Throughout the history of the United States, there have been many directors of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), many of whom had different leadership styles. There are those who can be remembered for their achievements while others can be remembered for lack of performance. One of the FEMA directors who performed admirably well during a major emergency crisis in the United States was Craig Fugate during the Obama administration when the Hurricane Sandy disaster occurred. Craig is known for his “whole community response” philosophy, which seeks to decentralize disaster management from the federal government and involve the private sector, private citizens, and volunteers (Cecchine, G. 2013). This philosophy aims to address glaring weaknesses in how the government responds to the disasters witnessed by Hurricane Katrina. Craig revolutionized the way the disaster would be handled by taking on the leadership role and including other people and organizations to be part of the system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The leadership role meant that he planned and coordinated several organizations whenever a disaster struck. The philosophy he came with, that different people have different capabilities and skills and could play different roles whenever a disaster strikes, helped change people's mindset towards disaster management. Craig was able to restore the credibility that FEMA had lost. He achieved this destiny by leading FEMA to preposition equipment and supplies to be ready for an unprecedented disaster event before it occurred (Haddow, G.D., Bullock, J.A., & Coppola, D.P. 2014). Fugate has also improved communication and contact methods with the various agencies. He clearly knew that the first to help whenever a disaster strikes is the neighbor. That's why he chose the all-encompassing approach in disaster management because he understood that everyone has a role to play that can save a life or property. It sent aid every quarter which included non-governmental organizations, several states, private agencies and all agencies that could support and offer help whenever major disasters occurred. He is the kind of leader who believes in the power of community to accomplish difficult tasks. One of the FEMA directors who performed substandard during a major emergency crisis in the United States was Michael D. Brown during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in August 2005. Brown personally accepted some of the failures that could be brought back to him. During an interview, he admitted in his opening statement that his biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday, August 27, that Louisiana was dysfunctional. Later during his testimony, he said that “My mistake was in (not) recognizing it, for whatever reason. Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco have been reticent to order a mandatory evacuation.” (Cecchine, G. 2013). Brown made his first request for national security workers to respond to the disaster scene only after two days of training. He also told firefighters stationed outside unaffected areas not to provide trucks or rescuers pending a direct appeal from state or local government to avoid coordination problems and countercharges of overstepping federal authority. Mr. Brown appeared to be totally out of control of the situation and was unaware of what was happening on thefield. On September 1, 2005 he was recorded by CNN telling Soledad O'Brien that he was unaware that New Orleans officials had thousands of evacuees who were left without food and water in the Convention Center. This was despite the fact that the main media had reported the day before on the plight of the displaced. Mr Brown also refused help from other quarters to assist the affected victims. According to Chicago's then-mayor, he had pledged to provide firefighters, medical workers, police officers and other resources on behalf of his city, but Brown asked him to send only one truck. Its main failure was the absence of leadership and communication that affected all levels of government. His job involved coordinating several units to deal with the disaster, but he seemed to have failed miserably in this regard. Hurricane Katrina was apparently one of the biggest disasters and they were warned in advance that it would spiral out of control. With the knowledge that the disaster was one of the largest in U.S. history and that it was beyond the capabilities of state and local governments and FEMA, the wise thing for him to do was to ask for the military (Cooper, C. , & Block, R. 2007). The issue of the vulnerability of the levee system causing potential loss of life if a disaster on the scale of Katrina occurred was a concern that Brown was aware of, but did little if anything in the mitigation effort. The fact that there was a breakdown in terms of communication contributed to the massive failure. The agency did not appear to have sufficient alternative modes of communication, such as satellite communications capability in the event of a failure of available infrastructure, and this made the situation worse. One of the decisions made by Mr. Craig Fugate as director of FEMA that changed the disaster recovery path dramatically was the “whole community response” philosophy. The philosophy was the result of lessons learned from government failures during the Hurricane Katrina disaster which claimed over 1300 lives and left massive property destruction (United States. 2000). He revolutionized the community by trying to decentralize disaster management from the federal government; government to involve different actors such as the private sector, private citizens and volunteers. Before his revolutionary philosophy, there was the idea that there was a rescuer and that there were the rest of us and that the twain would not meet. The idea that everyone could play a role in the emergency response was very useful and innovative. Craig was able to achieve this by changing the response mindset of everyone involved when a disaster strikes. His decision changed the course of disaster recovery because people changed their mindset towards disaster management and realized that they all had a very important role to play approach when it comes to disaster management. The level and extent to which this decision has impacted disaster recovery is such that people have taken ownership of the process and everyone is now involved and plays a key role which may be direct or indirect towards disaster management and mitigation. This factor allowed FEMA to coordinate different organizations and individuals and prepare them for any eventuality that could happen to the nation. FEMA has also been able to change the way it behaves and how it relates to the public in terms of disaster management and mitigation. The decision has meant that everyone who is able and willing to offer the.