<DOC>
[109 Senate Hearings]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:28249.wais]
S. Hrg. 109-673
NOMINATION OF R. DAVID PAULISON
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON THE
NOMINATION OF R. DAVID PAULISON, TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
__________
MAY 24, 2006
__________
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Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine, Chairman
TED STEVENS, Alaska JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio CARL LEVIN, Michigan
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
TOM COBURN, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island MARK DAYTON, Minnesota
ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico MARK PRYOR, Arkansas
JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia
Michael D. Bopp, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Jennifer A. Hemingway, Professional Staff Member
Michael L. Alexander, Minority Staff Director
Adam R. Sedgewick, Minority Professional Staff Member
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Collins.............................................. 1
Senator Lieberman............................................ 3
Senator Voinovich............................................ 6
Senator Akaka................................................ 7
Senator Dayton............................................... 8
Senator Carper............................................... 19
Prepared statement:
Senator Levin................................................ 39
WITNESSES
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Hon. E. Clay Shaw, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Florida............................................... 5
R. David Paulison, to be Under Secretary for Federal Emergency
Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Testimony.................................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 40
Biographical and professional information.................... 46
Responses to pre-hearing questions........................... 50
Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics................. 122
Responses to post-hearing questions.......................... 123
Responses to additional questions............................ 145
NOMINATION OF R. DAVID PAULISON
----------
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:19 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Susan M.
Collins, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Collins, Voinovich, Lieberman, Akaka,
Carper, and Dayton.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN COLLINS
Chairman Collins. The Committee will come to order.
Today the Committee will consider the nomination of David
Paulison to be the Under Secretary for Federal Emergency
Management at the Department of Homeland Security. Put more
simply, he has been nominated to be the Director of FEMA.
It would be an understatement to say that Members of this
Committee are familiar with FEMA. We have just completed an
exhaustive 7-month investigation into what went wrong in the
response to Hurricane Katrina. As a result, we are all too
familiar with the profound problems that exist within the
Nation's emergency management structure and, in particular,
within FEMA.
As the title of our Katrina Report states, 4 years after
the terrorist attacks, America was still a Nation unprepared
when that powerful storm struck. With the official start of the
2006 hurricane season now less than a week away, we must
ascertain whether we are any better prepared today as a result
of the cruel lessons Hurricane Katrina taught us.
The recent floods in the southern part of my State and in
New Hampshire and Massachusetts remind us that disaster can
strike any time and anywhere. The terrible human suffering and
the physical devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina were truly
horrifying. But, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks,
we can easily construct scenarios that would be even worse.
FEMA plays a central role in preparing for, responding to, and
recovering from such catastrophes.
The catalog of the 185 findings in our Committee's report
can be seen through the lenses of four over-arching failures:
First, the lack of attention to long-term warnings and failures
to prepare for a long predicted catastrophe.
Second, insufficient actions and poor decisions prior to
landfall and in the immediate aftermath.
Third, the failure of systems that support response
efforts, including abysmal situational awareness.
And fourth, the failures of officials at all levels of
government to provide effective leadership.
As our investigation made painfully clear, FEMA, under its
then-Director Michael Brown, was at the center of each of these
failures. Mr. Brown bears much of the responsibility for the
haphazard and inadequate preparation, response, and relief
effort. It matters greatly who leads FEMA. The Agency must have
a strong, effective, and experienced leader, which is why we
have convened today.
But the record of our investigation also makes clear that
the problems at FEMA go beyond matters of leadership, judgment,
and equipment in one particular disaster. FEMA lacks the
stature, the protection, the resources, the connections with
State and local officials and first responders, and the direct
communication with the President that are essential in
responding effectively to a catastrophe.
It is clear that the problems at FEMA were evident long
before Katrina. Our investigation of FEMA's disaster relief
programs following the 2004 Florida hurricanes revealed
alarming waste, fraud, and abuse. Yet, those alarms were not
heeded before Katrina struck.
FEMA's problems are bone deep, and at the surface level,
its credibility is shattered. That is why one of our report's
major recommendations calls for elevating and strengthening
FEMA by giving it key preparedness and protection assets. We
must transform this agency into a new, all-hazards authority
within the Department of Homeland Security.
This more capable and more regionally focused agency would
be built upon the foundation of FEMA. More precisely, it will
be built upon the foundation of FEMA's skilled, dedicated, and
professional workforce.
Our nominee brings extensive credentials and leadership
experience to the great challenges ahead. David Paulison was
appointed Acting Director of FEMA just 2 weeks after Katrina
hit, following the resignation of Michael Brown. He stepped
forward to take command under extraordinarily difficult
circumstances.
Prior to his appointment as the Acting Director of FEMA, he
was confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. Fire Administrator in
December 2001. Before his confirmation, Mr. Paulison was Chief
of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, where he directed
1,900 personnel and oversaw a $200 million operating budget. He
also was responsible for the Dade County Emergency Management
Office. Thus, Mr. Paulison has the kind of experience and
background that our report strongly recommends for Federal
emergency management leaders.
A past president of the International Association of Fire
Chiefs, Mr. Paulison has earned the respect of firefighters and
emergency managers across the country. His nomination has the
endorsement of that organization, as well as of the National
Emergency Management Association, and several other groups.
I look forward to hearing from him on what has been done to
remedy the specific problems Katrina exposed and, even more
important, to prepare for the 2006 hurricane season, such as
improving evacuation plans, commodity tracking and
replenishment, coordination with local, State, and other
Federal agencies, communications interoperability, and
temporary housing.
We will also discuss other important issues, from the over
reliance by the Agency on sole source contracts to preparations
for other types of disasters, not only terrorist attacks but
also those that our Nation has yet to experience, such as a
pandemic disease.
I thank Mr. Paulison for his continuing commitment to
public service, and I welcome him back to the Committee today.
Senator Lieberman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LIEBERMAN
Senator Lieberman. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and
welcome, Chief Paulison, to this hearing on your nomination to
officially become the Under Secretary for Federal Emergency
Management at the Department of Homeland Security--in effect
FEMA--an agency that, as you know, Senator Collins and I would
like to work to rebuild, to strengthen, and ultimately to
rename.
Chief, your background has clearly helped you prepare for
the challenges that you are going to face in this position. As
Senator Collins has said, and I want to restate it because it
is so important, you have more than 30 years experience as a
firefighter in the Miami-Dade County Fire Department. You rose
through the ranks to become Chief with oversight of the
County's Office of Emergency Management. You led the U.S. Fire
Administration, briefly served as Director of FEMA's
Preparedness Division, and have now served as FEMA's Acting
Director since September 2005.
I do not think there are many people who would disagree
with the contention that many of the problems that we, on this
Committee, and the Nation, saw in FEMA's response to Hurricane
Katrina were the result of a management team there that did not
have the same professional experience in emergency response and
management that you have. That is one of the reasons our
Katrina Report recommends that the leadership of this new
authority that we would like to build up from FEMA have
sufficient and relevant experience, as you do.
I want to say here publicly that I also appreciate many of
the actions that you have taken as Acting Director of FEMA--
your hiring goals to bring the Agency to full strength; your
plans to pre-position relief supplies better throughout areas
that are presumed to be hit by hurricanes; and your programs to
equip your personnel, and other personnel, better.
Although these initiatives will help us prepare better, I
know you will agree we have far more work to do, especially as
we head into a hurricane season that experts have ominously
warned favors more catastrophic storms in both the Gulf Coast
and, I might say, along the East Coast getting closer to the
neighborhoods of Senator Collins and myself.
Bottom line: We need a strong FEMA with a strong manager
leaning into the wind, not being blown apart by it. And I have
confidence that you can be and will be that person.
I know that there are those who believe FEMA should be a
separate agency again and take it out of DHS. Our Committee's
investigation found, frankly, that FEMA was never prepared for
a catastrophe of Katrina's scope and intensity. And although it
served the Nation well in previous years, particularly during
the 1990s, it was not able to deal with every natural disaster
of the 1990s as we had wanted.
If you move FEMA out of DHS, you are not doing anything to
strengthen FEMA. In fact, you are weakening it. You are
isolating it from the resources it needs and from its collegial
agencies within DHS that it must work with in a time of
disaster.
So I feel very strongly that what we need is more
integration and coordination, not less, to strengthen America's
emergency response, prevention. and recovery capability.
I know that you agree with the Chairman and me that
emergency management must remain within DHS. However, we need
much more, I want to say to you, than FEMA is now capable of
delivering. And we have to work together with you to give you
that capacity as we go forward.
I would like to briefly add a word about the ongoing
Katrina recovery. I want you to know, Chief, and you will not
be surprised by this, that on this Committee we continue to
receive reports of inadequate planning, poor coordination,
inflexible guidelines, and still some ineffective communication
on the part of a few FEMA personnel.
I know that some of your recovery programs were not created
for a catastrophe of Katrina's proportions, which is why the
Chairman and I introduced legislation immediately after the
storm to address some of the most pressing needs.
One of the most essential proposals was to give the
President the authority to waive the $26,200 individual
assistance cap. Unfortunately, that legislation was rejected.
Nearly 14,000 people impacted by Katrina have now reached that
cap and need additional assistance. This is an example of one
of the additional resources and capacities that I think FEMA
needs to manage successfully during long-term recovery efforts
for communities and for individuals. I hope we can have your
support as we develop some of those more effective approaches.
Finally, some problems cannot wait. For example, as you
know, FEMA recently gave 30-days eviction notice to some
evacuees still living in apartments and trailers. These are
Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Evacuees and local officials are
expressing frustration and some anger on the argument that we
cannot abandon these people now. I hope you will indicate to us
during the hearing the ways in which you will move forward with
the recovery in a fair and just manner.
But bottom line, it seems to me that you are a good and
able man to be put into this tough position. You will have the
support of the Members of this Committee, certainly of both
parties, as we go forward to prepare America to respond to all
hazards and all disasters much better than our government did
in response to Katrina.
I want to apologize in advance. There is a joint session of
Congress at 11 a.m. to hear Prime Minister Olmert. I have been
honored to be asked to be on the escort committee to bring him
into the hall. He probably would come into the hall whether I
was there or not, but I would like to be there personally.
So I am going to file some questions with the Committee and
have confidence that Senator Collins and other Members will
probably ask some of the questions that I would have asked.
I wish you the best, Chief, and I look forward to working
with you. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Senator Lieberman.
Before calling on the rest of my Senate colleagues for
their opening statements, I am going to ask their indulgence
while I call on Congressman Shaw for his introduction because
he does have a tight schedule and needs to get back to the
House.
Congressman, we are very pleased to have you here this
morning. Please proceed with your introduction.
TESTIMONY OF HON. E. CLAY SHAW, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA
Mr. Shaw. Thank you, Senator Collins, and I will be joining
my friend, Senator Lieberman, as part of the escort committee
in just a few moments so I will also be leaving this hearing.
Chairman Collins and Ranking Member, Senator Lieberman, it
is my distinct pleasure to appear before you and the rest of
your Senators to introduce a man whose job it is to answer
America's alarms.
