YETMO

”Fatal Flaws at FEMA - Again (Week of June 12 - 16, 2006)"

Waste, fraud, and abuse are alive and well when contracted money is spent on sex change operations instead of hurricane relief.

It simply can’t be fun working at FEMA and Homeland Security these days. This agency has been buffeted by winds and forces at least as strong and enduring as Hurricane Katrina’s.

True, the recent reports about over $1 billion being misspent may represent a small portion percentagewise of total relief efforts, but the significance of a billion of anything can’t be overstated. A billion dollars is so large that if you received (or paid) one dollar per second, it would take you into late June of the 32nd year to complete the transaction.

Such abuse may be truly the work of a small bunch of the proverbial ‘bad apples,’ yet that’s little solace when so much of our nation’s resources are needed for the Iraqi war, raising domestic needs, and the ever-emerging new crises, such as the state of our nationwide hospital emergency care system.

Money. Everyone needs it. No one has enough. You don’t, I don’t, and the country doesn’t.

Government operations must continue. Missions must be met. Stable or declining resource levels must be ceaselessly managed effectively, creatively, and diligently. These remain challenging times in the executive branch of government. So much is expected of you to deliver services in exchange for taxpayers’ generous tax contributions.

Don’t despair. I don’t. I believe in the human spirit, as imperfect and sputtering as it is at times – most times. Nevertheless, we usually learn from our mistakes and experiences, especially when urgency is added to the mix. Unfortunately, most folks don’t seem to sense urgency right now, so we continue current practices, believing that more drastic steps are not needed until tomorrow.

Tomorrow is here. What do you regard as the unmet or unaddressed challenges? Where should we apply more thought, debate, and consideration? What is the executive branch’s biggest need? Money? Leadership? Better pay and benefits for employees?

My money is with “leadership.” In my view, there’s a dearth of it. With superb leadership, many resource insufficiencies can be vitiated or minimized through empowered and innovative staff, who thrive under skilled leaders.

Leadership. That’s my vote. What’s yours?