Acting Director of FEMA Nominated To Be Its New Chief

FEMA nominee R. David Paulison is a former fire chief from Florida. (Joshua Roberts - Getty Images)

President Bush yesterday nominated the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be its permanent chief, ending a seven-month search that had become an embarrassing reminder of the government's flawed response to Hurricane Katrina and doubts about proposed administration reforms.

R. David Paulison, 59, formerly U.S. fire administrator and head of FEMA's division of preparedness, succeeded former director Michael D. Brown, who resigned Sept. 12, two weeks after the storm struck.

"Dave has provided terrific leadership at FEMA," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who last fall faulted leadership at FEMA and pledged to Congress to fill its senior ranks with seasoned staff, only to have several picks turn down the directorship. "He is a deeply experienced and accomplished emergency management executive, and I am thrilled to have him lead FEMA at this important time."

Paulison will assume the title of undersecretary for Federal Emergency Management and report directly to Chertoff.

In addition to Paulison, a 30-year firefighter and chief from South Florida, Chertoff announced the appointment of Coast Guard Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr. as deputy director and chief operating officer.

Paulison's selection drew polite praise yesterday but did not quell critics who have called, among other things, for FEMA to be restored to independent, Cabinet-level status and its director to report directly to the president, as was the case before the Homeland Security Department was created in 2002. Analysts such as former directors Brown and James Lee Witt have said the agency has lost funding and clout and been dismembered by subsequent reorganizations.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will review Paulison's nomination, called him well-respected among first-responder professionals, but that he will face many challenges "as he undertakes the difficult task of trying to repair the nation's emergency management structure."

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said Paulison is "a fine man with a good heart," but asked, "Is he the person that can turn around a failing, dysfunctional agency? Or is he simply tasked to continue the policies of an administration uncommitted to making the changes needed to make FEMA work?"

Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), ranking Democratic member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the appointments "do not fix the disconnect caused by separating the preparedness and response functions of FEMA."