Moss Tells Congress to Separate FEMA from Homeland Security

By Robert Polner

       Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service professor Mitchell L. Moss testified May 14 before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, calling for returning FEMA to its previous status as an independent agency.
       FEMA has been folded into the massive U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and one result is a disproportionate emphasis on funding state and local terrorism-related efforts. Just $180 million was initially given to state and local governments for disaster relief compared to $2 billion to prevent terror attacks, he noted.
       “FEMA found itself as a relatively small entity of fewer than 3,000 individuals competing for attention and resources within a mammoth federal government organization of 180,000 employees,” Moss told lawmakers.
       Moss, the Henry Hart Rice Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Wagner, drew on research he is conducting on federal disaster relief for the Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response at New York University. He said FEMA’s mission to help communities prepare for and respond to all hazards is not intrinsically congruent with the larger goal of the Department of Homeland Security, which is to protect the nation’s borders and prevent a large-scale terrorist attack.
       “We should not hamper the capacity of first responders across the country by embedding FEMA within a massive bureaucracy, weighing them down with competing missions, cultures, and budgetary priorities,” Moss said.