Military Role in Natural Disaster Response

By James Lee Witt

The past year has been an extremely bad one for natural disasters. From Asia’s tsunami to Pakistan’s earthquake to mudslides and hurricanes in Central America and Mexico, the forces of nature have given us a jolting reminder of their potential to devastate and destroy lives and livelihoods. This country’s hurricanes Katrina and Rita will prove to be the costliest storms in U.S. history with an almost unimaginable impact on the people and the economy of Gulf region. Storms of such magnitude pose an equally enormous challenge to our emergency management systems and our country’s ability to adequately respond and recover. Not surprising, they even cause us to question some of the most fundamental aspects of the system, such as the role of civilian and military agencies and the roles and authority of each.

These disasters certainly give us a reason to re-evaluate our ability to deal with the most catastrophic of disasters. They should not, however, cause us to question the supremacy of civilian agencies in coordinating and leading disaster response and recovery. Rather, we need to look seriously at what these storms indicate about the state of our country’s emergency management system and take action to fix the real problems.

The Role of the Military: A Partner in Civilian Response

The arguments for involving the military more intimately in disaster response abound. Some point out that the military’s command and control structure would provide the kind of framework and efficiency that was missing in the recent hurricanes. Others underscore the usefulness of military resources such as helicopters for rescue and tents and other shelter facilities. Still others argue that the military’s most important role could be in providing security following the most catastrophic and destabilizing events. The most extreme arguments advocate taking away the responsibility for emergency response from the civilian agencies and giving the Department of Defense the lead role.

This would be a mistake. The civilian nature of our emergency management system is one of the underpinnings of its success in the past. While I was director of FEMA from 1993-2001, I never had a problem getting the resources needed from the Department of Defense. Under the Federal Response Plan, I had the authority to task the Department of Defense and any other federal agency to marshal the resources that were required. The difference might have been, that we put possible items in the pipeline before a hurricane hit, not after it hit. If some of the problems that have surfaced in the emergency management system over the last four years are addressed, a civilian lead emergency management system can prosper again in the future.

Emergency response for a catastrophic event is an enormous responsibility involving the full coordination of nearly all of the government’s agencies. During the 1990s, FEMA director was cabinet-level appointment and FEMA was an independent agency and as such, reported directly to the President. Under the Federal Response Plan, FEMA had the authority to coordinate emergency response. This meant that the FEMA Director had the ability to task other federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, with specific actions and request their assistance and resources. This changed with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003 which FEMA was folded into DHS and then dismantled. Shortly thereafter, the Federal Government adopted the National Response Plan (NRP) which superseded the Federal Response Plan (FRP) and gave ultimate authority in “incidents of national importance” to DHS.

The effect of this change will be discussed below, but the point remains that whether FEMA or DHS has the lead in emergency response, the government already has the ability to tap in to the military’s resources through the mutual aid agreements that are the backbone of the FRP and the NRP.

Under this arrangement, the military is a key supporter and partner in emergency response, but the overall tasks of assessing needs, inter-agency coordination, search and rescue, and overall management of the disaster response has always fallen to FEMA and now to FEMA within DHS. The majority of the tasks and skills that are the key functions for emergency management fall outside the scope and mission of the military whose primary functions are to provide military forces to deter war and provide security for the United States. These responsibilities are best left to civilian institutions.

Although the military’s role in emergency response does not need to be dramatically changed, its partnership and coordination with FEMA and DHS can certainly be strengthened. This partnership cannot be meaningful, however, if FEMA and DHS cannot properly carry out their emergency missions. To do this, a number of problems which have arisen over the past several years need to be rectified.

What Went Wrong? Homeland Security and the Erosion of Emergency Management

The failures of Katrina and Rita were at all levels of government. And, while these “perfect storms” brought the problems of local, state, and federal coordination in to sharp focus, the cracks in the system existed well before these two storms pummeled the Gulf Coast.

Over the past four years, our nation’s ability to prepare and respond to emergencies has been seriously eroded. While this erosion is not exclusively a federal, nor does it have a federal solution, the federal government has taken a lead in shifting the focus of our emergency management system over the past four years away from all-hazard preparedness and toward a more narrow emphasis on homeland security. This shift in focus was not new; the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s priorities had shifted back and forth from natural disaster preparedness to civil defense several times over the course of the nearly twenty-five years it served as the federal government’s lead emergency response agency. Nor was the shift surprising given the terror attacks of 2001; the administration rightly emphasized strengthening our domestic terrorism preparedness. However, gains in homeland security have had a cost to our all-hazard preparedness. The wholesale incorporation of FEMA into DHS has seriously hampered FEMA’s ability to carry out its mission.

During the 1990s, when FEMA was an independent agency I reported directly to the President. Its incorporation into DHS has had a dramatic and negative effect on FEMA’s ability to maneuver effectively and agilely. The FEMA Director no longer had direct access to the President, but instead has to go through an extra layer of bureaucracy to get what is needed. Even one extra layer has proved one too many in the critical moments.

Much has been said and written about FEMA’s neglect in the hands of political appointees and its crisis of leadership. But these criticisms often miss the point that the leadership failures were only partially to blame for FEMA’s fumblings. In fact, the appointment of individuals without emergency management experience and the attrition of many of the agency’s most experienced and competent civil servants were symptomatic of the larger problem of FEMA’s diminished status. The institution as a whole has suffered from a crisis of morale and mission.

The establishment of DHS has also aversely affected the key partnerships which make the emergency management system function properly. Responsibility for the immediate response to any natural disaster flows up from the local to the state and on to the federal level as it becomes evident that it will overcome the capacity and resources of the previous level of government. Even when the federal government takes over responsibility for a disaster response, however, state and local responders and emergency managers continue to work along side their colleagues at the federal level. During the 1990s, the relationships between FEMA regional offices and their state and local counterparts were fostered through participation in joint exercises and because the relationship was supported by a flow of resources. FEMA had an understanding of the needs of the state and local emergency managers because we administered a number of other programs. These funding programs served as a way of aligning the policies of the local, state, and federal emergency management community and fostering a strong relationship.

Under the DHS system, FEMA’s grant making authority has been sharply eroded. Taking away this function and instead giving it to other divisions within DHS has also contributed to the nations slip away from all-hazard preparedness. While homeland security is an important aspect of our nation’s readiness, we have seen all too clearly the price that can be paid in not striking an adequate balance between natural and man-made hazard preparedness.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The time is right to seriously evaluate the state of our country’s emergency management system and put it back on track. A thorough evaluation of the lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina response will know doubt underscore a variety of needs in the areas of mitigation, preparedness and recovery as well. The National Emergency Management Association has already outlined a thoughtful list of areas for concern in a recent whitepaper. As NEMA underscores, the problem is not just a federal one. But changes at the federal level have certainly not helped strengthen our emergency management capacity. And so, the process of renewal and strengthening should start by re-establishing FEMA as an independent, cabinet-level and fully funded federal agency. The military involvement should remain that of a partner as established in the National Response Plan and not be expanded to take a lead role in any size of disaster, whether it be one of a catastrophic nature or not. The mechanisms to run an effective and efficient disaster response agency were in place, we need to just put them back into practice.

James Lee Witt is the CEO and Chairman of James Lee Witt Associates, LLC, public safety and crisis management consulting firm. Witt served as Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1993-2001 and oversaw the response to over 350 disasters including the most costly Northridge earthquake and nine state Midwest Floods. Witt is now advising Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Witt also serves as the Chairman of the International Code Council.