As you know, David Paulison was appointed Acting Director
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency by President Bush in
September 2005. He ascended to that position as we began the
difficult and demanding process of recovering from Hurricane
Katrina, one of the worst storms in our Nation's history.
The term natural disaster does not even begin to describe
the devastation that was wrought by not only just Katrina but
also the major storms that followed, Hurricanes Wilma and Rita.
Mr. Paulison rose to the occasion to lead our Nation's relief
and recovery efforts.
David Paulison has long been a constituent of mine, and I
personally supported him to be named permanent director of FEMA
last fall because of his proven ability to meet major
challenges head on through his effective leadership, remarkable
management skills, and thorough approach.
Before joining FEMA, Mr. Paulison, who has 30 years of fire
and rescue experience, was Chief of the Miami-Dade Fire and
Rescue Department. In that position, he oversaw 1,900 personnel
with a $200 million operating budget and a $70 million capital
budget.
He also oversaw the Dade County Emergency Management
Office, which I have visited several times. I can tell you
firsthand that Mr. Paulison kept a well-organized and efficient
Emergency Management Office in South Florida, which I also say
is one of the most technically advanced in the entire country.
He began his career as a rescue firefighter and rose
through the ranks of rescue lieutenant commander, assistant
chief, and then deputy for administration before becoming
Miami-Dade Fire Chief. He is also a certified paramedic.
As Fire Chief, he oversaw the Miami-Dade Urban Search and
Rescue Task Force. His emergency management expertise includes
major disasters such as Hurricane Andrew and the crash of
ValuJet Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades.
Knowing David Paulison and having worked with him in the
past, I can tell you that he does not want this job because it
is easy. There is nothing easy about the job of the FEMA
Director, and he knows full well that every step he takes will
be second-guessed by the Congress of the United States. He
wants this job because of challenges and because of his
passionate belief that America can not only survive times of
tragedy but has the strength to rise above them and be
strengthened by the tragedies that we experience.
As you deliberate today and consider this important Senate
confirmation, I hope you remember that for the last 30 years
David Paulison has been the guy who runs into the fire. He
should be honored and respected during his confirmation process
for his distinguished service to his Nation in times of tragedy
and crisis, which I am sure will be the case.
Our neighborhoods, our communities, and our dependency is
on his leadership.
I might say, Senator Collins, your mention of wanting
strength, effectiveness, and experience is exactly what David
Paulison is all about. As Chairman of the Florida Delegation,
it is my great honor to introduce to you the Acting Director of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, David Paulison.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Congressman Shaw, for taking
the time this morning to introduce the nominee. Senator
Voinovich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Madam Chairman, for holding
this important hearing.
The position of Under Secretary for Federal Emergency
Management is an enormous responsibility, particularly during a
time when our Nation faces seemingly constant hazards in the
form of both natural disasters and terrorist threats. It is
critical that the Under Secretary for Emergency Management be
an individual with experience, skill, leadership, and
integrity. Chief Paulison, I believe you possess these
qualities, and I am pleased you are here today.
During Chief Paulison's recent visit to my office, we
discussed the challenges facing FEMA. I was impressed with his
background, and I believe he is the right man for the job.
Leading FEMA through this time of transition will be an
undertaking of monumental proportions. Chief Paulison, your
willingness to take on this task speaks volumes about your
character. I thank you for accepting this challenge, and I
thank your family for the sacrifices that they have made and
they are going to be making so that you can put in the long
arduous hours that will be required. Unfortunately that job is
a 24/7 operation. Again, that is a big responsibility and a
great sacrifice to your family.
I also want to take a moment to recognize all of the FEMA
employees for their hard work and sacrifices, performing what
they must feel like is a thankless job. Emergency management is
important work, and our Nation owes much gratitude to the men
and women of FEMA who have assisted capably in the response to
disasters in my home State of Ohio, as well as home States of
all of my colleagues.
Chief Paulison, I look forward to learning of your
intentions for revitalizing FEMA. As you know, the Members of
this Committee will be actively engaged in oversight of FEMA's
progress. I encourage you to be as candid as possible with this
Committee, to let us know what Congress might do to assist you
in turning the Agency around.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Senator. Senator Akaka.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Paulison, welcome back to the Committee, and I also
want to add my welcome from the Committee to your family that
are present here this morning. I want to tell you that it is
great to see you again.
Mr. Paulison, one of my primary concerns is FEMA's budget.
During the Committee's hearings on Hurricane Katrina, former
FEMA Director Michael Brown testified that FEMA was underfunded
during his tenure. Yet Mr. Brown never reported these budget
issues to Congress, and we learned of his concern only after he
resigned from FEMA.
Mr. Paulison, as the Director of FEMA, you will be charged
with ensuring that the Nation is prepared to respond to Federal
disasters. If the President's budget jeopardizes that mission,
it is your responsiblity to inform Congress. I know you will
take that responsibility seriously.
I also believe that FEMA's budget problems have been
compounded by its placement under the DHS umbrella. Just last
week the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill to
decrease FEMA's fiscal year 2007 budget by $325 million from
current spending levels. If FEMA is not a funding priority now,
during the first budget cycle after Hurricane Katrina ravaged
the Gulf Coast, it never will be.
Another issue is the preservation of the FEMA Pacific Area
Office, which is located in Honolulu. When we met in my office
last week, you made it clear that you understand the importance
of having a FEMA office in the Pacific, and I appreciate your
support and your comments there.
Like many others, I was dismayed, and we spoke about this
when Project Impact, a FEMA disaster mitigation program that
encouraged community preparedness--and I want to say this
slowly--through public-private partnership, was discontinued in
2001. Project Impact was replaced with the Pre-Disaster
Mitigation Grant program, PDM, which fails to offer the same
sustained partnership between FEMA and local communities. Nor
does it provide the same level of private sector involvement as
Project Impact. And I intend to look for ways to improve upon
the PDM program to revive these partnerships. And I hope, if
confirmed, you will work with me on this effort.
I want to commend you for your background and experiences,
which I feel are key in carrying out your duties as Director of
FEMA. I also commend you for your commitment to public service
and emergency management. I hope your tenure will do much to
restore respect for men and women for FEMA.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Senator. Senator Dayton.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DAYTON
Senator Dayton. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Paulison, I welcome you to the Committee and to your
assignment.
I started my career in various levels of State, Federal,
and local governments. So I believe in government. I believe in
the importance of its various missions.
I must say, and particularly in my term here in the Senate,
I vacillate every day from being a liberal to a libertarian,
and sometimes three or four times a day depending on how well
government is performing or not performing.
And my experiences with FEMA have left me more often on the
libertarian side of the coin because of my frustration and the
frustration of many of my constituents in getting responses,
getting answers, and getting decisions from that agency.
They talk in business about the moments of truth and those
being the critical times where a response or a non-response
really secures or loses a client, a customer, or a supporter
for life.
By the nature of its work, FEMA is dealing with moments of
truth, where people are in crises, they are in despair, and
they are afraid. They have lost much or everything that they
have worked all of their lives to accumulate. They need
answers. They need responses. They need sometimes the
impossible. But they, most of all, need the sense that
government and the agencies of government are working as allies
and bring a certain expertise and a desire, a dedication, and a
willingness to assist in what they are faced with.
That is the mission of FEMA. It seems clear that is the
reason that the agency exists.
My own experience, and it goes really beyond or is really
unrelated--its related, but it is separate from New Orleans and
the Gulf of Mississippi, which have understandably and
deservedly gathered so much of the headlines and so much of
this Committee's and other committees' attention in the last
year. I think that has been both necessary and valuable for
those of us who have been unable to bring that same kind of
focus and a spotlight on what has happened to FEMA in other
parts of the country, such as parts of Minnesota, because they
do not reach that magnitude.
But, in my view, while there can be some explanation for
the magnitude of the disasters in the Gulf overwhelming the
response mechanisms of FEMA and other agencies, there is not
that same explanation or excuse for the lack of response, for
example, when Northwestern Minnesota's Roseau floods in June
2002, devastating that city and the city officials, part-time,
many of them unpaid city officials, well-meaning, well-
intended, and hard-working, spending 4 years trying to get
simple answers out of FEMA.
So I have a lot of questions and my time has expired, but I
appreciate your willingness to take on this task but to really
make FEMA once again a responsive, responsible agency, it is
going to require a huge commitment on your part and the support
of this Congress. I hope it will be forthcoming.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
Mr. Paulison has filed responses to a biographical and
financial questionnaire, answered pre-hearing questions
submitted by the Committee, and has had his financial
statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics. Without
objection, this information will be made part of the hearing
record with the exception of the financial data, which are on
file and available for public inspection in the Committee's
offices.
Our Committee's rules require that all witnesses at
nomination hearings give their testimony under oath. Mr.
Paulison, I would ask that you please stand and raise your
right hand.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to
the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you, God?
Mr. Paulison. I do.
Chairman Collins. Please be seated.
Mr. Paulison, I understand that you have some family
members present today, and I would invite you to introduce them
to the Committee.
Mr. Paulison. I would like to introduce probably my most
ardent supporter, my wife, Kathy; my daughter Beth, who is my
biggest cheerleader here; and also home watching is my daughter
Amy, who is in Chicago; and both of my granddaughters, Isabelle
and Lilly are both watching.
Chairman Collins. We welcome them all, whether they are
here in person or with you virtually. It is good to have that
support here, I am sure.
Mr. Paulison, I would now invite you to proceed with your
statement.
TESTIMONY OF R. DAVID PAULISON,\1\ TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Mr. Paulison. Thank you, and thank you for allowing me to
introduce my family. I appreciate that.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Paulison appears in the Appendix
on page 40.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good morning, Chairman Collins, Senator Lieberman, though I
know he had to leave, Senator Dayton, Senator Akaka, Senator
Voinovich. I appreciate your being here, and I appreciate the
support that I have had from each of you in this Committee as I
have talked to you.
It is my honor and privilege to come before you today as
the President's nominee to be the Under Secretary for Federal
Emergency Management at the Department of Homeland Security and
the Director of FEMA. I am grateful for the confidence and
support placed in me by President Bush and Department of
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and I thank them.
And quite frankly, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to
be here today to outline my vision for a strong and robust
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Again, as I thank others, I want to thank my family for
their support. I think that, as Senator Voinovich pointed out
very clearly, it is a sacrifice for the family, and they have
been my rock as I have gone through the last 35 years of
serving in an emergency management capacity.
I have served as the Acting Director of FEMA since last
September, and I come before you today asking you for your
support to continue leading FEMA. I make a solemn promise to
you and the American people. It is my vision here now, and for
the future, to strengthen FEMA, to strengthen its people, its
processes, its capabilities, in order for it to be the
preeminent national agency for emergency management, answering
the call to serve the Nation and its citizens in times of need.
During times of disasters, be they natural or man-made,
this Nation's emergency response capability has been faced with
enormous challenges in recent years. From the flooding in
Houston from Tropical Storm Allison, the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, back to back unprecedented hurricane
seasons in 2004 and 2005, and a myriad of other disasters that
have impacted this Nation, the people who dedicate their lives
to emergency management have responded, at times faltering, but
always with a vision of putting the lives and welfare of
disaster victims first.
