William Craig Fugate

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator (since May 2009)

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Why He Matters

Fugate has been repeatedly described as the "calmest guy in the room." It's high praise for a man who has spent most of his career in life-or-death situations. And it should be a major asset in his new job as the nation's top disaster cop managing a troubled agency struggling to regain its reputation after Hurricane Katrina.

Fugate became a volunteer firefighter in high school and was named emergency manager of Alachua County in 1987. He was named to Florida's Emergency Management division as deputy director in 1997, and became the division's head in 2001. In that role, Fugate has coordinated the response to more than 23 hurricanes, fires and storms. He also developed long-term responses for the state's potential terrorist attacks and nuclear explosions, earning him national recognition.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Director, Florida Emergency Management Division (2001 to 2009); Deputy Director, Florida Emergency Management Division (1997 to 2001); Alachua County Emergency Manager (1987 to 1997)
Hometown: Alachua County, Fla.
Alma Mater: Florida State Fire College

Spouse: Sheree
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Path to Power

Fugate comes from a long line of Florida residents; he can trace his roots back to Spanish land grants. He grew up in Alachua County, located in North Central Florida, where he was an active member of Future Farmers of America. During high school, in addition to breeding cows, Fugate volunteered as a firefighter, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle.

Fugate attended the Florida State Fire College, and then started as a paramedic with Alachua County. He quickly rose in the ranks to fire department lieutenant and was appointed as the county's emergency manager in 1987.

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In 1997, Fugate began working on emergency management as assistant director for Florida's Division of Emergency. During his first year, the state suffered from tornados, wildfires, floods and a hurricane. The disaster team was busy 200 days of the year.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R) named Fugate head of the Florida Division of Emergency in 2001. In this position, he guided the state through clean up from several devastating hurricanes, including the whopping eight storms that struck between 2004 and 2005. Fugate learned several lessons from those experiences, he told the Miami Herald . For example, he has C-130 cargo planes with emergency generators fly just behind the hurricane so that they can get cell phone towers running as quickly as possible.

Fugate has also faced his own small storm of criticism. In 2005, he was criticized for failing to give out enough ice, water, and supplies to those who suffered from Hurricane Wilma after residents failed to heed calls to stock up on three days of supplies.

Furthermore, Fugate spearheaded Florida's response to Hurricane Katrina, sending 7,000 responders and countless resources to the Gulf Coast. He was discussed as a possible successor to Michael Brown after FEMA's botched response to Hurricane Katrina, but probably lost the job because he told officials that former Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff wanted to exert too much power over local and state governments.

But Fugate's cool demeanor and common-sense management made him a natural choice for President Obama. He was tapped to serve as head of FEMA in February 2009. ''When the president asks you to serve the United States, serve your country, your first answer is not to say no,'' Fugate told the Miami Herald in February 2009. "It's a challenge," Fugate said of the new position. "The higher you are, the bigger the chances of catastrophic failure."

He did not publically address his nomination, but on his twitter feed (name: disastersrus) sent after the announcement, he wrote "Pigs do fly."

The Issues

Fugate has his own measure of how quickly an area in Florida recovers after a hurricane. "If a Waffle House is open, it means several things. There's power and there's water. So you keep going,'' Fugate said. "If a Waffle House is closed . . . that's pretty bad. Something has shut 'em down. And if they are open and they have a limited menu, it generally means the power has been out for a while because everything in the freezer has melted."

This locally-focused, practical approach is one of Fugate's hallmarks. He has developed an emergency management system that relies on state and local officials to respond in organized, practiced ways.

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Fugate is also known for taking a long-term, strategic approach to disaster planning. Florida's emergency division has have run drills for, among other things, a potential bird flu pandemic, a nuclear reactor failure, terrorist bombs at football stadiums and continuity of operations when emergency systems fail.

Federal Versus Local Control

Fugate's approach to emergency management is local - according to the Miami Herald, he would like to harness "local communities to keep first-responders abreast of disasters via text messages, cell phone cameras, Google Earth, blogs and message-boards like Twitter and Facebook."

He believes that state governments are primarily responsible for handling natural disasters, and that they should only look to the federal government when a disaster is too serious for their response capabilities.

When federal officials tried to step in and take over during Hurricanes Rita and Wilma, Fugate was fiercely critical. In 2006, he told the Associated Press that he thought there was too much focus on blaming the federal government for its botched response to Katrina and not enough attention directed to what Louisiana and New Orleans officials should have done.

Terrorism

In the months after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Fugate decided to begin preparing Florida for the possibility of terrorist attacks. He led several exercises to test the state's ability to respond to different threats, including a long-range missile threat. In the weeks after September 11, 2001, Florida was hailed as a national leader in terrorist preparedness.

Fugate helped organize the state's domestic security strategy after the terrorist attacks. He also led the state's response to the spate of Anthrax cases that struck in October 2001.

Fixing FEMA

Heading FEMA is no easy task. If confirmed, Fugate will run a 4,400-worker bureaucracy with a $943 million budget. Local officials say the agency is way behind in approving local projects, and that more than $3 billion in grant proposals still need the nod. He will also be dropped in the middle of a congressional debate over whether to divide the Homeland Security Department and FEMA.

Former FEMA Director R. David Paulison warns that he will have his hand full. He said Fugate will need to immediately decide how to house displaced victims who are still out of their homes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He also said Fugate will need to develop a long-term recovery strategy for the Gulf Coast, which FEMA currently lacks. He also warned that FEMA is incredibly bureaucratic. "It can be very frustrating to get things done," Paulison told the Associated Press.

The Network

Fugate is popular with Florida's top politicians. He was appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who has praised Fugate's management vocally. Current Gov. Charlie Crist (R) reappointed Fugate "enthusiastically."

However, unlike past FEMA administrators, Fugate has no relationship with President Barack Obama. President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush both named political confidantes to the job.

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