I wish to welcome our nominee to the Committee. Since you and I met a month ago, it seems that the nature of the position to which you have been nominated has changed dramatically.
The President's proposal for a new Department of Homeland Security will include Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A key question is how will this new role for FEMA in Homeland Security affect its traditional mission?
There is already a Federal Response Plan that does what the President says the new Department will do, that is, "the Homeland Security Department will integrate the federal interagency emergency response plans into a single comprehensive, government-wide plan." Since 1992, a Federal Response Plan has managed the activities of 26 federal agencies and the Red Cross during all phases of a disaster, including readiness, response, recovery, and mitigation. In 1999, FEMA published the second edition of the Federal Response Plan Terrorism Incident Annex.
When necessary, FEMA has made agreements with specific government agencies to address terrorism. In January 2001, FEMA and the Department of Justice released an Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan (CONPLAN). FEMA is currently working with the Catastrophic Disaster Response Group (CDRG), made up of representatives of all federal agencies, to update the Federal Response Plan in light of the lessons learned from September 11th. These changes are to be integrated with the national strategy for homeland security, on which Governor Ridge has spent the past eight months working.
I hope the proposed department will build on all the different plans and agreements already in place. We do not need a brand new coordination plan. What we need is better communication and implementation of the plans we have.
The President and his staff compare this reorganization to the creation of the Department of Defense after World War II. However, there are many differences. The Departments of the Navy and the Army shared the primary mission of defending the United States. They were both military departments with similar cultures and management priorities.
In contrast, many of the agencies impacted by this proposal, including FEMA, have a number of core responsibilities unrelated to their homeland security missions. Most of what FEMA does every day, and what Americans expect from FEMA, does not fall under the description of homeland security.
Homeland security is strengthened through developing assets that are built day-by-day and community-by-community. These assets include well-trained firefighters and law-enforcement officers, well-equipped medical personnel, and well-exercised emergency response drills.
An example is when FEMA partnered with local and state agencies to help residents on the Island of Hawaii in the wake of tropical storms and flooding last year. It is the dedicated men and women who form the FEMA family who continue to build on these relationships and provide federal assistance to those most in need. Just this year, FEMA assisted flood victims in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois and is working with communities devastated by wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico.
Every state in the Union, including Hawaii, works with FEMA to include disaster mitigation when rebuilding after an event. Cities and counties across the country are working with FEMA to lessen the impact of future natural disasters through mitigation programs.
These efforts are all-hazard and will help communities respond to floods and terrorist attacks. However, there are those in the Administration who have criticized mitigation efforts and have questioned their cost and benefit.
FEMA's pre-disaster mitigation program was eliminated in the President's 2002 budget because it was deemed ineffective by the Office of Management and Budget. Congress disagreed and saved the $25 million program only to see the Administration's FY03 budget proposal seek to eliminate FEMA's post-disaster mitigation program, which was also judged ineffective by OMB.
I believe that Mr. Brown and Director Allbaugh appreciate the importance of disaster mitigation. Unfortunately, traditional cost-benefit analysis is not appropriate for mitigation and prevention programs, and OMB has not given FEMA guidelines on what factors will be used in the future.
I am concerned that these same problems will haunt the new Homeland Security Department. What factors will OMB use to determine the effectiveness of different homeland security programs? I hope Governor Ridge will shed some light on this when he appears before us tomorrow.
The Deputy Director will be responsible to make sure that core functions are not neglected. Over the past decade, FEMA has regained the confidence of local and state emergency managers. Individuals and families rely on FEMA when their lives are torn apart by natural disasters. I believe confidence and trust are among America's most important assets in our struggle to make our communities safer and more secure.
FEMA has these assets because of it employees. The Deputy Director also will be responsible for ensuring that these dedicated federal workers have the resources, training, and support necessary to do their jobs. Likewise, FEMA's core missions are too important to take the best and most experienced staff away from traditional disaster response and mitigation to fill new homeland security activities.
Mr. Brown, thank you again for your dedication and willingness to serve your nation. You have a tough road ahead. If we are to use the parallel between this reorganization and the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947, we must remember that it took years, even decades, to shape a truly integrated armed forces. Unfortunately, we do not have years to reshape how our country prepares for terrorism.
We can, and should, pass legislation to create a homeland security department. However, we must remember that the issue is not a new federal department, but what is most effective in protecting Americans.