It is with this same outlook of putting others first where
I will continue my efforts, alongside the dedicated people of
FEMA and Homeland Security, to accomplish our current
priorities and build on the future.
These priorities include preparing not only our Agency but
preparing the Nation, be it for the upcoming hurricane season
or any disaster. We will engage constructively with the
emergency management officials, our Federal counterparts, the
Department of Defense, and non-governmental organizational
partners to maximize communication and coordination for all-
hazard disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and
mitigation activities.
We will build, within FEMA, a 21st Century competency in
operations, logistics, procurement, and communications. We will
do all of this and, at the same time, restore the pride and
spirit of FEMA employees and the Nation's trust in our
abilities.
I believe that, along with the dedicated employees of FEMA,
if you decide to confirm me, we will accomplish these goals by
the adhering to the tenets of leadership, partnership,
investment, and a solid business approach.
FEMA will set clear and unambiguous goals, communicate and
listen effectively, make informed decisions, and demonstrate
personal and professional integrity in all that we undertake.
With what is predicted to be another very active hurricane
season just days away, much has already been accomplished
toward strengthening and retooling FEMA. Since September of
last year, I have led FEMA through a period of much-needed
retooling to gear up for the next hurricane or major disaster.
Our top three areas of improvement have been situational
awareness and communications, logistics and commodity
management, and victim management and assistance.
In all that needs to be accomplished for strengthening FEMA
and building it to become the preeminent national-level agency
for emergency management, all of this cannot be accomplished
without the Agency's No. 1 asset, and that is the employees of
FEMA.
The employees at FEMA are public servants to the highest
degree, and they bring years of expertise in emergency
management. FEMA is a very proud agency with fine individuals
who take great pride in their work in this Agency.
If you decide to confirm me, I will stand before the
employees of FEMA and ask them to allow me to work hand-in-hand
with them to move past any negative perceptions that remain
from when we faltered. Together, I know we will build back the
full trust of the American people and in doing so make the
pride of FEMA employees even stronger than it already is.
I have laid out a personal mission and a list of priorities
in my written testimony. As I conclude, I would like to remind
the Committee that I started my career with a heart for public
service and serving others. My commitment to serving others
remains strong and I am deeply humbled and grateful for the
opportunity to lead and represent this Agency. I will do my
best for the call of America's leadership to FEMA.
Thank you very much, and I would be happy to answer any
questions you might have.
Chairman Collins. Thank you very much, Mr. Paulison. Your
heartfelt commitment to public service impresses me and, I am
sure, the other Members of this Committee, as well.
We will begin with three standard questions that we ask of
all nominees and then we will do a first round of questions
limited to 6 minutes each, followed by a second round of
questions.
First, is there anything that you are aware of in your
background which might present a conflict of interest with the
duties of the office to which you have been nominated?
Mr. Paulison. Senator, I am not aware of any at all.
Chairman Collins. Second, do you know of anything personal
or otherwise that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of this office?
Mr. Paulison. I do not.
Chairman Collins. And third, do you agree without
reservation to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and
testify before any duly constituted committee of Congress if
you are confirmed?
Mr. Paulison. I do.
Chairman Collins. Mr. Paulison, before I turn to policy
issues, I do want to inform the Members of this Committee that
last night Senator Lieberman and I became aware for the first
time of an issue involving certain deductions that you have
claimed on your Federal tax returns.
I understand these deductions were claimed based upon the
advice of your accountant. But since this is new information to
come to our attention, I want to share that with our
colleagues: Both the Minority and Majority staff will be
sitting down with Mr. Paulison after this hearing and
interviewing his accountant to get additional information,
which we will share with the Members of this Committee, as
well.
Senator Lieberman and I are recommending that we proceed in
that manner.
Mr. Paulison. I support that also, and quite frankly, I
just became aware of it last night, also. So I am looking
forward to it.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
Mr. Paulison, yesterday Secretary Chertoff briefed Senator
Lieberman and me about the steps that the Department has taken
to improve the preparedness for this year's hurricane season.
You have mentioned three areas that have been of particular
priority to you. Secretary Chertoff has convinced me that there
has been a lot of work done to pre-stage commodities in greater
quantities and also at more appropriate locations, and those
are positive steps forward.
There is, however, a great deal of skepticism and concern
among the victims of Hurricane Katrina about whether or not
FEMA really has taken the actions necessary to ensure a far
better response this year if disaster strikes.
They point, for example, to the fact that there are still
those, in Louisiana in particular, that are awaiting temporary
housing. The individuals in Arkansas point to the unused
manufactured housing still sitting idle in Hope, Arkansas. I
have seen that firsthand.
Local officials tell us that debris removal still has not
been completed. We know from the Army Corps of Engineers that
the work on the levees is still not finished, increasing the
vulnerability of the New Orleans area.
In light of all of the problems that still exist in the
recovery stage for a hurricane that occurred so many months
ago, what assurances can you provide to this Committee that we
are, in fact, better prepared to respond should any kind of
disaster strike this year?
Mr. Paulison. I think, first of all, you are asking the
right questions. There are a lot of issues out there that we
have to deal with inside of FEMA.
However, we have very clearly and very carefully and
methodically taken those lessons learned from Katrina.
First of all, let me back up a minute. Katrina was
obviously an overwhelming event for everyone, far beyond what
FEMA was designed to do. Just take the housing piece. We
normally house 3,000 to 5,000 people a year. In Katrina, we
have either provided direct housing assistance or monetary
housing assistance to over 900,000 people. That is remarkable.
You talked about the trailers that we put down. Yes, there
are people who still do not have them. But we have put over
112,000 families in travel trailers in just a few months. That
is a remarkable housing program. If you just figure 2.5 people
in a family, you are talking about 250,000 or maybe 300,000
people. That is a significant accomplishment. It was not
pretty, and it was rough at times. But despite the small size
of this Agency and the limited scope of what our capabilities
were, I think we did an outstanding job.
However, I am not making excuses for anything. We are
looking very carefully at those things that we know went wrong
in Katrina and did not go smoothly, quite frankly taking
reports that came out of this Committee, the one that came out
of the House Committee, the one that came out of the White
House, the IG's report, the GAO report. We are getting a lot of
help in identifying some of those weaknesses, and we are taking
those and putting them into several blocks. Particularly, what
can we do for this hurricane season and what is it going to
take longer term down the road.
Let me touch on a couple of them. Logistics that you
mentioned, we have tripled and sometimes quadrupled the amount
of supplies that we had during Hurricane Katrina. We had, I
think, 180 truckloads of meals ready to eat before Katrina, and
right now we have over 770.
With water, we had 600 truckloads of water before Katrina,
and now we have 1,500 truckloads. Ice, we had 430 truckloads of
ice, and now we have 2,000 truckloads of ice, ready in our
stock.
And also, we did an interagency agreement with the Defense
Logistics Agency as a backup to all of that in case we even
start depleting those supplies. So we are going to have a
significantly larger amount of supplies this year than last
year.
Last year we were not able to track any of our tractor
trailers that left our warehouses on the way to the recovery
agency. We lost track of trucks for days sometimes. They would
end up in the wrong place or there was no way to redirect them
somewhere else.
We have put a very sophisticated global positioning system
in place so all of the tractor trailers coming out of our
supply warehouses and all of those out of the Defense Logistics
Agency we are going to be able to track. Ours particularly, we
will be able to track real-time on a map. We will know exactly
where every truck is. We can even call up and have the computer
tell us where are all of the water trucks? Where are all the
meal trucks? Where are all the ice trucks? And it will bring
those up separately. We are doing things like that.
Communications, a major problem, as your report pointed
out, during Hurricane Katrina. A break-down in communications
between the local community and the State, between the State
and the Federal Government, and quite frankly inside the
Federal Government itself. FEMA was not communicating like it
should have communicated with the Department of Homeland
Security, not sharing information on a timely basis. We have
fixed that. There is a protocol issue in place, and there is
also an equipment issue in place. We fixed the protocol piece.
FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and we
are going to act like we are part of Homeland Security. We are
integrating ourselves into that Agency to make sure we are part
of it just like the other operating components. I think that is
an important thing to say.
Equipment-wise, we have bought a tremendous amount of
satellite equipment for voice and video. I know you have more
questions, and I do not want to ramble on, but we are doing a
lot of things to put in place what were not in place to make
sure that what happened in Katrina does not happen again.
Chairman Collins. Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Paulison, when you and I met last week we discussed the
importance of the FEMA Pacific Area Office located in Honolulu.
As you know, last year FEMA considered closing the PAO to cut
costs.
I first proposed creating that office in 1991, and since
then I will tell you that office has really made a difference,
not only in Hawaii but across the Pacific. I want you to know
that I fought its closure in 2005 by securing a promise from
former FEMA Director Michael Brown to keep the office open,
which he did.
In our chat we talked about that, and I would like to ask
you about your feeling about that particular office in Hawaii
and the Pacific.
Mr. Paulison. That is a very important office for FEMA. It
gives us a connection out there we would not normally have,
plus people on the ground to respond to disasters in your area.
I am committed to support that office and keep it open. And we
are projected funding it all the way through 2010. So there is
no intention at all on my part to close that office.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much for your commitment on
that.
Mr. Paulison, an issue that has troubled me, and I have
mentioned it already, is Project Impact. I understand FEMA
considers the PDM a replacement for Project Impact, but I am
concerned certain benefits of the former program have been
lost. For example, Project Impact encouraged private sector
participation and created a structure that fostered ongoing
interaction between FEMA and State and local communities. And
we know this is needed.
How will you enhance the PDM grants to better utilize the
private sector and to provide permanent interaction between
FEMA and the State and local communities?
Mr. Paulison. The PDM process that we are using now, we
feel is a much fairer process. It is more competitive and takes
a lot of the politics out of where the dollars go. And also, we
have a private sector office inside Homeland Security that we
are working with and will tie into the PDM process.
However, what I would like to do is to work closely with
your office and this Committee on any recommendations that you
would have for that particular program.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Also, as I said in my statement, I am concerned that FEMA's
budget receives inadequate attention and scrutiny while under
the DHS umbrella.
We heard from former FEMA Director Brown during the Katrina
hearings that he had numerous concerns regarding FEMA's budget
during his tenure, yet did not report these concerns to
Congress. I understand the Chairman has already asked you to
commit to providing information to this Committee if requested.
And I would like to add to that request by asking for your
commitment to notify this Committee if FEMA is not receiving
the funding allocations from DHS and OMB you believe necessary
to fulfill your mission.
I would like to hear your comment on that.
Mr. Paulison. You have my commitment to speak to this
Committee as honestly and frankly as I possibly can. And the
budget issue is one of those things that obviously I will.
One of the biggest budget issues we had was actually for
staffing. And Congress has given us extra dollars in 2006 and
also in the supplemental budget to do a lot of hiring, and we
are in the process of doing this. So we are grateful for that.
That is solving a lot of our issues, quite frankly, but I
really appreciate your concern.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Paulison, an issue that has been on my
radar screen for some time is qualifications for FEMA
personnel, specifically political appointees. Would you share
with us what background and qualifications you will require if
FEMA political appointments are made?
