E-mail a friendR. David Paulison
airdate May 1, 2006
David Paulison took FEMA's reins in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. The career firefighter previously led the agency's emergency preparedness force. A Miami native, Paulison began his career in '71 and rose through the ranks, becoming the Miami-Dade Fire Chief. He led the response to Hurricane Andrew in '92 and the '96 ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades. A former head of the U.S. Fire Administration, Paulison is a certified paramedic and past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
R. David Paulison
Tavis: David Paulison is the acting director of FEMA who has the unenviable task of restoring confidence in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Prior to his current post, he served as head of the U.S. Fire Administration, and was chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. He joins us tonight from FEMA headquarters in Washington. Mr. Paulison, nice to have you on the program, sir.
R. David Paulison: Good evening.
Tavis: Let me start with a clip of a particular U.S. Senator who had something to say about FEMA just the other day. Let me start with this clip, and then we'll come out and start our conversation, if we might.
Tavis: Mr. Paulison, let me start by asking what you thought when you heard that comment, particular coming from a chairperson who's a Republican who has oversight over your work?
Paulison: Well, we've been looking forward to the report coming out, because we've been taking all these reports, gleaning those things that we can use to retool FEMA. So, a little disappointed in the comments. However, we are gonna take that report, we're gonna use it. I don't feel that FEMA is dysfunctional. I feel like we have a good, solid organization. We have good people here. It's just my responsibility to give them the twenty-first century tools to do the job so we can move into this next hurricane season.
Tavis: Well, you say that you feel that FEMA is not dysfunctional. How does one convince the American public of that?
Paulison: Well, it's gonna be in what we're doing. What people need to understand - I think most people do understand that Katrina was simply an overwhelming event. Bigger than anything that FEMA was designed to handle. We house normally three to 5,000 families a year, and Hurricane Katrina, we had to house over 900,000 people, even by providing direct housing or rental assistance.
That's far beyond anything that FEMA was designed to do. One thing that did come out of this, we recognize that neither the state nor the local government nor the federal government was geared up to handle a major catastrophe. So we have to be about getting ready for this next hurricane season, and making sure that we are capable of handling these events like this.
Tavis: Before I continue talking about FEMA, the organization, since you mention now the work you have to do to get ready for this coming hurricane season, hurricane season, as we sit here now, is about a month out. Tell me what FEMA has done from last year until this year to be prepared for a hurricane season the experts tell us might be somewhat active?
Paulison: Well, we took all of those things that did not go well in Hurricane Katrina. We did better in Rita and much better in Hurricane Wilma. Took those lessons learned and started immediately retooling this organization to deal with those issues. Primarily, number one, logistics. We had plenty of supplies down there for people.
We had plenty of ice, we had plenty of food we had plenty of water. We simply were not able to track our trucks, so we didn't have the capability or the capacity to do that. So we put a GPS tracking system in place to help us do that. And we're already in the process of restocking all those supplies to make sure we're ready for hurricane season.
The second, and probably one of the most important, was a communications system. FEMA should have known what was going on at the Superdome. FEMA should have known what was happening at the convention center, and FEMA should have known what was happening with the levees. We didn't have that capacity to do that, so we put things in place to make sure that we can do that.
We're gonna pre-position people with satellite equipment to make sure that we can have video streaming, have radio communications, have satellite communications, so we'll known exactly what's going on. We have to make sure we pre-position supplies, we pre-position people, pre-position teams, to make sure we can be there as quickly as we can to respond to the state's needs.
Tavis: Let me ask you how active we expect this hurricane season to be, if you're telling me that FEMA was never designed to deal with the kind of catastrophe brought on by Hurricane Katrina, and we'll come back to that in just a moment, I wanna challenge you on that, respectfully. But if you're telling me that that presented problems last year, and that this hurricane season, I'm told, might be even as active or perhaps even more active, shouldn't FEMA just throw in the towel right now?
Paulison: Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. This is a sound organization. We owe it to the American public to do a good job, and that's what we're going to do. We are putting things in place; FEMA is going to be able to respond. We have the entire Department Of Homeland Security right at our side to respond to this next season. And don't forget, it's not just hurricane season.
We have tornadoes we deal with on a regular basis; we have earthquakes; we have floods. And FEMA does a great job on those. This particular event simply overwhelmed the system. Now, I'm not making excuses. We should have been ready to deal with that. But they weren't. We are going to be ready this next year.
Tavis: To your point about Homeland Security standing by your side, there are a lot of people who think that Homeland Security, and FEMA being a part of it, is part and parcel of the problem.
Paulison: See, I have a different opinion, and I don't agree with that. I think by being inside of Homeland Security, we have the Coast Guard, we have the border patrol, we have ICE, we have all of those operational components that are inside of Homeland Security that are right there at our fingertips. I meet with them on a weekly basis; I've developed relationships with them. They are there for us to use at a moment's notice. And I think it's a very positive thing for this country, quite frankly.
Tavis: I'm not sitting on the committee that will approve you, potentially, as the director of FEMA as opposed to the acting director, the title you hold now. Let me jump ahead of the committee, respectfully, if I might, and ask you why it is that you want this job, number one, and number two, why you think you're qualified for this job?
