The president-elect hinted on Monday that he would keep FEMA inside the Homeland Security Department. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that the alternative — pulling FEMA out as a separate agency — would be a mistake.
Today, two prominent senators voiced their support for keeping FEMA where it is.
In a letter to the New York Times, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine — the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee — said FEMA needs to stay inside DHS.
The agency still needs improvement, but our reforms are working: FEMA’s response to the 2008 hurricane season was effective. Lives are saved when skills, resources and missions are united — not dispersed.
FEMA is becoming a far stronger agency. The last thing it needs is another upheaval.
But what does secretary-designee Janet Napolitano think? We’ll have to wait and see.
