It would be hard to find an American who hasn't observed or learned of FEMA's many failures during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To those of us who have observed FEMA or worked with the agency in the past, its dismal response was predictable.

FEMA needs to be fixed, and quickly. President George W. Bush has made a very positive move in naming our fellow fire chief R. David Paulison as the acting director of FEMA. He is the first-ever experienced “first responder” to head the agency, and already the public is seeing the benefits of this first responder experience, leadership and skill.

Paulison is the right leader at the right time for FEMA. Bush would be wise to move his nomination forward to Congress as quickly as possible, and Congress should confirm him without delay.

Both Paulison and the White House face many challenges as they move to repair FEMA's performance and reputation. First, Paulison is inheriting a bunch of political cronies holding key positions that have absolutely no — or at best very little — first responder experience in disaster management. There is a critical need for a complete internal restructuring, and those who fight that change will need to be dealt with swiftly.

Ignorance is risk

For decades, FEMA has pretty much ignored the advice of the American fire service. From 1988 to 1993, I served on the National Steering Committee on Integrated Emergency Management Systems. This committee was made up of fire chiefs, police chiefs, emergency medical leaders, professional disaster planners, hospital administrators, mayors, state and county officials, and others, most of whom had direct experience in a major disaster. This group made numerous recommendations to FEMA, including (as early as 1990) the adoption of the Incident Command System to manage the response to major disasters. Another recommendation was the development of quick-response teams composed of fire and police chiefs, mayors, city managers, emergency managers, and others who had experienced major disasters. This team could respond to an affected community to give local officials advice, support and guidance. Our future-thinking recommendations were ignored, and in 1993 then — FEMA Director James Lee Witt dissolved this advisory group.

In 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 mandated a national incident management system be developed. DHS and FEMA again ignored first responder expertise, as well as the proven Incident Command System, by contracting the Rand Corp. to develop a disaster management system. The result was a dysfunctional design that received a howl from all first responders.

Only after that howl were the first responders' opinions considered. Rand quickly selected representatives from numerous disciplines to join a task group. Again, they slighted the fire service by inviting only one representative compared to six representatives from law enforcement. Fortunately, the result was the trashing of the Rand work and the adoption the existing 30-year-old Incident Command System with minor modifications to fit the federal need. It's now called the National Incident Management System.

The president and Paulison shouldn't allow the practice of ignoring expertise to continue. After it was formed in 1979, FEMA was staffed primarily by retired military personnel and federal bureaucrats who focused on the “big bomb” mentality of the Cold War. They ignored the need to prepare for natural disasters and other non-nuclear calamities. Over time, FEMA was forced to accept the fact that planning for and responding to all types of disasters better prepared responders, politicians and FEMA to make wise decisions that ultimately improved FEMA's capabilities. FEMA began to be implement the new all-hazards concept during the late 1980s, and it proved to be very successful. Unfortunately, that approach has been de-emphasized by both DHS and FEMA over the past few years. Both organizations need to return to the all-hazards approach.

As the president and Congress consider the future of FEMA, they must not overlook the fact that FEMA reports to Michael Chertoff, who thus far has received the “Teflon treatment,” with few bullets of blame going in his direction. In 2002, as part the creation of DHS, FEMA was stripped of its cabinet position, losing direct contact with the president, and absorbed under the huge umbrella of DHS. FEMA's new position within DHS was placed low in the organization chart. Its authority, autonomy and much of its budget were stripped, and a political figure was appointed its leader. With this neutering, many career emergency managers left FEMA, further weakening the agency.

Predictably, DHS is also faced with a similar misguided mentality similar to what FEMA experienced 25 years ago. DHS is primarily an anti-terrorist organization. As such, key DHS positions are heavily filled by former military personnel, law enforcement officers and the always-present bureaucrats. Only one senior position is held by a former fire chief of a major metropolitan fire department. Most senior decision-makers in DHS have no practical “field” experience in the response to, and management of, major disasters. Terrorism is the prodigal child; other disaster potentials are considered stepchildren. Of the recent 16 National Planning Scenarios developed by DHS, only two dealt with natural disasters; the other 14 addressed weapons of mass destruction. While we must consider the incomprehensible threat of WMDs, we must also continue preparing for the more frequent natural disasters and other calamities. The result of this lack of proper focus and preparation was revealed in DHS's weak response to the recent Gulf Coast disasters.

A better approach

There's a better way for the federal government to plan and respond to disasters. The White House and Congress must consider the following actions immediately:

Congress must separate DHS and FEMA. The two agencies have two distinctly different missions that are incompatible under one organization. It's like the old “public safety” experiment in which some communities tried to combine police and fire as a single organization that never worked. Congress should task DHS with the law enforcement function of terrorism prevention and response. FEMA should be tasked with emergency preparedness, response and recovery, including pre-incident staging of resources for predictable disasters.

Congress must return FEMA to a Cabinet-level position where its director can have direct access to the president. Allow FEMA and DHS to be equals in their responsibilities for protecting the public. The unified command concept can work effectively on the administrative side to coordinate both planning and training the two organizations, as well as manage on-scene command and control at major incidents.

Both DHS and FEMA must appoint experienced emergency management professionals to key leadership positions. This includes fire, police, professional emergency managers and others who have experience planning for or directing disaster response. Both organizations need to create a good balance of disciplines, experience and leadership skills. Key leadership positions never should be filled via political patronage or with inexperienced bureaucrats.

Congress must give FEMA an adequate budget to do its work. This includes appropriate staff. Much of FEMA's budget was diverted to support DHS goals.

Both organizations need to return to the all-hazards approach of planning and training with a balanced consideration for the terrorism threat.

Congress must give FEMA the authority to be a proactive first responder and the responsibility for the oversight of federal emergency response and recovery. For decades FEMA has been primarily a post-incident insurance and recovery agency.

The country can't wait the decade or so that it took the early FEMA to figure things out. It will take quick action by the White House and Congress to correct the performance of both DHS and FEMA. But these two organizations won't get fixed quickly unless there's a strong push to get it done.

Contact your representatives and senators and express your views. Tell them a first good step is to confirm Paulison as the director of FEMA. Tell them to listen this time to those professional, experienced first responders who can advise Congress on the wise approach to fixing things. Tell them if they want to fix the federal response system to disasters, they should look to the people who have the real experience in dealing effectively with emergencies every day: the American fire service.

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Gary Morris is the fire chief for the Rural-Metro Fire Department, Maricopa and Pinal County Operations, near Phoenix. He previously was the fire chief for the Seattle Fire Department, and he retired as an assistant chief with the Phoenix Fire Department after a 30-year career. He holds a master's degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.