In a 2002 article in the Australian paper the Sydney Morning Herald author Ritt Goldstein claimed that “Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States.” The article was picked up by Congressman Jim McDermott and in a speech given before Congress in 2003, he expressed concern that the current system could be used to target Arab Americans. “FEMA has practiced for such an occasion,” he explained.

The Congressman worried that the broad powers given to the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Reagan combined with legislation passed to fight terrorism could be used to trample civil liberties and detain law-abiding citizens.

Then, on January 4, 2006, the Halliburton subsidy Kellogg, Brown, and Root was given a government contract to build temporary detention centers for the Department of Homeland Security. The camps were said to be for an “immigrant emergency.” According to Maureen Farrell in her article “Detention Camp Jitters,” Rex 84 (FEMA’s 1984 drill that planned for detainment for large portions of the American civilian population,) was also conducted under the premise of preparing for “an influx of immigrants.”

Disaster Relief?

In defending FEMA’s slow performance after Hurricane Katrina, former head Michael Brown explained “FEMA doesn’t evacuate communities … FEMA does not do communications” and “many may be surprised to learn that, guess what, FEMA doesn’t own fire trucks. We don’t own ambulances. We don’t own search and rescue equipment …,” prompting many to question the organization’s purpose. While FEMA could not put out fires or bring their own ambulances, many expected the organization to be prepared, at minimal, to coordinate efforts from agencies equipped to provide relief, including the American Red Cross (who were denied access to New Orleans during the worst of the devastation.)

Recent relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Ike have also been criticized, with one Galveston nurse, Reginald Cleveland, telling The Huffington Post “I say put the [FEMA] people out. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing.”

Certainly, the immense devastation caused by these storms would be difficult for any organization to handle. But with over 13.8 billion dollars in funding from 1998 to 2002, and the words “emergency management” right in the agency’s title, the lack of preparation for natural disasters brings to question what kind of emergency they have been planning for.

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