Disaster, Security, and Governance
MAGG Spring 2014Bin Xu
Assistant ProfessorFlorida International University
Historical Trends in American Disaster Management
• Entangled with civil defense
• Ambiguity of the institutional term “emergency”
The Cold War and the Rise of Civil Defense
1. Disaster management was incorporated into civil defense system
2. The Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950
3. Dual-use approach
The Birth of FEMA
• Jimmy Carter’s “Reorganization Plan No.3”
• April 1, 1979 FEMA was born
• Civil defense was still one of FEMA’s duties
FEMA in the 1980s and 1990s
• The Reagan years: the Stafford Act; civil defense took precedence
• The Clinton years: FEMA’s “golden years”
9/11 Remade Disaster Management
• The Department of Homeland Security
• A weakened FEMA with limited resources and power
• “National preparedness”: a program responding to terrorist attacks
• Back to the Cold War period
Federal Emergency Management Organizations (p.53)
Organization DatesHousing and Home Finance Administration
1951-1953
Federal Civil Defense Administration 1953-1958Office of Civil Defense and Mobilization 1958-1961Office of Emergency Planning (Emergency Preparedness)
1961-1973
Federal Disaster Assistance Administration, Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, and Federal Preparedness Agency
1973-1979
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
1979-2003
Department of Homeland Security 2003-
Organizational Failure and Militarism
• Civil defense and American disaster management system
• 9/11 effects: DHS and FEMA
• Militarism
Organizational Failure and Militarism
“Looting” and “Violence”
Media framed “lawlessness and anarchy”
Troops with combat mission
Militarism w/in the
government
FEMA w/ limited resources and
authority
Inadequate food and supplies
Major characters in this drama
• "Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here! They're not here! It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and let's do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country!"
Major characters in this drama
• “Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.”
Major characters in this drama
The Survivors
Video Illustration and Discussion
• When the Levees Broke (ACT II, 14:22-43:22)
• What disaster governance issues do you see in the documentary ?