Top FEMA officials have scant experience in disaster management [View All]

[sabra]

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/12575672.htm

Top FEMA officials have scant experience in disaster management

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Top officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have strong political connections to President Bush, but they also share at least one other trait: they had little or no experience in disaster management before landing in top FEMA posts.

...

Before joining FEMA in 2001, Brown, a protege of longtime Bush aide Joseph Allbaugh, was commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and had virtually no experience in disaster management.

An official biography of Brown's top aide, acting deputy director Patrick Rhode, doesn't list any disaster relief experience.

The department's No. 3 official, acting deputy chief of staff Brooks Altshuler, also does not have emergency management experience, according to FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule.

Scott Morris, who had been the agency's third in command until May, also lacked a background in disaster preparedness, according to his official FEMA biography.