aLanguageBank TRANSCRIPT for FEMA TITLE: WTOP 103.5 Radio Interview with Paulison TOPIC: Hurricane Season 2007 DATE: May 31, 2007 LENGTH: 5:03 minutes Speaker Transcription Radio Host: The Atlantic hurricane season begins tomorrow and the first hurricane of the Atlantic season which began May 15th may be forming right now. Tropical storm Barbara is swarming of the coast of the Southwestern coast of Mexico and forecasters say it could strengthen into a hurricane over the next several days. So the question is, is FEMA ready for the worst. Radio Host: Well let us find out. We are going to find out from FEMA administrator David Paulison who joins us here live at WTOP Radio this morning. David, good morning it is good to have you here with us. David Paulison Good morning. It is good to be here. Radio Host: So are ready, and if you say you are why should we believe you? David Paulison (Laughter) We are ready. We have been working for the last couple of years to make sure we put this organization back on track and take those very awful lessons learned during Katrina. Fixing those and putting some things in place to make sure that we have an agency that this country expects we should have. Radio Host: It seems that we are still getting stories from Katrina survivors, who haven’t been squared away yet. Are still living in FEMA trailers. Things like that. David Paulison Oh, we have almost 80,000 families still living in travel trailers and mobile homes up and down the Gulf Coast. So yes there are a lot of people that have not gotten back on their feet yet. Ah, that is not our responsibility. Our job is to give them a safe place to stay. Which we’ve done. Most of those travel trailers though, are actually in people drive ways while they are rebuilding their homes. So that is a good thing. That 80% have a plan in place. Now all we have to do is work with the other 20% to make sure that we can find some way to get them back on their feet, and get them into the mainstream of society. Radio Host: [PH] Now last year, wasn’t as bad a hurricane season as obviously the previous year has been with Katrina and Rita. But, it was forecast to be bad, we were just lucky it wasn’t. It’s forecast again to be fairly bad this year. Are the resources that you need to ensure that you can get your job done being made available to you? David Paulison Oh, they have. We have predeployed, pre-stored, supplies all across the Southeast United States and up the Atlantic coast. Making sure that we have those commodities in place that we are going to have to have if we are going to respond if we do get a storm in. Now, obviously the most vulnerable area right now is the Gulf Coast. There still are a lot of infrastructure issues. They have not been built back. So we have kind of been focusing on that, but we haven’t ignored the rest of the country. We have been doing a gap analysis of all the states. From Maine to all the way to Texas. To make sure that we know where those vulnerabilities are. To know where those gaps are. We can tailor our response to each state and not use our one size fits all type of thing. Radio Host: When you work with local first responders, firefighters, fire chiefs, does your own experience as a firefighter and a chief and a paramedic give you kind of a ‘street cred’ for lack of a better term with them? David Paulison Oh, absolutely. You know I spent 30 years out there. I was the president of the International Fire Chiefs. I got a lot of visibility out there. I’ve had a lot of hurricanes and I think that type of experience gives credibility this position. To go out and talk to people. They know you’ve been there and done that. Radio Host: I wonder about the people who work for FEMA. The really dedicated employees who felt that, hey, maybe the agency made some mistakes from the top down, but give us a break. We did the best that we could. Is moral ok? David Paulison Moral was really down. And, I will use the phrase ‘in the toilet’, when I took over. They were getting beat up. They were understaffed, too much work, not enough people to go all around. An overwhelming event. I mean, Katrina for any agency, would have overwhelmed it. But the moral is coming back up. We are now over 90% hiring of our authorize strength. We are making sure that our employees have the tools to do the job. So I do see moral coming back up. People are trying to get into the system. We did a job fair just a few months ago and we had 40 positions open. We had 600 people show up. Radio Host: Is it a plus or a minus that you are under the umbrella of Homeland Security now? David Paulison I think that it is a plus for us, because we have so many resources right at our fingertips. You know, we have the Coast Guard, we have the Border Patrol. We have got ICE [PH]. We’ve got all of these other agencies out there that I meet with every week. So I have got somewhat of a first name basis with them. We have a great relationship. So I just have to pick up the phone and call and say I need some help and I get it right away. Radio Host: You get concerned about the status of the National Guard and what it might have on your agency? David Paulison Well there is no question that we have a lot of troops over seas. We have a war. But talking with the National Guard and our system that we have. What we call our Emergency Management System Compact, which all 50 are a member of we can move National Guard resources, or we can move any other resource state to state if we have a problem. I am not really concerned to tell you the truth. Radio Host: Well, of course we are all hoping your agency isn’t tested very much this coming hurricane season, but if it turns out that it is a tough season, I hope that things go well Thank you sir. We’d like another one like last year. Radio Host: Listen, no one ever tells you “you’re doing a heck of a job” do they? David Paulison No, I hope not. (combined laughter) Radio Host: That’s the kiss of death, I guess in that job. Hey, thanks so much and good luck this season. David Paulison Thank you guys. Radio Host: That was FEMA administrator, David Paulison with us on WPOT. 1