And I ask both of those questions, of course, against the backdrop of the former director, Mr. Brown. We found out after the fact, many of us found out he was totally unqualified to have the job to begin with, and number two, I saw a long list of folk the other day who, one would think, are qualified for this position but have turned it down. Nobody save David Paulison wants this job. So one, why do you want the job, and number two, why are you qualified for it?
Paulison: Well, let me answer the second one first. I have 30 years in the fire service, the last 10 years as a fire chief of Miami-Dade county. Had over 2,000 people working for me. I oversaw emergency management for Miami-Dade county since 1994. Totally rebuilt that system, and I think it's one of the model ones around the country.
I have a lot of hurricane experience, a lot of disaster experience. I'm very confident of my credentials, I'm very confident of my leadership ability to run this organization. Secondly, I took this job because it's the right thing to do. FEMA deserves good leadership, and I'm gonna provide that for them if the Senate decides to confirm me.
I think that's important, because I've gotta go through that process first. If they decide that I'm the right person for the job, I'm ready to take on the task. This is going to be a difficult job. It's a thankless job. So I can understand why some people would not want to put themselves in this position.
I'm ready to do that, and I'm not bragging. I'm just saying that we have the capability to reform this organization. We have the capability of making this an agency that people can be proud of again, and I'm ready to tackle that task.
Tavis: Let me ask you another question about the inner workings of FEMA. I read a study some time ago, and the only place I actually found this was online at a website called 'Diversity Inc.' that I read pretty regularly. A website, 'Diversity, Inc.' that talks about, as you might imagine, diversity issues, issues of inclusion.
A story broke some months back, after Hurricane Katrina, of course, that one of the other problems with FEMA that we did not know about is that FEMA, more than any other government department, proportionately has had more cases levied against it by employees of color for being maltreated by that department.
Again, more cases against it than any other government agency proportionately. I discovered, as did others, with this report that came out in 'Diversity, Inc.,' when they were able to get the information that they needed.
I raise that because I'm curious as to whether or not an agency that is charged with the task of looking out for those who are the least among us, those who are disenfranchised following crises like this, who we saw in New Orleans, oftentimes happen to be people of color. If you don't have folk like that making decisions in the department, how do you respond to the needs of those people in a culturally competent way?
Paulison: Well, in my 10 years as the fire chief of Miami-Dade county, I developed a reputation for developing one of the most diverse departments in this country. And I could do that with FEMA, also. FEMA is a fair hirer of employees, and we're gonna follow that process. We're gonna make sure that this organization looks like the rest of the country, and that's what it should be. We have an opportunity to hire a lot of people, so it's an opportunity to make sure that we hire people who reflect what this country looks like.
Tavis: What do you have to say about the story, of course, of the moment, which is that there are all kinds of folk, speaking of Katrina and New Orleans, who have now been told by FEMA that their housing assistance has run out? The rub here, essentially, is that FEMA, these persons, rather, displaced were told by FEMA they'd have housing for at least up to a year, and you all have not honored that, as far as they are concerned. And now people are being displaced even moreso. FEMA has what to say about that?
Paulison: Well, first of all, we have legal parameters we have to follow. We have a lot of people who are simply not eligible for FEMA assistance, and legally, we cannot provide them assistance. However, we are working with a lot of the volunteer organizations to make sure that these people don't end up on the street.
That they do get help. There's some people who are illegal aliens, there's some people who simply did not live in the devastated area. There are people who have full coverage on insurance. Those people, we cannot legally provide assistance to. And those are the ones that are being deemed as ineligible for FEMA assistance. But we are gonna make sure that they get the assistance they do need if we can't provide it ourselves.
Tavis: But it would be wrong for a person to be a United States taxpayer, a law-abiding citizen, who through no fault of their own found themselves homeless, and now, at this point, be displaced by FEMA. That would not be right, would it?
Paulison: It would not be right if they're legally eligible for FEMA assistance. We can't break the law, either. We have to follow the guidelines that are set down by Congress, and those people who are eligible for assistance we do provide that assistance to, and we'll continue to do so until they can get back on their feet.
Tavis: Finally, Mr. Paulison, going into this busy hurricane season that we anticipate, what's the best advice FEMA offers to persons right now on this side of these potential storms?
Paulison: I think the most important thing that I can say is personal preparedness and personal responsibility for taking care of your family. We want people to be able to take care of themselves for the first 72 hours, and that's providing, make sure you have food and water, your medicines, your batteries, portable radios, flashlights.
All those things that you need to get by for those first three days before help can get to you. And I think that's the most important thing. Now, we are going to be working and making sure FEMA's ready. I know the states are working to make sure they're ready, and so is local communities. If we all do it together, we can get through any of these catastrophes that come our way.
Tavis: He is the acting director, and perhaps soon to be the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His name is David Paulison. Mr. Paulison, nice to have you on. Thanks for your time, sir.
Paulison: Thank you, sir.
Tavis: Up next on this program, Tony Award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth. Stay with us.
Back to May 1, 2006