptable. Some things worked well, but some things which should have worked well did not."

Chertoff said that FEMA can longer "rely primarily on volunteers to provide services in the immediate aftermath of a disaster." He said the agency will develop a "highly-trained nucleus of permanent employees to serve as its core disaster workforce," and that volunteers will continue to be an important part of the FEMA team.

Department spokesman Russ Knocke said he would not dispute an Associated Press report that 1,500 new full-time employees would be hired for year-round disaster coordination.

"We have to build a robust permanent staffing capability for the agency so that we're not in the type of situation where with every storm you're replacing them," Knocke said. "Volunteers have a critical role to play, and they will continue to play that role, but I think to the extent that you have a more robust trained . . . staff, the better the general capability of the agency will be."

Michael Brown, the former director of FEMA, sent Chertoff a request for 2,000 DHS volunteers as the Hurricane Katrina disaster was unfolding. In November, FEMA reported that more than 7,500 federal employees had volunteered to help with recovery efforts.

Chertoff countered recent criticism that the department has focused on preventing terrorist attacks and has neglected natural disaster response.

"I unequivocally and strongly reject this attempt to drive a wedge between our concerns about terrorism and our concerns about natural disasters," Chertoff said. "That kind of wedge makes no sense, and it does a disservice to all of you here who are working very hard to protect against any kind of disaster of whatever cause."

The department was not where it needed to be last fall in the area of preparedness, Chertoff said.

An after-action review process ordered by President Bush has been "deep, difficult and even painful," Chertoff said. "We are cooperating with that and have engaged in our own soul-searching."

He acknowledged that the incident management structure at Homeland Security remains "stovepiped" and he said he is committed to moving the department toward a fully integrated and unified incident command by June 1.

"To the extent that integration was not done in July and August of last year . . . we paid the price for that," Chertoff said. "We have to make sure we don't pay that price again this summer."

He also outlined various additional changes to improve FEMA's ability to respond to disasters.

The agency will develop a pilot program for deploying mobile disaster assistance trucks to temporary housing so victims can receive assistance closer to home, he said.

Homeland Security also plans to launch a streamlined logistics management system so equipment and material shipments can be tracked and redistributed if needed during a disaster recovery, Chertoff said

He said that FEMA's Web site and 1-800 call-in number capabilities will be upgraded to handle 200,000 disaster registrations per day, double the previous capability.

The agency's debris removal contracting process will be streamlined so reimbursements can be processed faster, and communications capabilities will be improved to survive the loss of power, infrastructure damage and severe weather, he added.

Reconnaissance teams made up of personnel from the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be formed so information can be sent back to the department for incident management coordination and information sharing.

Ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the changes as "placing a small Band-Aid on a gaping wound."

Thompson and other Democrats on the committee released a report Monday analyzing FEMA's structure and leadership.