Former FEMA Administrator Weighs in on Coronavirus Response

The coming months are critical for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a former administrator said.

FEMA, which has taken a lead role in the nation’s whole of government response to the coronavirus pandemic, will soon face what forecasters expect to be an above-average hurricane season beginning in June.

To navigate what could be a multi-front disaster response, Craig Fugate, who headed FEMA for eight years under President Obama, urged transparency and proactivity in the agency’s approach.

“We know climate change didn’t stop with COVID-19, and that more extreme storms will intensify rapidly,” Fugate said Friday, speaking virtually with lawmakers from the House Committee on Homeland Security. “As we go into hurricane season, we need to be on the front end.”

Fugate praised states’ resilience so far in their COVID-19 responses and advocated the agency take a direct approach in dealing with governors whose states face future disasters—even if federal officials have to be the bearer of bad news.

“I always figured it was better to give people bad news upfront than not address it,” Fugate said. “They didn’t always like my decisions but at least they understood why.”

Fugate also suggested FEMA consider issuing pre-landfall disaster declarations earlier and more broadly in the lead-up to potential extreme weather. While the declarations are rarely used, they can be used to help mobilize federal resources faster to states. In addition, Fugate suggested FEMA execute shelter programs in advance of extreme weather events as opposed to the traditional policy, which is to execute them after a disaster strikes.

Fugate further added that FEMA could address workforce shortages by tapping into the workforce currently unemployed or displaced by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We need to look at the unemployed workforce as our possible workforce,” Fugate said.