Mr. Paulison. I think any person coming into FEMA,
especially at the leadership level, needs to have the
qualification to do the job. I can give you a couple of
examples. I just appointed the Director of Region I, Art
Cleaves, who actually was the State of Maine Emergency Manager,
very well respected emergency manager around this country and
has done an outstanding job in Maine.
The Region II Director that I just appointed has been a
previous regional director and also has a lot of emergency
management and fire experience.
I just appointed the Region VI Director, who was the Chief
of Plano, Texas, Bill Peterson, who has 30 years of service in
emergency management.
So I can just tell you that based on--I can give you
examples of people that I am bringing in to make sure that
those who do come in are going to have experience.
My new Deputy Director was an admiral in the U.S. Coast
Guard, 25 years of service, ran the Pacific Fleet, tremendous
amount of operational experience. He is now my new Deputy
Director.
We brought Deidre Lee over from TSA to deal with our
acquisition part of it that we so struggled with in Hurricane
Katrina.
So I am bringing experts in that have the experience to do
the job, and that is the right way to run this organization.
Senator Akaka. Thank you for that. And thank you for your
responses. I asked that because I know you are here with a
great background, and experience to boot, and I just want to
tell you that we are happy to have you here. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Thank you. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I look at this Department, FEMA and
Homeland Security, as a former mayor and governor. We have a
big immigration problem today in part because the Federal
Government did not previously provide the needed budgetary
resources to secure the border. This week probably we are going
to pass an immigration bill. It is going to cost a great deal
of money, and it is going to put a lot of pressure on the
budget of the Department of Homeland Security.
I believe Congress needs to begin devoting greater
attention to budgetary priorities and fiscal realities. We
continue to reduce taxes. Our debt is skyrocketing. The non-
defense discretionary budget, which is part of your budget, Mr.
Paulison, is being squeezed.
And I really think it is important that you and Secretary
Chertoff come before this Committee and lay the cards on the
table in terms of whether or not you have the resources to get
the job done that we are asking you to do.
In far too many cases, this Congress has asked departments
to do work and then we do not give them the resources to get
the job done. And from my way of thinking, if you do not give
people the resources they need to get the job done, then you
are basically telling them that you do not think very much of
the job you have asked them to do.
Madam Chairman, I also think we have to give some serious
consideration to the fact that we are asking for the
transformation of a massive department. Mr. Paulison is a
political appointee. He is going to be gone with the next
Administration. And I think some consideration should be given
to a chief management officer or someone who can carry out the
necessary transformation both at FEMA and the whole Department
of Homeland Security. Because when this Administration is over,
both you and Secretry Chertoff will depart. And goodness only
knows what is going to happen in the interim period. And the
Department cannot afford to be without skilled leadership,
especially FEMA, which must be ready 24/7.
So I think those are big problems this Committee must
examine.
Chief Paulison, the key to any organization's success is
its workforce, having the right people with the right knowledge
and skills at the right place and at the right time. As
Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management and the Federal Workforce, I am deeply concerned
about the condition of FEMA's workforce. I believe had FEMA
devoted more attention to human capital management prior to
Hurricane Katrina, the Agency's response to the catastrophe in
the Gulf Coast would have been more effective, although Katrina
went way beyond anything that FEMA has faced in the past--I
think we had better recognize that.
FEMA currently has a high vacancy rate and has lost
experienced senior career staff and managers. With half of your
FTEs over 50 years of age, you stand to lose additional skill
and talent in the coming years to retirement.
In addition, with all the negative publicity your agency
has received in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and now the
discussion of yet another reorganization of FEMA, I would
imagine morale is low and is affecting retention and
recruitment.
In short, if confirmed, you will face enormous workforce
challenges. Please share your overall vision for improving
human capital management at FEMA. How would you address the
vacancy rates, retention, and succession planning? And how are
you going to raise morale?
Mr. Paulison. I think first of all that is an outstanding
observation on your part. One of the biggest issues we are
facing right now is the staffing of FEMA. The first step is
obviously what Senator Akaka talked about as far as bringing
the right number of people on board and the qualification.
Because the workers actually start respecting the leadership of
FEMA, and we are doing that.
But also, probably more important, is making sure that our
organizational staffing is as full as it can absolutely be. I
want to go into hurricane season with at least 95 percent of
our allotted slots full. We are working hard toward that.
I think right now we are probably somewhat less, maybe 85
percent, right in there. But I have 243 people in the pipeline
to bring aboard so those hopefully will be coming on fairly
soon.
We are working hard. I have tasked our HR department to not
only use their personnel, but I am getting assistance from HR
people from other departments and even contract support to help
recruit and bring people in.
We just advertised this last week in three major newspapers
in Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia for hiring to attract
people to bring in, to bring good people in.
What I do not want to do is just put bodies in there. They
have to be good people. But at the same time I have to make
sure that we move as expeditiously as possible to fill these
slots. Our people are tired. A lot of them have literally been
working 7 days a week. So we have to have enough staff going in
where there is going to be relief for them.
A major concern for me and it is one of my top priorities,
quite frankly.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
The last comment I want to make involves the House cuts to
Secretary Chertoff's MAX HR program. If the MAX HR budget is
reduced, the Department will not be able to fund this critical
personnel program. So I know we are concerned about that. And
we must ensure that Secretary Chertoff has the money for that
human resource initiative.
Chairman Collins. Thank you. Senator Dayton.
Senator Dayton. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
It is virtually impossible to run an Executive Branch
Agency from the legislative side, but that does not prevent any
of us from trying.
I was interested about what my friend and colleague,
Senator Akaka, said about the benefits of the regional office
in Hawaii. If you are looking for volunteers to eliminate a
regional agency, I would like to volunteer Region V in Chicago,
which I find I cannot assess whether that is indicative of the
problems with FEMA or whether it is an exception, but it is in
itself a problem.
I do not have the time to give you the opportunity to
review documents. In fact, I just received the letter myself
yesterday from the correspondent for the Secretary of Homeland
Security, to whom I gave a letter about this predicament in
Roseau, Minnesota. I handed it to him at the Committee on March
1 of this year. And now, after considerable prodding, received
a letter almost 3 months later. That tells me something right
there, if I cannot get a letter of response to my inquiry for
almost 3 months.
The letter also indicates that whoever wrote this, I guess
it is the central office, or at least on behalf of Region V,
claims that they have not received an appeal of their decision
that had to be submitted by the State of Minnesota on behalf of
the City of Roseau. They had not received it as of the date of
this letter, May 23. The State's records are that it submitted
the appeal to the FEMA Region V office on or about February 3
of this year. So that is, again, a period of 3\1/2\ months
during which the city thought that the Region V office or the
Washington office was reviewing this appeal. And according to
this document, the appeal has not even been received.
We are talking about, well I was going to say ludicrous and
also lunacy. I mean it literally drives--and I know these
people in Roseau, Minnesota. It is a little town of 2,700
people. It got flooded in June 2002, as wiped out as New
Orleans was, just being a smaller city. The whole downtown,
everything except the Polaris plant, was totally submerged in
water. And that survived only because as people lost their
homes to the flooding or to the sewage backing up, they went
and all joined together to sandbag around the Polaris plant
because that employs 1,900 people. And they knew that if that
went under, the whole town would basically collapse.
So these are hard working people, good honest people. No
one is perfect, but these are straight shooters. And they have
tried to deal with this bureaucratic black hole for the last 4
years.
And the nonsensical decisions that are made and foisted
upon them, and the changing cast of characters. FEMA sends up
one technical assistance contractor to advise them, and these I
guess are private contractors hired by FEMA so there is a whole
question of quality control and consistency of information,
just knowledge of FEMA's procedures there. That one person
assures them to follow these procedures and do not do other
things. Then they are told subsequently, by the Region V
office, that they were supposed to have done these and not
those. And then FEMA sends up another technical assistance
consultant, contractor, who then countermands what the first
one said. And then that one is pulled off the job.
It is like a Saturday Night Live skit, except it is not
funny. And meanwhile the clock is ticking. You talk about the
next hurricane season, we are talking about the Red River which
floods regularly. This is now the fourth year that they have
faced the prospect of another devastating flood and they cannot
get the flood projects--they cannot get the formerly existent,
now devastated, downtown reconstructed.
It is just staggering, it really is. You are taking on this
assignment. I just encourage you to look at it from the ground
up. And if this is going to be a streamlined, efficient, and
effective response mechanism of the Federal Government, I do
not know whether the regional offices are an ally or an
obstacle to that objective. There has to be some
accountability. And there has to be a timeliness of response,
that people can ask questions and get answers. They can ask the
same questions of different people and get the same answers.
They showed me the manual that they were given, basically
said here is the manual, follow this. It was 4 years outdated.
It was factually incorrect. Things have changed. FEMA cannot
even publish a current manual to give to the local officials
that have been devastated by a disaster.
I just think that the whole thing is so dysfunctional now
that I supported parts of what the Chairman, Ranking Member,
and others have proposed about whether this is reorganized or
not under one agency or freestanding, to me is secondary to
having it reformed internally, streamlined, and consolidated.
And frankly, if you have unfilled positions, you have an
opportunity not to just fill those boxes on an organizational
chart with new people but doing the same things. You have a
chance to rethink, something that almost has never been done
and almost would be a Herculean task in the Federal Government.
But if we are ever going to get beyond these agencies that
are so mired in their own bureaucracy and so overburdened with
all of these laws and regulations and everything else that they
cannot act either in a situation like FEMA, which is an
emergency response and by definition has to act. You have an
historic opportunity.
And I just hope you will come back here after I have left
but come back here and tell these colleagues of mine what is
necessary to just go from the ground floor up and start to
create an agency that can be responsive to people. Trust
people, hold them accountable, but then allow them to act and
give them the resources to do so.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. My time has expired without a
question.
Mr. Paulison. Can I just make one comment?
What I do want to do, though, is particularly on that one
issue, Ed Buikema is the Director of Region V, and I am going
to task him personally to look into the issues you have talked
about and, if it is all right with you, have him contact your
office.
Senator Dayton. I will fly to Chicago to meet with him,
happily. Or if he is out here, I would be happy, in fact, even
prefer to meet with you and with him after you are confirmed.
Thank you.
Mr. Paulison. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dayton. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Senator Carper.
Senator Carper. Thanks, Madam Chairman. Chief, how are you
this morning?
Mr. Paulison. Fine, thank you.
Senator Carper. I am sorry I missed your statement. I
certainly will read it with interest. Anybody here from your
family?
Mr. Paulison. Yes, I have my wife, Kathy, behind me and my
daughter, Beth.
Senator Carper. Which one is which?
Mr. Paulison. You just made a friend, I can tell.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER
Senator Carper. I would say thanks to both of you. Thank
you for sharing your husband and your father with our country.
We had an event down in Southern Delaware the other day at
the beach with a fellow named Jamie Turner, who you may
remember. Jamie is head of DEMA, Delaware Emergency Management.
And he and others in our state send their best wishes to you,
and regards.
