Damage control: FEMA on a mission to regain credibility.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: Homeland Security

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Last year, the much maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency was looking for a disaster to redeem itself in the eyes of the public and Congress.

Scarred from its poor performance during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, agency leadership openly said it would take a major disaster to prove itself. It got that chance when wildfires swept through Southern California.

FEMA's performance last fall received kudos from state politicians, but the agency still has detractors. Staffing shortages and a lack of resources remain stubborn problems.

Nevertheless, FEMA's chief David Paulison says the agency's reaction to the wildfires serves as an example of how things have turned around since Katrina.

"FEMA's activities in southern California in support of state, tribal and local activities provide a real-life example of 'new FEMA's' commitment to leaning further forward and to working in close coordination with our partners at every level," he tells National Defense in an email.

"New FEMA" is a term Paulison coined after taking the reins at the troubled agency. The wildfires burned more than 500,000 acres of land and destroyed 2,000 homes. Even though the agency had responded to 300 smaller scale natural disasters since the hurricane, it gave officials the chance to finally prove to Congress that it was better prepared to manage large crises.

"The important difference between FEMA during Katrina and now is that they have actually learned to bring people together," says Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Before the formal request for assistance during the wildfires came in, Paulison says, FEMA was already in touch with officials on the ground. Agency officials reviewed what supplies were available, where they were located and how to send to them to the right places, he says.

Response teams were put on stand-by to make sure there were no delays. In addition, leaders coordinated with other agencies, including the Small Business Administration, the Defense Department, the Army Corps of Engineers and others.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent in his formal request for a disaster declaration in the middle of the night, FEMA quickly reviewed it and sent it to the White House, Paulison says. Hours after the president signed it, the agency was on the ground. Schwarzenegger characterized coordination between the president and FEMA as "absolutely fantastic," a far cry from the way response to Hurricane Katrina was described.

Despite this praise, the...