About Us
The Office of External Affairs was created in 2007, bringing together several independent offices and adding two new divisions to enhance a coordinated communications program for the agency.
The office's purpose is to maintain visibility regarding public and internal communications; coordinate routine and special communications; ensure accurate, useful, timely, synchronized, targeted communication; and provide continuous messaging to meet the needs of the situation. The office also serves as an advisor to FEMA program and support offices on decision making, development, and maintenance of policies and programs to ensure that activities are responsive to stakeholder, media, congressional and other audiences
Our mission is to engage, inform and educate all FEMA stakeholders in support of the agency's programs and initiatives to achieve its mission.
Currently, the seven divisions that encompass the office are:
- Congressional Affairs
- Disaster Operations
- Intergovernmental Affairs
- Private Sector
- Public Affairs
- Strategic Communications
- Coordination and Business Operations
External Affairs also oversees the Ready Campaign.
Leadership
- Director, Office of External Affairs, Stephanie Tennys (Acting)
- Deputy Director, Stephanie Tennyson
- Executive Officer and Coordination and Business Operations Division Director, Cindy Taylor
- Congressional Affairs Division Director Aaron Davis
- Disaster Operations Division Director, James McIntyre
- Intergovernmental Affairs Division Director, Gwen Camp
- Private Sector Division Director, VACANT
- Public Affairs Director, Lars Anderson
- Ready Campaign Director, Darryl Madden
- Strategic Communications Division Director, Alexandra Kirin
Our Divisions
Congressional Affairs
Aaron Davis, Director
The Congressional Division is the Federal Emergency Management Agency's primary liaison with the United States Congress. The division maintains communications with Congress in both official and informal capacities. CAD mission is to proactively engage and communicate with Members of Congress and their staffs to build strong working relationships that will advance the agency's legislative and emergency management priorities.
General Contact Line: 202-646-4500
Disaster Operations
James McIntyre, Director
The Disaster Operations Division provides leadership, training, coordination and support to the Agency's External Affairs function during incidents of national significance or incidents requiring a coordinated federal response. The Director of Disaster Operations also serves as the senior External Affairs official on all incident response activations and operations.
Contact Information: FEMA-EA-DAE
Intergovernmental Affairs
Gwen Camp, Director
The Intergovernmental Affairs Division provides direct communication and outreach to state, local, tribal, and territorial officials, including governors and state officials, state legislators, tribal governments, small states and rural constituencies, territorial governments, county/parish officials, mayors and city managers, and city councils. In addition, IGA fosters and maintains relationships with national associations who represent SLTT governments, emergency managers, and homeland security officials. IGA also continues to build relationships with key constituency groups that have been traditionally underserved by the Federal government.
Contact Information: 202-646-3444 or email us at FEMA-IGA
Private Sector
VACANT
FEMA established a Private Sector Division within the Office of External Affairs in October 2007. The Division's mission is to communicate, cultivate and advocate for collaboration between the U.S. private sector and FEMA, to support FEMA's capabilities and to enhance national preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation of all hazards. Additionally, the Division's vision is to establish and maintain a national reputation for effective support to our private sector stakeholders through credible, reliable and meaningful two-way communication.
Contact Information: FEMA-Private-Sector
Public Affairs
Lars Anderson, Director
The Public Affairs Division provides information to the American public that helps them prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters by establishing and maintaining effective, ongoing relationships with the media to promote the agency's programs, goals and core values; servicing our internal and external customers by developing communication strategies that support the agency's mission; providing disaster survivors with timely and accurate information, and managing communications to demonstrate an effective federal response to disasters
Contact Information: Lars Anderson
Strategic Communications
Alexandra Kirin, Director (Acting)
FEMA established a Strategic Communications Division within the Office of External Affairs to establish proactive planning and coordination for agency offices and programs. The division, through its strategic communications advisors, will coordinate internally with agency offices to prioritize, organize, and implement communication strategies, produce materials for stakeholder audiences, and support program policies and initiatives. The Division will foster a whole community approach to its planning efforts, including the recognition and integration of specialized communications tactics that consider needs related to language barriers, cultural diversity and disability.
Contact Information: Ali Kirin
Coordination and Business Operations
Cindy Taylor, Executive Officer and Director
The Coordination and Business Operations Division provides consolidated management and administrative support for External Affairs. The mission of the division is to ensure External Affairs staff has the resources, training and processes necessary to meet the External Affairs mission, and that these resources are managed effectively on behalf of the agency and the U.S. citizens.
Contact Information: FEMA-EA-Action-Office
Ready Campaign
Darryl Madden, Director
Launched in February 2003, Ready is a national public service advertising campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural and man-made disasters. The goal of the campaign is to get the public involved and ultimately to increase the level of basic preparedness across the nation.
Ready and its Spanish language version Listo ask individuals to do three key things:
- get an emergency supply kit,
- make a family emergency plan, and
- be informed about the different types of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses.
The campaign's messages have been distributed through: television, radio, print, outdoor and Web PSAs developed and produced by The Advertising Council; brochures; Ready.gov and Listo.gov Web sites; toll-free phone lines 1-800-BE-Ready and 1-888-SE-Listo; and partnerships with a wide variety of public and private sector organizations.
Contact Information: Ready