FEMA in Shambles: 9/11 and the Nation’s Capacity to Deal with Catastrophic Disasters

Abstract

The attacks on 9/11 had profound effect upon the nation’s system for dealing with catastrophic disasters. In the decade before the attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its state and local counterparts had developed a common approach to natural and unnatural (man-made) hazards and collaborative processes for managing major disasters. The response to the 9/11 attacks was not without flaw, but the system did work. FEMA supported local and state emergency management efforts in New York and local agencies in Virginia came to the aid of Pentagon officials. In some measure, the responses to 9/11 demonstrated the importance of local emergency management capacities in large-scale disasters. Local and state capabilities have expanded since 9/11, but federal capabilities have been seriously damaged since 2001. This chapter begins with an assessment of the impact of 9/11 on federal capabilities, largely in terms of the impact upon FEMA, and concludes with an assessment of the impact upon state and local capabilities to deal with catastrophic disaster.