FEMA workers want to shift focus away from post-Katrina reports

The release of yet another report condemning Hurricane Katrina failures has Federal Emergency Management Agency employees saying they just want to push forward for the upcoming hurricane season - and do so independently.

FEMA workers, the union representing them and a former director are most concerned with seeing the agency become independent of the Homeland Security Department so FEMA can get immediate attention from the White House during a crisis. Employees are tired of seeing the agency pounded by the press and politicians, and would even accept its demise as long as the replacement agency would be autonomous, said Leo Bosner, president of the American Federation of Government Employees' Local 4060.

"I like the fact [that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee] realized there is a problem," Bosner said. "But keeping it in DHS is a dumb move."

The committee released portions of a report Thursday that detailed widespread failure throughout FEMA in preparing for and responding to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The committee called for FEMA to be dissembled and re-integrated into DHS as a stronger agency under a new name. DHS and the Bush administration rejected the senators' bipartisan call for the end of FEMA, however.

Bosner said the Senate committee's proposal to give the agency replacing FEMA a direct connection to the White House only at certain times would create "a confusing chain of command."

Former FEMA director James Lee Witt, who ran the agency during the Clinton administration, said the committee's report did a great deal to empower FEMA - but not enough.

"The most important step in fixing FEMA is to return it to its independent status," Witt said. Under his leadership, FEMA had direct contact with President Clinton and was autonomous.

Both Witt and the committee agreed on one subject: the benefit of having response teams prepared in advance and contracts in place before disaster strikes.

As the Senate report emerged, the House Homeland Security Committee assembled legislation that would preserve the beleaguered bureau within DHS and put a senior official from FEMA directly in touch with the president during a crisis.

Several FEMA employees rejected the notion of a DHS-controlled emergency agency. Aside from the agency's inability to communicate with the White House, they said, leaving its budget under the direction of DHS would be restrictive. Both House and Senate committees have called for more emergency funds for new hires and additional preparations for hurricanes.

"It is hard to compete for people, resources and attention in this environment," said one FEMA employee, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.