April 3, 2008 -- Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Thursday noted progress made by the Federal Emergency Management Administration in transforming itself into a disaster agency that can respond effectively to a catastrophe but noted that it has a long way to go before it reaches that goal.

At a hearing entitled “The New FEMA: Is the Agency Better Prepared for a Catastrophe Now Than It Was in 2005?”, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner released a report indicating the agency has made modest to moderate progress in eight of the nine categories of needed reform that the IG’s office looked at. While the IG noted that FEMA has never been prepared to cope with a catastrophe the scope of Hurricane Katrina, the agency generally received praise for its effectiveness in responding to “normal” disasters such as recent California wildfires and flooding in the Midwest.

The IG’s report represents the Department’s first formal analysis of FEMA’s progress. It found that the agency had made “moderate” progress in improving its planning, coordination and support, interoperable communications, logistics, and acquisition management. The agency has made “modest” progress in drafting evacuation plans, strengthening its workforce, and planning for emergency housing. The report found that FEMA had made little or no progress in managing its mission assignments to other government agencies.

It also found that budget shortfalls, reorganizations, inadequate information technology systems, and confusing or limited authorities negatively affected FEMA’s progress. The report recommends that FEMA conduct an analysis of its needs in terms of preparing for a catastrophic disaster and that it develop a system to track its progress within each preparedness area, providing regular updates on progress made.