Statement
of Senator Jim Jeffords
Hearing on the Federal Response to
September 11
Good
morning. Thank you all for coming
today. I especially want to welcome
Governor Christine Todd Whitman, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, and Joe Allbaugh, the Director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
We
meet today, two weeks after the first anniversary of the September 11th
attacks, to reflect on the Federal government's response to those tragic
events.
In
the days following the attacks, I visited both the Pentagon and World Trade
Center. Over the past year, I have
spoken often of these visits and their profound effect on me. I was incredibly impressed by the devotion
of thousands of workers from around the country coming together to bring calm
and order to an otherwise chaotic situation.
I
congratulate Administrator Whitman, Director Allbaugh, and all of the dedicated
civil servants at the EPA and FEMA for their outstanding service.
The
events of September 11th have also taught me a great deal about the
way the Federal government responds to disasters. I saw firsthand how the EPA and numerous other Federal agencies,
under the able coordination of FEMA, responded to the events of that terrible
day. While we can always improve, the
Federal government's response to September 11th went remarkably
well.
The
unprecedented events of a year ago presented unique challenges to both FEMA and
EPA. The purpose of this hearing is to
explore how each Agency addressed those challenges and how the lessons learned
will enable us to better assist victims of future disasters. I look forward to hearing the testimony of
both panels of witnesses and to the opportunity to examine specific
issues.
Over
the past several weeks, I have expressed concern about the inclusion of FEMA
into a new Department of Homeland Security.
As we have heard before and will hear today from Director Allbaugh,
given the enormity of the task presented to FEMA, the Agency's response to September
11th was a great success.
Because
of this, I continue to question why the President and some of my colleagues
propose a wholesale change in the way the Federal government handles emergency
management. A wise man once said,
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Absorbing
FEMA into a Department of Homeland Security could jeopardize the hard-earned
reforms of the Agency over the past decade.
As it now stands, FEMA is a lean, flexible agency, and
Director Allbaugh reports directly to President Bush. This allows the Director to coordinate directly with cabinet
agencies, such as the EPA, and to effectively deliver supplemental assistance
to States and local communities when major disasters strike.
I agree with the President that expanding FEMA's
preparedness activities to further enhance the capabilities of State and local
first responders to deal with terrorist activity is essential, but these
enhanced responsibilities must be in addition to and not at the expense of
natural disaster preparedness.
Similarly, EPA is rightfully expanding its incident response
capabilities to deal with any future acts of terrorism. But I worry that this increased focus on
counter-terrorism may detract from the Agency's oversight of the nation's
environmental priorities.
In
conclusion, if I thought for a moment the nation's emergency management system
was broken, I would lead the charge to fix it.
After observing the Federal response to September 11th, I
believe there is room for improvement, and I look forward to discussing these
issues today. But I do not believe that
a dramatic reorganization of the Federal government is necessary to address the
needed improvements.
To
jeopardize FEMA's ability to respond to disasters and EPA's stewardship of our
environment in the name of homeland security would be a misguided
endeavor.
As
the first President Bush said, "A time of historic change is no time for
recklessness."
I
look forward to a productive discussion on these issues.