Senators oppose FEMA divorce from Homeland Security Dept.

• Author: Rusling, Matthew
• Position: SECURITY BEAT

Not long after Hurricane Katrina devastated coastal regions of Louisiana and Mississippi in 2004, questions arose about the wisdom of having folded the Federal Emergency Management Agency into the Department of Homeland Security.

Critics said the agency might function better if it were restored to a standalone organization with a director who had cabinet-level status,

With the change of administrations, there has been growing speculation that this wish may come to pass. The U.S, Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers is one group that has endorsed the idea.

Not so fast, said leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the committee, and ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, released a joint statement opposing any divorce scenario. When Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, it strengthened the agency and improved its performance during recent disasters, the statement said.

Separating the two entities would lead to the "perception that DHS deals with terrorism while FEMA is in charge of natural disasters," the statement said. And that would end the all-hazards approach to disaster preparedness that the department has been striving to achieve.

The DHS inspector general has chimed in on the debate with a report, "FEMA: In or Out?" The IG concluded that it is too early to affect any change. The first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review is due at the end of 2009, and the question should wait until that process is...