When Florence arrives, FEMA and its administrator are subject to increased scrutiny

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency was preparing for Hurricane Florence on Thursday, the senior agency official was battling allegations of misconduct and President Trump has reignited a controversy over FEMA's response to the deadly storm that devastated Puerto Rico a year ago.

FEMA has been facing increasing criticism in recent days for its response to Hurricane Maria following the publication of two federal reports describing how the agency was overwhelmed, lacking qualified personnel and a university study of 3,000. Meanwhile, FEMA's administrator, William "Brock" Long, spent part of Thursday dismissing questions regarding an internal investigation into his use of government vehicles and allegations that the Secretary of Security Kirstjen Nielsen had tried to resign.

The day started with tweets from the president saying wrongly that the number of deaths attributable to Maria had been inflated by the Democrats to "make me look as bad as possible". Long said that despite the distractions, he and his agency were "100%" focused on the hurricane. "That's exactly where our attention should be from the point of view of the people's security mission," he told a news briefing.

[Trump rebuked after questioning number of deaths attributed to Hurricane Maria]

Current and former FEMA officials said it was alarming to see the country's top officials engaging in political skirmishes while Florence was to land with the potential to displace millions of people and devastate parts of the country. from the southeast. The news, reported for the first time by Politico, was initially revealed by former and current Trump administration officials, fueling the frustration felt by those with links to the agency.

"The fact that someone in the administration pulls on FEMA in the middle of a hurricane is nonsense," said a former senior FEMA official, who, like others, called for anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. "Lives are at stake. People work around the clock to get resources and assets. . . . Why would you do that? "

The former FEMA official said that although the investigation was made public on Thursday, its existence has been known for months, making its disclosure in the middle of the storm untimely.

The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security is investigating Long for allegedly using a government vehicle to travel between Washington and his home in Hickory, North Carolina, home to two women and two young children. .

At a press briefing Thursday morning, Long denied having done anything inappropriate saying, "I would never intentionally do an incorrect program. . . . Doing something ethical is not part of my DNA and is not part of my career throughout my career.

Long said, "We will continue to cooperate fully with any ongoing investigation. And assume all the mistakes and go ahead, and continue, continue. But here's the thing, no matter what the article, at the moment I'm concentrating 100% on Hurricane Florence.

A DHS official who knows him said Long was "discouraged" by the investigation and that Long refused to resign last week when Nielsen asked him to resign. The official said Nielsen had been trying to get him out for months, harassing him for not being at the office because he was returning to North Carolina on weekends and that Long believes Nielsen wants to replace him with someone else. One who is loyal to him.

"It's a guy who goes to the church in Hickory, North Carolina," said the manager. "He is a scout. He's a guy with a young family trying to get home to see his kids' baseball games on the weekends. This is not a Scott Pruitt type situation.

Pruitt, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned in July after a thorough review of his expenses and travel.

Another DHS official who works with Nielsen denied asking Long to resign or to have him out. But several current and former officials at DHS and FEMA said the quarrel highlighted a struggle for leadership.

DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton referred questions to the agency's Inspector General's office, stating, "We are currently focusing on the preparation, response and recovery of Hurricane Florence and the storms in the area. Peaceful. The secretary is confident in FEMA's leadership and proven ability in disaster management. "

A spokesperson for the Office of the Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Current and former FEMA officials have stated that one of the reasons why Long probably traveled in a government SUV, driven by a government driver, while traveling in North Carolina, was the specialized communication that he allowed to stay in touch with his agency and the White House. for the main person responsible for the nation's disasters. Other administrators said they also used such vehicles when traveling in the past, but less frequently.

R. David Paulison, former FEMA Administrator under George W. Bush's presidency, stated that he had rarely returned home to Florida while he was in that position because his relentless pace kept him in Washington. "But I missed meetings with the governors a few times because I was driving in the trade so the White House put me on private jets in some emergency cases," he said. -he declares. "Communication equipment has also changed a lot since then."

W. Craig Fugate, President Obama's FEMA Administrator, stated that he was primarily driving his personal vehicle or that he was flying at his own expense when he was visiting his home in Gainesville, Florida, but There have been six or seven times deployed a government SUV, mainly to keep it in touch with Washington.

Long's appointment was widely praised by other emergency officers because of his previous experience. He was Director of Emergency Management for the State of Alabama and prior to that, Director of the FEMA Regional Hurricane Program and Leader of the FEMA Hurricane and Evacuation Team. .

"He likes the agency a lot because he took a lot of arrows for FEMA. When people wanted to criticize what had happened with Harvey or Maria, it was the guy who appeared on television to take those arrows, "said a former senior official of FEMA.

After an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by FEMA's former head of human relations, Long launched a campaign against sexual harassment, including the creation of several committees to change the culture of the agency, According to several current FEMA staff, he gained credibility and admiration from the grassroots.

In his tweets on Thursday, Trump falsely claimed that Democrats had conspired with researchers at George Washington University to increase Maria's estimated death toll. The researchers retreated, claiming they were under no political pressure and used scientific rigor to reach Maria's estimate of 2,975 "excess deaths" and its consequences.

Trump also said in recent days that the FEMA effort in Puerto Rico was "an incredible success and little known," but FEMA's post-action report and a separate report from the Government Accountability Office painted a darker picture.

FEMA's internal report acknowledged that the agency had never anticipated a hurricane as powerful and devastating as Maria, or anticipated two hurricanes in succession, and revealed that an emergency warehouse in Puerto Rico had was largely emptied of tarpaulins and water, which had been shipped to the US Virgin Islands to deal with the impacts of Hurricane Irma.

The GAO report describes FEMA as "overwhelmed" by Maria and notes a large number of FEMA workers who are not qualified to do their job and, in some cases, physically unable to handle the tough work environment.

Emergency officials said FEMA staff members were trying to ignore the controversies.

"You have people who work 16 hours a day, seven days a week. And you have an upcoming season that will mean working 40 or 50 days in a row without interruption, "said a former FEMA official. "The employees of this agency are the best for dealing with disasters. Fortunately, morale is not really a problem at a time like this. People focus only on everything they can to save people's lives. "

Joel Achenbach and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.