FEMA urged to streamline post-disaster information sharing

DHS’s inspector general is urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to streamline information sharing in order to help law enforcement agencies locate missing children, registered sex offenders, and fugitive felons during disasters. A report released by the IG this week showed that after Hurricane Katrina, law enforcement agencies had difficulties in getting information from FEMA which would have helped them track down missing children and criminals. Government Executive’s Elizabeth Newell writes that among those missing after the storm were 5,000 children, more than 2,000 sex offenders, and a number of fugitive felons.

The FBI, New Orleans district attorney’s office, and state and local law enforcement agencies had to spend a lot of time and energy to gain access to FEMA’s disaster recovery assistance files. The agencies were not granted direct access due to FEMA’s concerns about improperly disclosing information protected by the 1974 Privacy Act. According to the report, FEMA took five to twelve days on average to fulfill law enforcement requests for information. Some requests took as many as thirty-five days.

Since Katrina, DHS and the Justice Department have struck several limited agreements which that would grant law enforcement officials the ability to access FEMA files directly during an emergency. So far, however, the agreements cover fraud and missing children investigations, but do not grant wider access to help agencies track down displaced criminals. The report recommended that FEMA develop more agreements with Justice to allow appropriate law enforcement officials direct access for a wider range of safety and security reasons, including determining the whereabouts of sex offenders and fugitive felons.

In a response to the report, FEMA said it agrees that direct access to limited information is appropriate if law enforcement entities meet a series of prerequisites. FEMA officials said they are working with Justice to develop protocols, procedures and processes to facilitate data-sharing during disasters. Note that an amendment to the Privacy Act also has hindered fraud investigations by federal inspectors general, according to the report. The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act forced inspectors general to undergo a time-consuming review and approval process before they could use computer matching to identify recurring improper payments or improperly dispersed funds.