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Excerpt - Ex-FEMA chief profiteering on Katrina? Witt’s firm charges Louisiana double its costs for subcontracted services In the traumatic days after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco turned to one of the most respected names in emergency management: James Lee Witt, the so-called Master of Disaster. But an eight-month investigation by NBC News into the performance and billing practices of Witt’s firm, James Lee Witt Associates, raises questions about profiteering, cronyism and possible falsification of records by one of Witt Associates’ subcontractors. ~ snip ~ Witt Associates reaps its biggest windfall, however, from billing the state double what...

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2006--GlobalOptions Group, Inc. (OTCBB: GLOI), a leading provider of domestic and international risk management services, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), based in Washington, D.C., for $6 million in cash and stock, the assumption of certain liabilities and an earn out based upon achieving certain revenue goals. The transaction, which is subject to financing and other conditions, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006. "James Lee Witt Associates is a major force within the public safety and crisis management...

BATON ROUGE -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is having second thoughts about reimbursing Louisiana for more than $25 million in payments to the consulting firm that has been advising Gov. Kathleen Blanco on hurricane recovery. A week after announcing in a news release that the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness could collect up to $26.1 million for the services provided by James Lee Witt Associates, FEMA withdrew the authorization and questioned whether the state acted properly in awarding the contract. In a Dec. 5 letter to Col. Jeff Smith, Blanco's official representative to FEMA, federal officials...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 - Not long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, James Lee Witt, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and his colleagues called officials on the Gulf Coast to offer their help. Soon after the storm hit, the State of Louisiana signed up with Witt Associates, a disaster consulting firm. Within days, Mr. Witt had become a fixture at the state's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, advising the governor and sleeping in a trailer. He even figured out a way for FEMA to reimburse the state for his firm's fees, which the company estimates at...

IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana June 3, 2004 IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates*, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic...

The US military has categories of stupidity. The highest is “gross public dumb.” But a higher category is needed for moments like the “bus interview” by Louisiana Governor Blanco. It is spectacularly stupid. You’ve got to see this to believe it. Interview of Governor Blanco by John Hill of Louisiana Gannett News, 19 September, 2005 “GANNETT: In hindsight, what would you have done differently in the first response? “BLANCO: Well, I would have placed less confidence in a structure elsewhere (the Federal Emergency Management Association) and depended more on ourselves. As an example, when buses were not delivered in a...

Gov. Kathleen Blanco is paying a disaster counseling and lobbying firm to advise her on Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, but her staff could not provide the contract or payment details until after deadline Monday. The state has agreed to pay Washington-based James Lee Witt Associates an undisclosed hourly rate, though the firm's leader and namesake continues to work for free, according to company spokeswoman Kim Fuller. Blanco's top communications official, Bob Mann, did not mention the contract Thursday when questioned about the state's ties to Witt and the amount Louisianians are paying for his services. Mann did not respond to...

With the all-but-corporate death of the UPI, the AP is the main American source for news in the United States. Associated Press articles are mindlessly quoted by newspapers across the nation. Many local radio and TV stations rip and read either directly from the AP, or indirectly from local newspapers which use the AP. Therefore, it’s reprehensible that the AP, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, has not found out that there WAS an Evacuation Plan for New Orleans and southern Louisiana which was not followed. The Plan is on the Internet and available to anyone who can push a...

IEM Inc., a Baton Rouge, La.-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, announced it will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane...

IEM Inc., a Baton Rouge, La.-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, announced it will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane...

Baton Rouge, La. -- James Lee Witt, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director hired to advise Louisiana's governor, described the crisis Sunday in the hurricane-ravaged state as "our worst nightmare." He couldn't estimate how long the recovery would take. In New Orleans alone, the levees will have to be fixed and the water pumped out. After that, crews will have to get in to assess the damage and determine which structures are too unstable to remain. Utilities are down in several areas. There's also historic preservation to think about, he said Sunday on MSNBC. "This was our worst nightmare,"...

IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana June 3, 2004IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Arkansan James Lee Witt, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, joined the Louisiana government Saturday to help direct the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Witt, who ran FEMA from 1993 to 2001, said he will stay as long as he as needed. "He will sit at the table for me, and he will be my voice at the table," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Louisiana officials are getting stretched too thin and need help, she said. "I like to hire the smartest people in the country," she added. Witt...

Placing the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Department of Homeland Security has hampered its ability to deal with hurricanes and other disasters, a former agency director said Friday. The arrangement "has minimized their effectiveness in responding, in planning and training, the national hurricane program, everything," said James Lee Witt, who served as FEMA director under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. Speaking to officials at the National Hurricane Conference, Witt said placing the agency under another department has reduced direct communication between FEMA officials and top government leaders and created problems sending funding where it is needed. In...

LITTLE ROCK — Former NATO commander Wesley Clark and former Cabinet secretaries Rodney Slater and James Lee Witt, all from Arkansas, are forming a crisis management dream team. Witt used his experience running the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a firm to help clients handle large-scale emergencies. The former Yell County judge and director of Arkansas' emergency management office, ran FEMA under the Clinton administration. Now at his side at James Lee Witt Associates on a part-time basis are Clark, a retired Army general who unsuccessfully ran for the 2004 Democratic nomination for president, and Slater, transportation secretary...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Congress will hold hearings into the contentious emergency evacuation plan for Indian Point, the nuclear power plant just north of New York City. Rep. Sue Kelly, a Republican whose district includes the Westchester County facility, had pushed for a hearing on the issue after a consultant firm found Indian Point's emergency plans rely on outdated technology and are based on unrealistic expectations. Fears about the plant have escalated sharply since the terror attacks of Sept. 11. A House subcommittee overseeing emergency management will conduct hearings in the near future, Washington, D.C., officials said Thursday. Kelly said she...