We talked a bit about readiness for the upcoming hurricane
season. We have been blessed in our State, we have not had a
real head-to-head with a hurricane for about 50 years. I want
to say it was Hurricane Hazel right around 1954. But it has
been a long time.
We have had plenty of tropical storms, a lot of Nor'easters
and brushes with hurricanes, but nothing real serious.
I am told that the seawater in the Atlantic Ocean off of
our coast is a good deal warmer this year. Somebody told me by
as much as six degrees, which sounds like an aberration. But
whether it is six degrees or a couple of degrees, it is
apparently warmer.
I wonder what implications that might have for the
likelihood of a hurricane actually coming to a place where it
does not often come, and that is the DelMarVa Peninsula. We try
to be ready, thought we were ready on the Gulf Coast for a
pitch well telegraphed, and that was Hurricane Katrina. It
turned out we were not ready at all.
My hope is that we are ready on the DelMarVa Peninsula. But
I would just ask you what do you think that FEMA might be
doing, ought to be doing to help prepare for storms in
communities like ours, where frankly we have been lucky in
recent years?
Mr. Paulison. First of all, let me just say that you have
an outstanding emergency manager in Jamie Turner. He is one of
the best in the country. It has been a pleasure working with
him. He is very professional and really knows his job.
Senator Carper. It is kind of a small world. Your daughter
is here. And if you end up as head of FEMA, she will be like
first daughter or something. But Jamie Turner, who is head of
DEMA, his daughter is my scheduler. She tells me where to go
every day, a job a lot of people would like to have.
Mr. Paulison. I was just in Miami at the Hurricane Center.
We kicked off Hurricane Preparedness Week with Max Mayfield and
had this very discussion you are talking about, about the Gulf
being warmer. Also, some of the trade winds are not favorable
for hurricanes moving into the Atlantic.
So we have to caution ourselves that, although we have to
focus on the Gulf because of the vulnerability of having
112,000 families in travel trailers and the weakness of the
infrastructure, we simply cannot allow ourselves to neglect the
Atlantic Coast where, quite frankly, the bulk of hurricanes
actually hit.
And you are right, your State and those around you have
been very lucky in the last decade or so, couple of decades,
about getting storms.
One thing that concerns me is complacency. When you have
not had a hurricane in a while, people do not necessarily take
care to prepare themselves for hurricane season, with their 72
hours of food and water and medicines.
Senator Carper. Ironically, excuse me for interrupting, it
is not just places where hurricanes have not hit in a while. It
is even places where they do.
Mr. Paulison. That was going to be my next comment. Even in
South Florida, where we came off of Hurricane Andrew and
several other hurricanes in this year, what I saw was not a lot
of personal preparedness. So that concerns me.
I do have a lot of confidence in your emergency management
system, though, your State, Senator Collins' State, and others
up and down the East Coast. I think that Hurricane Katrina was
a wake-up call for emergency managers across this country, for
all of us. It is going to be a defining moment this year in
emergency management. I see a really renewed interest in people
checking to say OK, we thought some of the Gulf Coast people
were ready and obviously they were not. Am I ready?
A lot of emergency managers are questioning themselves. So
I think that is happening.
My concern is the personal. Are they going to evacuate when
they are told to evacuate? And are they going to prepare
themselves if they are not in an evacuation zone but in a high
wind zone?
Some of the messages we are trying to get out is make sure
you are prepared. We are also doing an evaluation of all of
those evacuation plans up and down the Atlantic Coast. Are
there good plans in place? Are the shelters in place? What
routes are they going to take? Where are people going to go?
Where are they going to stay? Those are all important pieces
that have to fit together for this system to work.
Senator Carper. One of the folks from your team in the
Region III area was with us at this, really it was a session
with DEMA, some of our Congressional delegation, the local
towns and managers and mayors and so forth.
The lady who was there from FEMA talked about the
repositioning of materials and equipment that maybe had not
been done before. She talked about 40-foot trailers, 20-foot
trailers, and so forth that were being positioned now.
What kind of materials and equipment are in those trailers
and how can they be helpful?
Mr. Paulison. I briefed the staff earlier. We have doubled,
tripled, and sometimes quadrupled the number of supplies that
we had prior to Hurricane Katrina. So we are talking about
food, basically MREs and other meals ready to eat, different
brands, food, water, ice, blue tarps, medical supplies, all of
the things that we normally have that we will use to respond to
a disaster.
We are really bulking up on those supplies, putting GPS
tracking systems in the vehicles. And also we are going to have
a very aggressive pre-positioning plan.
At least with hurricanes, we know when they are coming. We
know when they are coming and pretty much where they are going.
The 5-day forecast that the Hurricane Center at NOAA is using
now is as accurate as the 3-day forecast was 10 years ago. So
we are getting much better at that.
So we are going to be able to preposition a lot more. We
are going to be very aggressive in repositioning people,
equipment, and supplies.
Senator Carper. Has my time expired, Madam Chairman?
Chairman Collins. It has.
Senator Carper. Is there going to be a second round?
Chairman Collins. We are going to do a second round.
Senator Carper. Great. Thanks so much. Thank you.
Thanks again, and welcome.
Chairman Collins. Mr. Paulison, the attacks on our country
on September 11 revealed a serious problem with a lack of
compatibility of communications equipment used by first
responders and by local, county, and State governments.
Unfortunately, we learned again last year, with Hurricane
Katrina, that much the same problems still exist.
In fact, in one parish there were two separate and
incompatible communications systems being used.
In November 2001, when you had your nomination hearing to
be the U.S. Fire Administrator, you were asked at that point
about the problems associated with achieving interoperability.
And you called this a ``major issue.'' And you said, ``I think
the long-term solution is a countrywide communications system.
We are talking about setting up satellites and towers across
the country where we can have an emergency frequency across the
country that everyone can tune in to when they have a
disaster.''
You went on to say that the Federal and State Governments
need to help finance such a system for first responders.
It is 4\1/2\ years later, Mr. Paulison. Are we any closer
to making real gains in having compatible communications
equipment for our first responders?
Mr. Paulison. I think we are a lot further along. We are
not where I predicted we needed to go, as far as a nationwide
communications system. However, we do have a lot of ability to
make our radios interoperable with some different types of
technical equipment. Inside of FEMA, we have quite a few of
that stuff that we purchased now where we can go into a local
community and help them make their radio systems interoperable.
What you mentioned is rampant across the country. We will
have the police on 800 megahertz, we will have firemen on UHF,
and the public workers on VHF, and just all over the place. And
when it comes to the time of a disaster, there has to be an
ability to communicate with each other in some form or another.
There are different ways to do that. You can do it with
swapping radios. You can do it with using units that put those
together like a JPS 1000, and there is a lot of other places to
do with protocols and things like that.
I think we are further along. We are not where we need to
be. This is something we still need to pursue as a country. We
have a ton of firefighters sitting behind me that are here
supporting me, and I did not thank them earlier. So thank you,
guys, for being here. And they are very well aware of this
interoperable issue.
We are making progress. We have our 700 megahertz system
out there now. But at the same time, we are not where we need
to be. And I pledge, as far as FEMA is concerned, and I know
that Secretary Chertoff is extremely interested in this
project. We have to develop a nationwide communications plan of
how we are going to communicate when we have these disasters.
So I am committed to stick with it. It is something we have
to do. And we are not quite where we need to be yet.
Chairman Collins. In addition to equipment problems,
whether it was equipment that did not survive the storm or
equipment that was incompatible, there was a problem with
communications that simply involved people not communicating.
You touched on this in your response to a previous question and
in your opening remarks.
What specifically has FEMA done to ensure that
decisionmakers across the country have better access to real-
time accurate information? It was just appalling for this
Committee to learn that officials in Washington, that officials
at Northern Command, which were responsible for mobilizing
military assets, did not know in a timely fashion that the
levees had broken in New Orleans. That was only the greatest
example, but that was repeated time and time again.
I believe that we have made real progress in pre-staging
commodities. But if we have not improved the ability for key
decisionmakers to understand what is happening on the ground,
we will not improve the response.
Mr. Paulison. Senator, you are right on target. What
happened in Hurricane Katrina, as far as communications, was
simply unacceptable. We have put several things in place. I did
talk about a couple of them.
One I do want to talk about is situational awareness. We
have created teams inside of FEMA and also inside of DHS that
will be prepositioned, pre-deployed. They have the capability
of satellite communications and land mobile radio
communications, including video streaming, beam it back to here
in Washington and to our Joint Field Office.
I think one of the most important things that I saw during
Hurricane Katrina is a lack of--it was not a unified command
post where everyone participated, including the Federal
Government. We just had two hurricane exercises at the White
House level, one at the assistant secretary level. We had one
last week at the deputy secretary's level. There is one today
at the Secretary's level, just dealing with the National
Response Plan and the importance of our Joint Field Office. Now
everyone has to be in that place doing our planning, our first
block of 12-hour planning, then our second block of planning,
and how we are going to communicate with each other.
That is going extremely well, I have to tell you. So that
part is going to be fixed.
The other part is communication with the State. We did not
have good communications with the State. We fixed a little bit
of that in Hurricane Rita and then much more so in Hurricane
Wilma. During Hurricane Wilma, we had up to 30 FEMA people
inside the State Emergency Management Office. We had people at
the Hurricane Center. We had people in some of the key counties
around, where we knew what was going on, knew what the needs
were of the State, and could react as quickly as possible.
So those are the types of things that we are doing because,
as you pointed out, communication is as important if not more
important than anything else. If you do not know what is going
on, you cannot help.
Chairman Collins. Exactly. Thank you. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Chief Paulison, one of the things that I
think impacts upon your job is our Federal investment in
infrastructure. And I think that Senator Collins and Senator
Lieberman did an excellent job investigating Hurricane Katrina.
But I think, as we learned at several EPW Committee
hearings, that if the Congress had given the Army Corps of
Engineers the budget that it needed to strengthen the levees,
New Orleans might not have suffered such severe levee breaches.
I was shocked to find that the Army Corps of Engineers did
not have as one of their priorities the protection of life and
property. Instead, the projects are primarily oriented toward
economic considerations.
I would suggest that there should be better communication
and alignment between the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA
regarding pre-disaster mitigation and setting priorities. I
would be interested to hear what you have to say about that.
My second concern is interoperable communications. I will
never forget when I was governor of Ohio, I got criticized
roundly. We spent $240 million to put in a new interoperable
communications system.
The question I have is, what responsibility does the local
and State Governments have in terms of putting that into place?
And what is your opinion of the Federal Government's role in
ensuring the States achieve interoperability? Would you support
a matching program?
My third concern is the Emergency Management Performance
Grants. I have been trying to get more money every year for
EMPG. FEMA is only as strong as the State organizations you
work with throughout the country.
I know that our mutual friend, Dale Shipley, has assisted
DHS in conducting a nationwide preparedness review. I would
suggest, and maybe you have already thought of it, FEMA could
send letters to the governors to let them know they are not
where they are supposed to be in the nationwide preparedness
goal.
