High Praise For Acting FEMA Head

A homeland security expert says David Paulison is an "excellent" choice to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency. CBS News consultant Randy Larsen says Paulison has credibility in the disaster relief field.

The selection of the career firefighter as acting director of the FEMA "looks like a real smart decision" to Larsen.

For now, at least, Paulison takes the place of Michael Brown, who resigned.

Larsen, a CBS News consultant and head of the Institute for Homeland Security,

"The most important thing is, Paulison will have great credibility with state and local emergency managers, mayors, governors, and those sorts of folks," Larsen says. "One of the big problems is, when someone comes in from Washington, D.C. and says, 'I'm here to help you and tell you what to do,' sometimes the folks at state and local governments aren't real excited about that.

"But Paulison is one of their own. He knows what it's like to be there. He was there for (Hurricane) Andrew (in 1992). So, I think this was an excellent choice at this time."

Larsen can't say the same for the selection off Brown.

"We have to talk about his qualifications for the job. I mean, let's face it, would a president appoint an attorney general who wasn't a lawyer, a surgeon general who wasn't a doctor? A chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who wasn't a general?" he says. "I think we should use the same standard for FEMA directors. It (disaster relief) is a profession, and (Brown) did not have a background like … Paulison."

While most fingers pointed at Brown for what's widely viewed as FEMA's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, "In all fairness, it's like a quarterback in football," Larsen says. "When the team wins he generally gets too much credit, and when the team loses he gets too much blame. But that's life in the big city. If you're the leader of an organization that's stumbling, you'll probably get relieved."

Larsen wasn't surprise Brown quit, he was surprised it wasn't sooner.

"I thought it might have happened about a week earlier, frankly," he said.

The blame for FEMA's response lies with the federal government, Larsen says.

"But it's also much bigger than FEMA," he says. "For instance, I think people sometimes think FEMA is this huge organization. It's less than 3,000 people, compared to 2 million people in the Department of Defense. It's primarily a contracting organization that brings money to the governors and mayors after disasters, because that's the way the governors and mayors like it designed. They're in charge. The feds come in, through FEMA, to bring money. So, I think sometimes the expectations were a little bit high.

"But, frankly, FEMA was better prepared for Andrew, which is sort of the devastation we saw in Mississippi and Alabama, than they were for New Orleans."

Larsen says the United States isn't prepared to handle anything more than a small disaster, be it natural or terrorist.

"For a big one," he says, "I think, clearly, Katrina has demonstrated we are not."