California Wildfires and the Downside of the FEMA Reorganization

One of the downsides of reorganizing FEMA and incorporating it into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security becomes quite apparent when a major natural disaster strikes such as the wildfires burning in Southern California, says University of Maryland international security expert, I. Mac Destler.

"The incorporation of FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security has (as we predicted five years ago) forced the Secretary of Homeland Security into the role of chief natural disaster respondent for the U.S. government, something that was not at all intended by either the Bush administration or Congress when they rushed to establish the department in 2002," Destler says. "Needless to say, this takes major time away from his intended duty to protect us from terrorist actions."

Destler co-authored two reports, published by the Brookings Institution beginning in 2002, analyzing the plusses and minuses of creating the Department of Homeland Security and reorganizing FEMA: Protecting the American Homeland and Assessing the Department of Homeland Security.

Media may contact Destler at (703) 408-3447; or mdestler@umd.edu

FOR ADDITIONAL UM WILDFIRE-RELATED EXPERTISE:
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/experts/hottopic.cfm?hotlist_id=132