The reason I suggest that is when I became governor of
Ohio, we did an analysis of the county organizations and found
out a lot of them were not prepared. We could not get any
action. So I sent letters to the county commissioners
expressing my concern that they were not ready to respond to
disasters. And I released the letters to the press. And it is
amazing, something got done, and the counties began to work
toward improving preparedness.
So I would be interested in your comments on all three of
these areas.
Mr. Paulison. I do have regular communications and meetings
with the Army Corps of Engineers to make sure that they know
our issues. I think you have pointed out something accurate.
Our infrastructure system across this country, a lot of our
levees were built 50 or 60 years ago.
My own home State, right around Lake Okeechobee, now we
found out that we have problems with those levees.
Sacramento is another one that we were dealing with 3 weeks
ago because of all the rains we were having.
A tremendous amount of rain up in the Northeast in three
States up there, and we are already dealing with assessing
declarations for those three States. We are working with the
Corps very closely.
Our piece of it is we do not deal with the levees
themselves. But what we are doing is we are identifying those
critical areas, those weak areas, and going into those cities
and States and helping them devise----
Senator Voinovich. One of the things that you ought to do
is let us know what those critical areas are so that Congress
can highlight them in terms of priority and also examine
whether there is an adequate sum of money to address
weaknesses.
Mr. Paulison. Understood. What we did in Sacramento, per
se, and then also we are doing in Florida is helping them
devise good evacuation plans because that is what FEMA does,
and making sure there is a method to move people out if there
is a levee breach, where are they going to go? How are they
going to be housed? So we can step in where we can legally help
them with some of those things. That is our part in that. Of
course, that is an aftermath part. But at the same time it is
the Corps responsibility for the levees, but we are working
with them on that.
Communications, it is a major issue like we talked about
earlier, about how we are going to communicate with each other.
A lot of it, quite rightly, does fall in the lap of the local
communities. It is their radio system. But oftentimes,
especially the way sometimes the economy is, local
communities--especially some of the bigger cities that do not
have the tax base anymore. You take Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
and other places like that where they are losing people out of
the inner cities, it is tough for them sometimes to come up
with the money to develop sophisticated communication systems.
Senator Voinovich. The point is, what is the responsibility
of the Federal Government? And what is the local
responsibility? In other words, I think we maybe ought to have
a match program that says if States come up with some of the
money for the communications, the Federal Government will
assist. But the cost should not fall entirely on the back of
the Federal Government. Some communities want us to pick up the
entire tab, but I do not think that is a Federal
responsibility.
Mr. Paulison. Understood.
The EMPG, I think you are correct on that, also. Our State
emergency managers are the key. It is very difficult for FEMA
to come in and plug into a system when that system is broken.
So it is important for the State emergency managers to be up to
speed.
I just had a conversation 3 days ago with Bruce Baughman,
the current President of the National Emergency Managers
Association, and we are going to be working with them to put
together some type of an evaluation process where we can go to
the States and do an assessment of what their capabilities are
and find out where their weaknesses are and help put that
together.
So we will deal with some of the things you just did, like
you said in your community, where you did an evaluation of all
of the counties.
So we are in a very preliminary conversation with that, but
that is what they want to do, and we are looking at how we can
help them do that to find out exactly where we are as far as
preparedness across this country.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Senator Carper.
Senator Carper. Thanks, Madam Chairman.
Senator Coburn, who may have been here earlier, he and I
serve as the Chairman and ranking Democrat on one of the
Subcommittees of this Committee.
Last month we were down in New Orleans, we had a field
hearing. I think I mentioned this to you when you were good
enough to come by and visit with me.
Among the things that we heard about were what sounded like
a no-bid contract that went out for debris removal. The prime
contractor hired a subcontractor, who hired a subcontractor,
who hired another subcontractor who actually did the work, it
sounds like for if not pennies on the dollar, nickels on the
dollar. And all the different levels of subcontractors got some
money out of it. It was dismaying to hear about that sort of
thing.
We heard folks talk to us about the blue tarps. And flying
around down there in the helicopter, we saw plenty of blue
tarps. We understand how they can play a valuable, useful role.
We also heard stories that some of the money spent on
putting blue tarps on roofs cost almost as much as a new roof
might have cost.
We heard from folks who talked about the amount of money
that was spent on these trailers to come in and provide
temporary housing for folks, a lot of whom apparently were not
actually used in the end.
It certainly makes us angry, as Members of this Committee
and Members of the Senate, but it sure makes taxpayers angry,
as well.
Just take a minute and tell me what you, as the Director,
can do to ensure that kind of thing does not happen again?
Mr. Paulison. I think you are recognizing some of the same
things we are recognizing, particularly with debris removal. We
know it has been an issue.
One thing we have done is we have taken away the
discrepancy in our reimbursement between what we reimburse if
you use the Corps and what we will reimburse if you use a
private contractor. They are going to be the same now. Whatever
the reimbursement is, whether it is 100 percent, 90/10, or 75/
25.
We are also putting together a registry of debris removal
contractors, giving the flexibility to the local communities to
choose who they want to choose. They can either use the Corps,
which may have to happen at least in the first couple of weeks
because generally the local contractors are not up and ready
yet, or they can choose to use a contractor off the registry or
anybody else who is qualified to do the job.
That will give them a tremendous amount of flexibility in
debris removal and also probably cut down on some of the same
issues that you just talked about, about three or four
contractors in a row and the last guy on the end is the one
getting paid for it.
Senator Carper. Unfortunately, they all get paid something.
The last guy at the end is actually doing the work.
Mr. Paulison. But the bottom guy is not getting paid
probably as much as he should.
The blue tarps, they can be expensive sometimes. But quite
frankly, there is no other option. There simply are not
contractors, nor are there building materials available, to put
a new roof back on at that time. And the blue roof is the only
option we have.
I went to Miami over the weekend to visit with Max
Mayfield. And when I flew in I was amazed at the number of blue
tarps that are still there. And they talk to people, and they
said I cannot get a contractor, I cannot get material. If I
find a contractor, he cannot get shingles or roofing tile.
I know it took us a while just to get tile for our roof
down there. Luckily, we did not have any leaks, so it was not a
big deal.
The same thing with the trailers. The trailers can be
expensive. It is not our first choice in putting people in
housing. Unfortunately, it was all we had down there. There was
no housing stock. There was no place to put people. The travel
trailers work extremely well. We can back them up in somebody's
driveway, minimal hookup, hardly any permitting to do that at
all, and those move very quickly. About 80 percent of our
people that are in travel trailers are actually in their own
driveways, so that works out well.
To do a mobile home park, we have to go and put
infrastructure in. We have to put water and sewer, electric,
security, and lighting in. It gets very expensive to do that,
and we do not really like to do that.
Unfortunately, particularly in Louisiana and parts of
Mississippi, we really did not have a choice. If people were
going to be housed, that is all we had to house them in.
Senator Carper. I have a couple of questions I want to give
you for the record with respect to the trailers, but I will
just do that for the record. If you would respond, I would be
grateful.
Mr. Paulison. We will be glad to, sir.
Senator Carper. The other thing, I think I heard Senator
Voinovich talking about communications. When he and I were in
our old jobs, one of the things we undertook in Delaware was to
put in place a statewide 800 megahertz radio system to provide
for interoperable radios for all of the first responders, fire,
police, State, or DEMA people, National Guard, all kinds of
folks.
It has been difficult to get it to work as advertised, but
eventually we have tweaked it and worked with the contractor
long enough so I think it is a pretty good system today. It has
been about 7, 8 years, 9 years that we have been working on it.
We saw a lot of widespread total collapse of communications
in New Orleans. You and I talked a little bit when you visited
with me last week about how we can avoid that kind of
communications failure in the future.
For the record today, would you just talk about that some
more, please?
Mr. Paulison. I think one of the issues, as we rebuild back
some of these communication systems, that we harden them so
that they will withstand some of those winds. Just in Hurricane
Andrew we lost all of our towers where Hurricane Andrew went
through, and there was no ability to communicate. We ended up
taking a 100-foot ladder truck and putting a portable repeater
and a Honda generator on top of it. And that was our
communications for the whole south end of the county.
So as we rebuilt, the new towers that went up were hardened
to withstand hurricane winds. That is one of the things we need
to do. But also, we can move in with our MERS system and set up
temporary communications. We also work with a lot of the
private contractors to move in, people like Macom and Motorola
who can move in quickly to help set up a system right away for
the local community.
In the short term we can help them do that. We can bring
trucks in with towers. It is not perfect, but at least they can
communicate in local areas. So that is some of the things we
have to do.
We can also bring in equipment to help them with their
interoperability. We can put their radios together through some
of our systems, where you can have police, fire, EMS, public
works, everybody can talk to each other.
Again, it is not a perfect system, but right now it is much
better than what we were just a few years ago.
Senator Carper. What was the line from the old Paul Newman
movie, what we have here is a failure to communicate?
Chairman Collins. Cool Hand Luke.
Senator Carper. Cool Hand Luke. There you go.
That is part and parcel of what happened, and Hurricane
Katrina is part and parcel of what happens in other places, as
well. We know it is going to be a challenge. We know it is
going to happen. We just need to be ready for it. And the State
and local governments have an obligation as well. It is not all
on your back.
Thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity.
We look forward to working with you.
Mr. Paulison. I look forward to working with the Committee,
also. Thank you very much.
Senator Carper. Thanks so much.
Chairman Collins. Mr. Paulison, I want to follow up on an
issue that Senator Carper just talked to you about on the
expensive and unnecessary reliance on sole source contracts in
the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
FEMA awarded four large sole source contracts to provide
temporary housing. Originally, these contracts had ceilings of
$100 million. In the fall of 2005, in response to a greater
demand for temporary housing, FEMA increased the ceilings on
each of these contracts to $500 million.
When you testified before our Committee, we expressed this
concern to you. You said you were no fan of sole source
contracts, and you indicated that you would get those contracts
competed.
But what happened is while some of the peripheral
requirements contained in the contracts were stripped out and
awarded competitively to small and local businesses, the main
portion of the work continued to be done by these four large
contractors.
Then, in February 2006, the value of two of these contracts
was raised again. The largest is now valued at $1.2 billion,
and DHS has told our Committee that the ceiling is rapidly
being approached.
I think we could all agree that awarding nearly $3 billion
in sole source contracts does not ensure the best value for the
taxpayers. What are you going to do for the future to make sure
that we do not have a situation where literally billions of
dollars are going out of the door without competition, without
any assurance that the taxpayers are getting the best price or
the best quality?
Mr. Paulison. Senator, everything you said is right on
target. Those four contracts were put in place where they were
halfway through a bid process. That is not the way to do
business.
We have rebid the four bids. The ones we stripped out,
actually we ended up taking all of what they were doing locally
as far as the maintenance, security, breaking down the
trailers, those types of things, and rebid those out to small
and disadvantaged local companies. And we ended up giving them,
I think 37 companies, almost $3.5 billion worth of work at the
local community.
We have since rebid the big contracts. They are out on the
street, and they will be awarded probably about mid-June, I
would guess, is where we will award the four big ones, if
things go smoothly, as I hope they go.
