National Emergency Management Agency 35th Anniversary Celebration and 2009 Mid-Year Conference
March 9, 2009
Thank you. It really is a special honor to speak to you today and one I have been looking forward to.
Let me start by stating, as emphatically as I can, that I am very, very excited about the future of FEMA and the Department. I think we have a fabulous new Secretary, and outstanding new Administrator-nominee. I have spent a great deal of time with Secretary Napolitano on a wide range of issues and, I am here to say, she gets it. She is going to be demanding, and she has high expectations. Quite frankly, that's exactly what you and the Nation should demand, and expect.
I can further assure you that the Secretary is keenly aware of how important the emergency management mission is, at all levels of government, and is committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure our national emergency management systems are poised to quickly and effectively handle any incident, no matter how large.
There is no one more pleased than I that a new FEMA Administrator has been nominated. This is a tough, tough job, and I'm very pleased that we have an equally tough, tough emergency manager coming in to take the helm. As every one of you knows, Craig brings a wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience, especially from the State perspective, and he will be a tremendous leader. Craig, like our new Secretary, recognizes just how critical Federal-State-Territorial-Tribal-Local-relationships are to a successful emergency or disaster response, and that we need to continue to improve and expand our lines of communication and engagement. I look forward to supporting him and his new team in my real job as a Regional Administrator.
Just a few days ago, I toured several areas of Louisiana and Mississippi with the Secretary, Craig, and state and local officials. It was a sobering trip for all of us. Given the challenges that, three and half years after Katrina, still frustrate recovery efforts, it is clear to me that we, FEMA, and we, the national emergency management community, have much work left to do. We MUST set as a goal the establishment of a more unified and transparent disaster assistance process; one in which all levels of government collaborate and coordinate and resolve issues as partners, and not as opponents.
While achieving that goal will require all of our efforts, those efforts will also provide us the opportunity to strengthen our relationships and gain a clearer and more unified understanding of all the issues that, together, we face.
These are tough times. I know that as state budgets are slashed and funding priorities established, emergency management is rarely at the top of the list. Nevertheless, we all know that, when we are called upon, there is no greater priority than the compelling need for the emergency services and support our community is expected to deliver, and deliver quickly and efficiently. As you look for more help, FEMA needs to be more in line with what your needs are, and better understand and anticipate what those needs will be.
We must understand each other from the ground level. As the Secretary just said, we need to mutually understand our respective roles and responsibilities, and we need to ensure those expectations are realistic and properly placed.
As a Regional Administrator and now from my time at Headquarters, I think it is extremely important that we engage you up-front when developing policies and new initiatives. You must have input from the beginning instead of just commenting on what has been created. That is how we solve these problems together, mutually.
And we must find ways to lessen the burden on you with all of the demands we make on local and state emergency management operations. I will personally make that recommendation and try to find ways to prevent you from drowning under all of our requirements. Creating endless work for you to meet a requirement we place on you is not productive.
I just spent the last week in New Orleans reviewing our processes and how we make key decisions, particularly in the area of Public Assistance. I am convinced that opportunities exist to improve how we do business, and how we support our customers. Trust me when I say that, up and down the leadership line, we intend to aggressively pursue those opportunities. To that end, FEMA is counting on your support and engagement.
While easy to criticize the other guy, all of us have a responsibility to be self-critical, as well. That means asking hard and sometimes uncomfortable questions, and making hard and sometimes uncomfortable decisions. But it must be done, and it must be repeated, over and over again, as we all seek continuous self-improvement. In this business, we will never self-actualize. We will ALWAYS be expected to be better than our last disaster.
I couldn't agree more with the Secretary than as regards the area of managing expectations and educating the public about what each of us do.
We can and must do a much better job of communicating to the public about expectations of all levels of government.
Our public information needs to inform people what they need to do and where they can get help, and who is providing that help.
Because there are so many ways the public gets their information today, we need to do a better and faster job of operating outside the traditional forms of media and communications.
In a few months, we will be hosting a Conference of state emergency management Public Information Officers, and together, as a collective group, we will address these issues and try to solve them.
We face many challenges, and many opportunities to improve. But we will never achieve ultimate success until we achieve an ultimate level of joint cooperation and collaboration, and trust.
We should never have, and we must make sure we never allow ourselves to have, an US vs THEM mentality. There is only one US and we sit right here in this room.
Once again, I am excited about where we are heading, I am excited about what we can accomplish, and I am excited about the opportunity that now presents itself for all of us to come together and do what's right for those that we are entrusted to serve every day.
Thank you for allowing me to speak with you this afternoon, and thank you for all that you do. Should you have any additional questions or concerns, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 31-Mar-2009 11:59:07 EDT