James Lee Witt

The Rise and Fall of Legitimacy: A Review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 1979 to 2005 Introduction Legitimacy is the lifeblood of an organization. With conflict and competition a clear winner is considered legitimate. Cooperation, however, offers the potential for legitimacy for multiple parties. A legitimate organization has authority based on being representative, accountable, responsible, effectiveness, efficiency, minimal interference from political pressure, and established

In 1990, the IRS commissioned a comprehensive nationwide survey of taxpayers to obtain their overall perception of its administration of the U.S. tax system. NPM related questions from this survey were re-asked to taxpayers to determine any potential changes in response patterns (VanDenburgh 2004, 2). Several questions were re-asked to allow for an assessment of differences between the 1990 responses and the 2004 responses during research by William M. VanDenburgh (2004). The concept of logic of

office was placing James Lee Witt as Director of FEMA. James Lee Witt was the first Director to have actual past experience in the Emergency Management field. James Lee Witt was very active in reforming FEMA from the way it was to the proactive agency it became while he was in office. For so long FEMA was directed by appointed personnel who had no knowledge or experience in Emergency Management. Witt came into the position with a background in emergency management. Witt was very concerned regarding

FEMA directors was a man named James Lee Witt who was appointed by former President, Bill Clinton in 1993. Witt, who served four years, as the director of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Service was the first FEMA director appointed

When the 2nd George W Bush took office, Witt left his position and doing the same thing his father did Bush appointed an official who had no proper background and experience to be the head of FEMA. One would think that leader should learn from previous mistakes but under both President Bush's

The book ‘Introduction to Emergency Management’ is written by George Haddow, Jane Bullock and Damon Coppola. George D. Haddow served as White House Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff to FEMA Director James L. Witt from 1993-2001. Jane A. Bullock served as Chief of Staff to FEMA Director James Lee Witt in the final 5 years of her 21-year career in that agency. Damon P. Coppola is an emergency management planner and analyst with over 15 years of experience providing technical and subject matter expertise

national security functions toward natural hazards that are more easily mitigated than prevented (Roberts, p. 134). James Lee Witt, oversaw FEMA reorganization and he as the director promoted the idea of mitigation at the local and state level throughout the 1990s. As a result, mitigation became associated with the policies of his political chief, President Bill Clinton (Roberts, p. 134). In the wake of September 11 attacks, everything change, from roles and responsibilities, to the creation of

Emergency Management begin in the 1800’s. New Hampshire had a fire that destroyed most of the city. The city needed financial aid to help with the recovery efforts. In 1803, a Congressional Act was passed in order to help the town recover from the devastating loss. This is an example of what would be the Federal government participation in a local disaster. In the 1930’s, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Bureau of Public Roads was given the ability to give disaster loans to aid in

It was suggested that if FEMA could not be more effective to abolish it entirely. President Clinton with the assistance of the new director of FEMA, James Lee Witt, up scaled the response time of FEMA since they no longer ahd to wait for state approval. The enhancements that Witt made were the most effective changes made in years. (27) At that point, oversight felt the changes should be made permanent and Congress should be involved however, once the public outrage

to the awful responses to Hurricane Hugo (1989), the Loma Prieta earthquake (1989), and Hurricane Andrew (1992). Various congress members were talking about suppressing FEMA. In 1992, Bill Clinton became president. The new emergency manager, James Lee Witt, authorized FEMA to once more to take up an all hazards approach. Also it became an a customer-focused organization that worked closely with its state and local emergency management partners, and effectively responded to unprecedented series of