I do stand by my statement. I do not like no-bid. I do not
like sole source contracts. That is why we got into the place
we are now. The contracts were not crafted as they probably
should have been because they were done in a hurry.
So what FEMA needs to do, and what we are going to do, is
to make sure we have contracts in place prior to hurricane
season as much as possible. And not just for the four bids but
everything, all of our commodities, our food, and our water,
all of those types of things. Those contracts need to be bid
out, awarded, and put on the shelf. We can take them off when
they are needed. That gives us more control over what goes into
the contract, more control over the contractors' work and what
their responsibilities are. So that is what we are doing to fix
that problem, and it is so important that we do that.
There may be an occasion where something comes up in the
middle of a disaster where we did not have a clue we were going
to need it and maybe have to do either a no-bid or sometimes
there are true sole source, where that is the only company that
can do that.
But that should be the exception, not the rule, like we
have had in the past.
Chairman Collins. It should be the exception, but what we
are talking about here are services and commodities that are
easily anticipated. You know you are going to need ice. You
know you are going to need temporary housing. You know you are
going to need tarps. You know you are going to need debris
removal.
It is interesting because if you contrast competitive
contracts issued by counties that planned ahead for debris
removal, for example, they are getting far more debris removed
at a far lower price. So I am pleased to hear that you agree we
need to anticipate these needs and that you have taken actions
to ensure that we do so.
All of us understand the truly unanticipated need or the
true sole source provider. But that is really not what we are
talking about in this situation.
Mr. Paulison. You are right; we are not. And we do agree
with you that we should have all those contracts for
commodities in place ahead of time and not wait until the last
minute to do those.
Chairman Collins. To ensure its credibility and to restore
the public's confidence in FEMA, FEMA needs to do a good job
not only with the huge disasters like Katrina but also in
responding to smaller disasters that still qualify for public
assistance and that still have an enormous impact on the people
who are affected. Senator Dayton has expressed his frustration
with one in Minnesota.
As you know, we recently suffered enormous rain storms in
the State of Maine. Some small towns were drenched with more
than 12 inches of rain in a very short period of time. That
resulted in severe flooding, rivers overflowed, streets
flooded, dams buckled, bridges were washed away.
The timing of this for coastal Maine has really been a
catastrophe. Many of these communities rely on tourism for
their economy, and many small gift shops and restaurants had
just stocked up for the beginning of the Memorial Day summer
season, where they make most of their money.
Last week, the State of Maine requested a major disaster
declaration for Southern Maine. Could you bring us up-to-date
on when we are likely to hear a decision on that request and
what FEMA is doing to help the small business owners and also
the homeowners? Two hundred homeowners were forced to evacuate
their homes. Again, I realize this is not the scope of a
Katrina, but it is absolutely devastating for the towns that
were affected.
Mr. Paulison. No, you are right. If it is your house, it is
a disaster, regardless of how many other houses it takes down.
I am very sensitive to that.
Actually, we have had staff working all last week and all
over the weekend, processing not only the declaration from your
State but the other two States also. They are in our office
now, out of the regions here, and we are diligently working on
them to get them out as quickly as possible. We are very
sensitive to the economic impact it is going to have. So we
will process them absolutely as quick as possible.
And by the way, our regional directors up there have been
working very closely with all three States and have had great
cooperation to find what their needs are, and we are right
there with it.
The timing, the fact that I am coming in front of your
Committee was also significant. So we are moving as diligently
as possible, Senator.
Chairman Collins. I am going to be talking to the governor
in an hour from now. Do you have any idea when we might hear
whether or not the declaration has been approved?
Mr. Paulison. I really cannot. I just need to go back and
look at it. I was kind of getting prepared for this Committee.
I did get briefed early this morning, and we do have all the
stuff and have all of the packages. They all look like they are
in good shape, so we are going to process them as quickly as
possible. Just share that with the governor, and we will be
glad to call him as soon as we are ready.
Chairman Collins. Thank you. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. I have a couple of questions.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it seems the pendulum has
swung away from terrorism and back toward natural disasters,
with FEMA focusing significant attention on hurricane
preparedness and response. Is FEMA maintaining an all-hazards
approach? How will you work to ensure that the Agency achieves
readiness for all threats, whether man-made or natural
disasters?
My other question concerns FEMA's absorption into DHS.
There are some people that have said that the merger with DHS
has really hurt FEMA. Do you believe FEMA's absorption into DHS
hurt FEMA? If so, do you believe that the damage was a result
of structural change or poor management?
If you are confirmed as Under Secretary, what will you do
to better integrate FEMA into the Department?
Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman have some suggestions
on reorganization. But I know from talking to Secretary
Chertoff, he has indicated to me that you are just having a
hard time doing what you are doing right now.
I think the key is to continue integrating FEMA into the
Department of Homeland Security and ensuring that you are
utilizing all of the resources and that you are prepared for
not only natural disasters but also for--hopefully we will not
have to respond to one--a terrorist attack.
Mr. Paulison. I am absolutely committed to the all-hazards
approach. That is the right way to respond. It does not matter
whether an earthquake takes a building down or a terrorist
blows it up. The response is the same. The building comes down
differently, but the response is exactly the same from the
local level, from the State, and from the Federal Government.
So it does not make sense to say this is for hurricanes,
this is for something else. We are going to take the all-
hazards approach and continue taking that because that is the
right thing to do.
On the other part, I will speak from my experience. I am
not going to point fingers at anybody else as to what happened
in the past. But I can tell you that being part of the
Department of Homeland Security has been a tremendous asset for
me personally in helping put FEMA back together. The resources
inside Homeland Security that I can depend on that are right at
my fingertips, Coast Guard, ICE, Border Patrol, Secret Service,
all of those operational components, I meet with them every
week, and we discuss these issues.
Literally every week we have an hour-and-a-half meeting on
how we are going to continue to coordinate, how we are going to
share resources. And quite frankly, they are all personally,
every one of the directors have personally offered their
assistance in helping get FEMA back on its feet again.
So for me it has been phenomenal. The support that I have
gotten out of Secretary Chertoff and Deputy Secretary Michael
Jackson has been remarkable. The amount of time they have put
in working with me, helping us put the retooling system
together.
We meet with the Secretary every week for about 2 hours,
going over the retooling, he is making sure that we are on
track, what our needs are, where are our shortfalls, where are
we doing well, where are we not doing well? So I could not ask
for better support.
With the deepest, and I mean this sincerely, the deepest
respect to this Committee, reorganizing FEMA right now is not
the right thing to do. We are still in the process of putting
this organization back together. I think that I am on the right
track. I think that you will see that the response that we have
this year will be significantly different than we have had in
the past. And I would just ask that you allow me to continue
working with you on these issues.
Your report is going to be a tremendous help for us. It is
obvious that this Committee and your staff has a tremendous
amount of knowledge that we can glean based on the
investigation that you have done. So we want to continue
working with the Committee through this next year.
Senator Voinovich. I would just like to say that I would
like to have what you are doing in writing.
Mr. Paulison. Are you talking about the retooling effort?
Senator Voinovich. Retooling and integration and how you
are proceeding.
Mr. Paulison. We can do that. Yes, sir. That is not a
problem.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Senator Carper.
Senator Carper. Madam Chairman, I apologize for being sort
of in and out of the room. You are competing with the Prime
Minister of Israel, Prime Minister Olmert, who is addressing at
this moment a joint session of the Congress. In fact, he just
has concluded his remarks.
The fact that we were here bears testimony to how important
we believe--I acknowledge that the situation in the Middle East
is important. I know it is to my two colleagues here and to me.
But this is enormously important as well. So we are delighted
to be here to have this opportunity to have this exchange.
My staff informs me, Chief, that next week the four
national contractors who have been installing and maintaining
FEMA trailers for those dislocated by Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita will turn over the maintenance of those trailers to
smaller local companies. I also understand the turnover will be
handled in phases through the month of June.
And while I strongly support moving away from the no-bid
contracts that we talked about earlier, that were awarded
earlier in the recovery, and supporting local businesses, we
want to make sure that this turnover is a smooth one. I am sure
you do, too.
I do not know to what extent you are familiar with this,
but if you are able to, can you just give us a minute or so and
explain how FEMA will manage this kind of turnover?
Mr. Paulison. This is a concern of everyone. We cannot just
have one company move out and another move in. The four big
contractors are still there, doing the haul and install, for a
short period of time anyway. But they are committed to make
this transition as smooth as possible.
We are transitioning out the maintenance, the day-to-day
maintenance of the trailers and mobile homes. We are
transitioning out the security. We are transitioning out all of
those types of things to do with the breakdown of the trailers
and things like that and bringing a lot of these small
companies on board to do it.
I think I told the Committee earlier we have, I think, 35
or 37 companies that are going to receive bids for about $3.5
billion worth of work. It is going to be significant for the
local community to get these type of dollars in there and put
that money actually where it belongs.
We are working very hard to make sure the transition is
smooth. We will have our contracting officers down there, also,
to make it as smooth as possible.
You were out of the room, but we have also rebid those big
nationwide contracts.
Senator Carper. Good.
Mr. Paulison. Those are out on the street. And we will
have--I cannot say we will have new contractors because these
people have the right to compete also. But we will have new
contracts in place that are much better written and will be
much better managed than the ones we have had in the past.
Senator Carper. Good.
I said a minute ago I support the idea of giving contracts
to local businesses if they are able to do the work. However,
we want to make sure that the services that we contract for are
provided and we contract with qualified businesses. I know you
share that view.
I understand there may be some concern on the ground, at
least in Louisiana, that some of the companies taking over the
trailer maintenance contracts may not be the most qualified.
You have sort of spoken to this, but I am going to ask you to
address it again.
Can you explain how companies that bid for FEMA contracts
are vetted? And how, for example, a bookkeeping company might
have been found qualified to manage a multimillion dollar
trailer maintenance contract?
Mr. Paulison. I am not quite aware of that one, but I will
check into it. I do not get into the nitty-gritty of those
types of things. We have professional contracting staff that we
are using, and not just out of FEMA. We have people from other
agencies that are helping us, GSA and some others, to go
through to vet through this list of people who bid because
quite a few people bid on these contracts.
I have to have confidence in the staff that they are
picking qualified contractors.
Again, if you have individual ones that I need to check on,
I will be glad to do that. I simply do not have the time to get
that deep into the woods sometimes.
Senator Carper. I understand.
Mr. Paulison. Thank you, sir.
Senator Carper. Those are my questions.
Again, Chief Paulison, thanks for being with us. Thanks for
your service to our country. And to your family, thank you for
sharing your husband and father with us.
Thank you.
Chairman Collins. Thank you, Senator.
Mr. Paulison, I just have a few more questions. I actually
have many more questions, but I am only going to ask you a few
of them.
One difficult issue that FEMA faces is the appropriate role
for FEMA vis-a-vis State government vis-a-vis local government.
On the one hand we have always had a bottoms-up emergency
management system with substantial responsibility placed at the
local and State level. On the other hand, we have the reality
that some States, such as the three of ours, do a better job
than other States in carrying out their responsibilities.
