CNN reports that a US Senate committee is recommending that FEMA be abolished and replaced with an all-new agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
Senators, you get an “A” on part one of the quiz; an “F” on part two. Abolish FEMA, and then don’t recreate it. You’re going to wind up with a lot of the same people doing the same dumb things. FEMA has pretty well proved that a large centralized bureaucracy can’t handle this job. Let’s try a decentralized plan for a change.
Return to the old Civil Defense system, where local and state governments are in charge, but expand it’s original Cold War mission to cover the more likely scenarios of natural disaster and terrorist attack. Keep your Federal funding and the strings that go with it, let the states fund it as they see fit.
Some states, such as California, will probably feel the need to fund a lot of CD activities. Others, such as Nebraska, may not feel the need to fund as much. Each state gets what it’s willing to pay for.
Of course, it’ll never happen. It would lessen Washington’s power. Can’t have that, can we.