Mass Employee Exodus at FEMA

Heard on NPR: Woes at Embattled FEMA Spur Employee Exits.

FEMA is having trouble holding on to its best people. Several FEMA staffers have told NPR that people are leaving because the agency is in trouble and no one appears to be addressing the problems. These departures are raising concerns about FEMA's ability to respond to the next disaster.

I've worked at more than one doomed organization, places where it's almost embarrassing to admit you work there, companies where the highest level leaders have their heads so far up their asses that they'll never see the light of day again.

And that's what it sounds like at FEMA. People are getting out as fast as they possibly can. A FEMA spokesperson counters, saying that they have lots of new applicants. In addition to probably being full of crap, that's beside the point. What is happening there is a sudden, massive exodus of everyone who knows anything. That kind of loss can't help but impact FEMA for years to come.

From the audio:

Paul Light is a professor at New York University and has studied FEMA and the federal government for 25 years. He watched FEMA grow from an obscure, chaotic department in the 1980's into a powerful, well-run agency in the late 1990's.

"What's amazing about FEMA is that the turnaround was so quickly voided. That is amazing to me. To think that this agency five years ago, was a destination of first choice for new employees, and only five years later, has become a destination of last resort. It's just surprising that after all that work that this agency was undone so quickly."

Georgie, you're doing a heckuva job.