Obviously, you do not want to create a perverse incentive
for States to abandon their responsibilities. You want to make
sure they are making the investment, that they are not just
relying on the Federal Government to completely take over
emergency management.
But on the other hand, you have the reality of a State like
Louisiana, which has admitted that it is not prepared for this
hurricane season. What do you do if the Federal Government
steps in, as it really must because it cannot allow people to
suffer? It takes pressure off Louisiana or other States to make
the kinds of investments and do the planning that needs to be
done.
In a March 31 letter to you, the Director of the State of
Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness candidly lists several vulnerabilities in
Louisiana's emergency plan. It is really quite striking when
you read how ill prepared Louisiana is.
I think all of us are sympathetic that the State of
Louisiana is still devastated by the hurricane. But let me just
read you one example. The letter reads, ``We expect that
between 200,000 to 300,000 people may need to be provided with
shelter in the event of a regional evacuation from the
Southeast portion of the State. The State of Louisiana
currently has shelter capacity for approximately 80,000.'' It
does not come close to meeting what Louisiana predicts would be
the projected need.
There is also a discussion about the number of nursing
homes and the lack of an adequate plan to evaluate nursing
homes. To me the most tragic testimony that we received during
our hearings was learning of the failure to evacuate nursing
homes which caused the loss of dozens of lives needlessly in
Louisiana and was such a contrast with Mississippi, which did
evacuate its nursing homes.
This letter outlines tremendous needs for pre-storm
assistance and evacuation, in the aftermath of the storm in
sheltering, in transporting people with special needs. What do
you see as the appropriate role for FEMA for responsibilities
that usually are done by State and local governments when you
have a State admitting that it cannot possibly cope?
Mr. Paulison. That letter was actually precipitated by a
visit by Under Secretary Foresman and myself down to Louisiana
to meet with the State emergency manager, the emergency manager
of New Orleans, the emergency managers of four or five of the
parishes were there, to have a closed-door, no kidding, what
can you do and what can you not do. And that is when we
received that letter.
I put two technical assistance teams down there to start
working with them, developing their evacuation plans, identify
some of these shortfalls and where we can step in and assist
them as they build the system back up again, to identify some
of the things you just talked about.
It is a fine line you walk. The bottom-up system that you
talked about, I mean all response is local. Nobody wants the
Federal Government, nobody wants the State to come in. I came
from the local community, and I do not want anybody taking over
my community.
But the system that we have used for the last 30 years,
where you wait for the city to fail or the community to fail
and then the State comes in, and you wait for the State to fail
and then the Federal Government comes in and let them fail,
simply is not good enough.
What we are doing, we are going to be leaning very far
forward, not taking over from any State, obviously. We are not
going to do that, but be right there by their side as we go
through this process, as we go through a disaster to make sure
so we can identify where those issues are before there is a
failure and bring in Federal resources to help the State and
help the local communities.
That is where we have to do this, particularly when you
have a State like Louisiana that is extremely vulnerable, and
Mississippi also now because of the numbers of people in travel
trailers. It is extremely vulnerable, has a lot of issues they
have to deal with that they would not normally have to deal
with, like some of the massive evacuations. We have to simply
be there by their side. And that is what we are going to do.
We have committed to the State of Louisiana that we are
going to do that. There is actually an exercise going on right
now as we speak down there that we are participating in with
them. Quite frankly, I just got some reports back just before
the meeting. There are some problems. But that is good. We want
to find all those problems now, during a drill, as opposed to
waiting for an actual disaster.
Chairman Collins. Mr. Paulison, I know you are familiar
with our report and our 88 recommendations. I also understand
that you are busy focusing on this year's hurricane season and
improving preparedness and response.
Some of our recommendations require legislation, such as
the reforms of FEMA. But there are 36 recommendations that FEMA
could implement without legislation. Some of them are smaller
recommendations, but still ones that would make a difference.
For example, publishing the long overdue field operations
manuals, and establishing the regional task forces, or strike
teams. That is a major one. Reforming and revising the National
Response Plan to make the lines of authority clearer.
I would ask that you pledge to report back to this
Committee as soon as possible with your plans on implementing
these recommendations. Tell us which ones you agree with, which
ones you disagree, and what are your plans to go forth with the
ones that you do support.
Will you pledge to do that?
Mr. Paulison. Actually, your staff gave me the list as I
was sitting here so I have it right in front of me. Yes, I do
pledge to do that. That is the right thing to do.
The 88 recommendations are significant. Your report is
extremely thorough. It showed a tremendous amount of work by
this Committee and the staff. We are going to take it very
seriously.
Chairman Collins. Finally, I want to follow-up on an issue
that Senator Voinovich raised, and that is the reform of FEMA.
As you know, our report recommends a complete restructuring of
FEMA with new authority, with the restoration of responsibility
for preparedness and grant making. I understand your qualms
about proceeding with a reorganization, although I would
caution you that there are considerable risks in proceeding
with a flawed organization as well.
I want to focus on an issue that Senator Voinovich touched
on to make sure that we get a clearer answer for the record. As
you know, our Committee concluded that DHS is the proper home
for FEMA and that otherwise you would end up taking what is now
a weak agency out of a department that should be providing
support. There should be synergies, such as you have mentioned
with the Coast Guard, with the law enforcement agencies. I
think you would also end up having a duplication of effort
because you would have to reconstitute within DHS some sort of
response agency to take care of mass casualties if there were a
terrorist attack.
I strongly support keeping FEMA or its successor agency
within DHS. Given your 30 years of emergency management
experience, I want to ask for your judgment, for the record, on
whether or not FEMA should remain part of DHS?
Mr. Paulison. I would be happy to do that because I said it
earlier, and I will repeat it again. FEMA belongs inside of
DHS. There is a significant amount of resources that are at our
fingertips, not only for retooling FEMA but also in response.
Again with how you saw the Coast Guard operated, Border
Patrol, ICE, all of those operational components inside of FEMA
right there at our fingertips. We do not have to mission
assign. We do not have to go through another secretary. We
simply just pick up the phone and say I need this there, and it
happens. That is a tremendous asset for us.
I have developed a personal relationship with the other
operational components inside FEMA. We meet once a week and
discuss some of these issues. So I am firmly convinced that
FEMA needs to be inside of DHS, and I will stand by that. The
Secretary, quite frankly, supports me on that issue.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
I think you are right on that point. You need, however, to
reconsider the issue of reforming FEMA, but I think you are
absolutely right. I think the best evidence is the performance
of the Coast Guard. By all accounts, the Coast Guard was a star
in responding to Katrina, and yet the Coast Guard is part of
DHS.
I think those who believe that it is the location of the
agency that determines whether or not it functions well are
really missing the point, so I appreciate your clear statement
in response to my question.
Mr. Paulison. And they did such a good job, I stole Admiral
Johnson from them.
Chairman Collins. I saw that, as your Deputy.
Again thank you. I do anticipate that there will be
additional questions submitted for the record by Members of the
Committee.
Senator Voinovich, do you have any closing questions or
comments you would like to make?
Senator Voinovich. The comment I would like to make is
that, after sitting through all of the things we discussed
today, why anybody would want the job?
Mr. Paulison. My wife said what are you thinking?
Senator Voinovich. But in all seriousness, I think you have
a wonderful opportunity to start a new chapter for FEMA in its
relationship with the Department of Homeland Security.
If you really want to make a contribution to this country,
and I sense that you do, I ask that you be as candid with
Congress as you possibly can be.
If you have concerns, whether budgetary or operational, I
expect that you will come forward to the Committee either
publicly or privately to let us know.
I think the Chairman and Members of this Committee want to
do everything we can to help you and your agency succeed.
So we are expecting you to honestly communicate with this
Committee about your agency's needs.
As I say, you have a wonderful opportunity to really make a
contribution to our country and save lives and make people's
lives better.
So thank you very much for your willingness to serve in
this tough job.
Mr. Paulison. I want to thank both of you and the rest of
the Committee. We do perceive this Committee as an ally, and we
know you want to help. And we know how much work you have
actually put in already. So you have my commitment, we will
continue to work with this Committee with all vigor.
Chairman Collins. Thank you.
I want to echo Senator Voinovich's admonition to you to
come to us if you have problems, if you need more resources, if
you need support. We want to hear from you.
I want to thank Senator Voinovich for staying for the
entire hearing. As you know, there were a lot of important
competing demands today, and I think his full participation
demonstrates how much he is concerned that we get this right
and how important we view your nomination.
I remember, Mr. Paulison, when we talked on the phone when
you were tapped to be the Acting Secretary, you told me at that
time that your wife thought you were crazy to undertake the
responsibility of Acting FEMA Director. Now you are taking on
even more responsibility.
I want to thank you for your willingness to do so. I do
think it is an extraordinarily important job. And it does
matter, as we saw so vividly during the woefully inadequate
response to Hurricane Katrina, who leads FEMA. I think that you
are not only serving your country well, but that this is
something your family can be very proud of, as well. I
appreciate your public service.
Without objection, the hearing record will be kept open
until noon tomorrow for the submission of any additional
written questions or statements for the record.
Thank you for being here today, and this hearing is now
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m. the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEVIN
I would like to welcome Chief Paulison. I am pleased that the
President has nominated someone who has extensive emergency management
experience. Someone who has on-the-ground experience fighting fires,
conducting search and rescue operations, and coordinating the response
and recovery efforts during large scale emergencies, such as Hurricane
Andrew and the crash of ValueJet Flight 592.
We all want--and this country needs--a Federal Emergency Management
Agency that is led and staffed by experienced professionals. Unlike so
many appointees of this Administration, you are being nominated based
on your experience and abilities, instead of your political ties. I am
pleased that you also intend to staff this agency with people who have
the right skills and experience to handle the challenging and vitally
important responsibilities of FEMA. My request to you is that you
follow through on these good intentions--not only the tremendous
staffing needs within FEMA, but the numerous other improvements that
are required to get this agency back on track.
The first responder community--including a number of fire chiefs in
my own State of Michigan--have enthusiastically supported your
nomination as head of FEMA. You have also received the support of James
Lee Witt, the tremendously successful former director of FEMA under
President Clinton.
Although I am impressed with your qualifications, I do have some
concerns. First, I am concerned that the commitments you made before
this Committee during an October 6 hearing on Hurricane Katrina have
not been fully realized. You committed to re-bid all of the Katrina
contracts that were awarded through a no-bid, sole source process. That
has not happened. You said you would make the matter of the thousands
of reported missing children the number one priority of your agency's
efforts. But it took nearly 7 months--until March 7--until the last
child reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children was reunited with her family.
I am also concerned with your support of the recent reorganization
of DHS, which stripped FEMA of its preparedness functions and moved
them into a separate Office of Preparedness within DHS. Emergency
management experts and first responders across the country have been
extremely critical of removing the important functions of preparedness
from FEMA, and I hope that you will monitor how this reorganization is
impacting the ability of FEMA to adequately respond to emergencies and
disasters.
While I have these concerns, I plan to support your nomination, and
I look forward to working with you to create a Federal Emergency
Management Agency that is stronger and more prepared to handle whatever
disasters and emergencies this country might face in the future.
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