The Coast Guard again raises its profile in disaster response programs

By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Special Correspondent

The Department of Homeland Security is increasingly relying on Coast Guard officials to fill leadership positions in its disaster response programs.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last summer, Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, then-Coast Guard chief of staff, was sent in to coordinate the federal disaster response in Louisiana and Mississippi. Allen has since been named commandant of the service.

In April, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff named Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr. deputy director and chief operating officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Coast Guard’s fourth-ranking officer, Johnson previously was commander for the Pacific area and is scheduled to retire from the service July 1. At FEMA, Johnson reports to R. David Paulison, who recently was named FEMA director.

Also in April, George W. Foresman, homeland security undersecretary for preparedness, nominated Coast Guard officers to head four of the department’s five federal response teams created in advance of the 2006 hurricane season.

In a memo to Chertoff, Foresman said the teams will have chief responsibility for the “geographic areas that have the highest potential for hurricane activity this year.”

The five individuals, including one FEMA official, were designated the “principal federal official” (PFO) in their respective areas. The PFO is a new position — introduced in the National Response Plan for federal action in national disasters — that has generated a great deal of controversy in the emergency management world. The PFO positions were created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks so the new Department of Homeland Security would have a representative on the scene after a terrorist incident.

Previously, FEMA had federal coordinating officers that led the federal disaster response. Those positions still exist, but seemed to take a back seat to the PFO during the Hurricane Katrina response. In Foresman’s memo, the federal coordinating officer slots are designated as third-ranking members of each response team, behind the PFOs and their deputies. Four of the five deputy PFOs are FEMA executives; one is a Coast Guard captain.

Some think that the experienced FEMA federal coordinating officer should have chief responsibility in each region during disasters.

“If you ask Chertoff, the only people that live and breathe in this world of [homeland security] are Coast Guard officers,” said a former FEMA employee, frustrated with the PFO situation. “That’s an absolute insult to every emergency manager in this country.”

Foresman said the Coast Guard officials selected as PFOs were not chosen because they were necessarily better suited than FEMA emergency managers. The role of the PFO, he said, is to look at the macro issues.

“They become, in many ways, problem solvers,” Foresman said.

The structure of the five response teams will allow each PFO to focus on his core piece of disaster response, such as mission assignments, Foresman said. During Katrina, Allen eventually replaced the federal coordinating officers in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Foresman said this is not likely to happen in future disasters.

Nominated as PFOs were:

Rear Adm. David P. Pekoske, commander, 1st Coast Guard District, and commander, Atlantic Fleet Maritime Homeland Defense District 1; with responsibility for New York, New Jersey, New England, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, deputy director of operations, United States Northern Command; for the mid-Atlantic states from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
• Rear Adm. Joseph L. Nimmich, assistant commandant for Policy & Planning; for Florida.
• Rear Adm. Timothy S. Sullivan, senior military advisor to the secretary of Homeland Security; for Texas.
• Gil H. Jamieson, FEMA deputy director for Gulf Coast recovery; for Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Regarding Johnson’s appointment, Chertoff said, “We knew that it was important to have an integrated approach to complete the job of having FEMA work as an element of a larger department, and that’s where  Adm. Johnson, with his experience in the Coast Guard — and particularly bridging a relationship between civilian and military activity — brings a unique set of skills.”

Retired Coast Guard Vice Adm. James D. Hull said Johnson has held a variety of jobs overseeing budgets and policy during the course of his career.

“Harvey Johnson brings a wealth of experience in operational matters and administrative Washington procedures,” Hull said. “He’s no stranger to the operations of FEMA because of his job in Florida as a 7th District commander.”

However, some emergency managers maintain that leadership roles in disaster response should be left to “folks within FEMA who have a background in successful response and recovery,” said the former FEMA employee who requested anonymity.

Others assert the Coast Guard, by its nature, is trained to address the big picture.

William Ferroli, a retired Coast Guard senior chief boatswain’s mate who now is president of Florida-based Compliance Associates Inc., said now that the agency is part of DHS, it’s a natural progression for Coast Guard officials to take a larger role in disaster response.

“I think that [having] senior members of the Coast Guard in those types of positions is absolutely critical,” said Ferroli, whose company conducts emergency management exercises across the country. “They fully understand the need of not only the people, but they understand the problem.”