ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an overview of emergency management at the fed-eral level and examines the historical period between the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. FEMA’s place in the executive branch and within the federal system is explored. This is followed by an examination of the importance of presidents in emergency management and an analysis of how presidents have used their disaster declaration authority to shape federal emergency management and, indirectly, the profession of emergency management. One section takes up the science and technology of disaster; a second describes the growing importance of public infrastructure in emergency management; a third furnishes an overview of federal disaster laws from 1979 to 2001; and a fourth acknowledges how the profession of emergency management has advanced. The chapter offers an overview of the major disaster-focusing events that transpired during the period and ends with a summary and set of observations.
