Witt Has No Interest in Returning to FEMA

By CQ Staff | December 3, 2008 2:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Robert Gates may have decided to stay on at Defense even though he had frequently referred to the digital clock in his pocket ticking off the days and hours until Jan. 20, but Former Federal Emergency Management Agency head James Lee Witt all but ruled out the possibility of a return engagement as the agency’s top official.

Witt, who ran FEMA in the Clinton administration, has been rumored as a potential replacement for FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.

Witt said he hoped President-elect Obama doesn’t ask him to make a comeback “because it’s awful hard to turn the president of the United States down.”

He noted his willingness to help the Obama administration.

“I will do anything I can,” he said. “They could give me a dollar a year and I’d help them. But I’m not advocating to be back in the government.”

The question about a return to FEMA came up Tuesday during a ProtectingAmerica.org press conference. Witt co-chairs the group, which is pushing for a comprehensive national catastrophe program.

Witt’s statement seemed to contradict a recent Washington Post article that said there was “increasing talk” that Witt would come out of retirement to run the agency for up to a year before being replaced by Mark Merritt, who served under him at FEMA and in the private sector.

“My hope is that they get someone that’s really very qualified and experienced with the background to do that job,” Witt said. “That leadership is so important right now. Mark Merritt has that background, and I hope that he has the opportunity to serve. I think he’d be very good at it.”

—Daniel Fowler

Post A Comment


(for verification only; will not be published with your comment)