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FEMA Reform Prompts Major Departmentwide Restructuring

By Eileen Sullivan

Congressional Quarterly

January 17, 2007

The Department of Homeland Security is about to go through its second reorganization in as many years, and it will include the creation of a new directorate that combines some preparedness programs with the immigrant visitor tracking program, according to a summary provided by the department to Hill aides on Wednesday.

The department’s latest reorganization is based on its interpretation of the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations law (PL 109-295) enacted late last year that, among other things, restructures the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make it stronger and more efficient. The law also establishes FEMA as a stand-alone agency within the department, similar to the Coast Guard and Secret Service. FEMA will continue to be led by R. David Paulison.

Lawmakers demanded FEMA reforms after what they considered to be an unacceptable DHS response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. DHS was the government’s latest massive reorganization when in 2003 it formed out of 22 disparate agencies.

The new DHS directorate will be called the National Protection and Programs directorate and will replace the existing Preparedness directorate. Current Undersecretary for Preparedness George W. Foresman will be the undersecretary of the new directorate. DHS also created a new office of Health Affairs that will include the chief medical officer. Chertoff created Preparedness and the office of the Chief Medical Officer in 2005 as part of his Second Stage Review.

Wednesday’s briefing was the department’s first major update to Congress on FEMA reforms. The statute stipulates that most of what is currently the Preparedness Directorate is to be transferred to FEMA by March 31, with the exception of the cybersecurity and infrastructure protection divisions. However, until now it remained unclear what would become of the remaining Preparedness programs and Foresman.

“It’s a very strong step forward. This is the blueprint that had to be laid out so they could achieve the reorganization of FEMA,” according to a Hill aide.

In a draft outline dated Jan. 17 and obtained by Congressional Quarterly, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said the new National Protection and Programs Directorate will include these offices: Cyber Security and Communications, Infrastructure Protection, Risk Management and Analysis, Intergovernmental Programs and US-VISIT, or the United States-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program that tracks visitors as they enter and exit the United States.

FEMA will absorb the U.S. Fire Administration, the Office of Grants and Training, the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Division, the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program, the Office of National Capitol Region Coordination and the Office of State and Local Government Coordination.

“The new FEMA will not be a stovepipe aggregation of legacy programs,” Chertoff wrote in the draft. The agency will include an administrator — Paulison — and two deputy administrators. Current FEMA Deputy Director Harvey Johnson will take on the title of deputy administrator and chief operating officer. And a new National Preparedness division will be created in FEMA to be led by the second deputy administrator.

There will be nine assistant administrators to oversee these offices: Logistics Management, Disaster Assistance, Disaster Operations, Grant Programs, U.S. Fire Administration, National Continuity Programs and Mitigation. The current office of Grants and Training will also be restructured. But some Grants and Training components, such as the Citizen Corps program and the Training and Systems Support program, will be transferred to other FEMA divisions. In addition, the National Preparedness Task Force — created in 2006 — will be abolished and replaced by the National Preparedness Integration Program.

The Office of the Chief Medical Officer will now become the Office of Health Affairs and be led by Jeffrey W. Runge, the current chief medical officer. His title will be assistant secretary of the Office of Health Affairs and chief medical officer.

This new office will coordinate BioShield responsibilities and have three divisions: Weapons of Mass Destruction and Biodefense, Medical Readiness and Component Services, which will provide policy, standards, requirements and metrics for the department’s occupational health and safety programs.

“These realignments do not require downsizing of our workforce,” Chertoff reassured FEMA and Preparedness employees in a Jan. 16 memo. He said the department would brief employees on the changes later this week and internal transition teams are already at work implementing the reforms.

Other less sweeping changes outlined in the briefing include changing the official names of ICE and CBP by replacing the “Bureau of” Immigration and Customs Enforcement with “U.S.” and doing the same for Customs and Border Protection.

The congressionally mandated reforms were included in the department’s fiscal 2007 Appropriations bill. But the statute incorporated language from other bills sponsored by Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Don Young, R-Alaska.