FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN
R2 –WEEKLY BULLETIN
Volume 1, Issue 6 February 20, 2009
ALL EMERGENCY MANAGERS
By Michael Moriarty, Acting Regional Administrator
In an earlier newsletter, I mentioned
FEMA’s determination to be the nation’s preeminent
emergency management agency. Implicit
in that vision is that “everyone in FEMA is an
emergency manager.” Whether you are currently
in the role of administrative assistant, property
officer, part of the IT team or a Watchstander in
the RRCC, emergencies are your business. That’s
the expectation – irrespective of your day-to-day
duties.
Thus, it is incumbent upon each of us to
manage our professional development and
personal lives to be prepared for, and able to
respond to, events on short notice. If we are to
achieve FEMA’s vision in a changing environment,
we need the help of ALL HANDS.
This week, I participated in several
Division meetings. The content of the discussions
and the sharing of ideas -- all keyed toward
improving the way we do our business, -- were
very encouraging. By sharing Information between
Branches and Divisions, we are actively working
toward a better, more integrated Region II.
Remember, whatever you are working on,
it will touch upon and have implications for other
Regional programming. If we are aware of the
work products – and challenges -- of other
divisions, we can better integrate our efforts with
theirs, making the Region both stronger and
smarter, and ultimately better at what we do.
TIP of the Week
How Your Mailbox Is Managed
By Yen Pan
IT Services Branch
To help reduce mailbox size, an
automated mailbox manager process cleans your
mailbox daily, and deletes messages based on
the follow criteria:
* Inbox - Messages over 90 days old are deleted
* Sent Items - Messages over 30 days old are
deleted
* Deleted Items - Messages over 15 days old
are deleted
You should know:
• You will not receive a warning that a
message is about to be deleted.
• You cannot retrieve messages that have
been deleted by this process.
• To avoid losing messages that meet these
criteria, you must save them to your
Personal Folders, or Auto Archive them.
• You can get instructions on how to setup
your personal folders at
http://online.fema.net/neat/faqs.shtm#_Pro
cedure_to_Create
RISC-Y BUSINESS
Last week, the Regional Interagency
Steering Committee (RISC) met in New Jersey. The
two day conference, hosted by New Jersey OEM
was attended by most federal Emergency Support
Functions (ESF), our state and territorial partners
and many private, volunteer groups.
The two-day conference offered 14
presentations on Regional emergency management
issues, covering everything from contra flow and
evacuation planning being done by New Jersey to
available federal medical assets.
Requests for a CD of the conference’s
Power Point presentations, minutes, and agenda
and attendees should be directed to John
Kapsimalis at john.kapsimalis@dhs.gov
,
FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS’
INTERNAL FOCUS
Under the leadership of Regional Administrator
Mike Moriarty and External Affairs Officer Kristina
Simpson, Region II is working on a major new
initiative to improve communication and
transparency across all divisions.
Among its priorities is reinforcing the
conviction in Region II employees that, in
Administrator Moriarty’s words, “emergency
management is not a spectator sport.” We are all,
in our specific roles, emergency managers first
and foremost.
The project will prepare the ground for the
Division Managers/Branch Chief meeting
scheduled for April 21 and new DAEs Alan Smith,
Jay Jun, and Rob Ingraham are researching
statutory requirements for the region and
determining how these requirements are
delegated to the various divisions.
In addition to statutory information, a
thorough historic and demographic “snapshot” of
the entire region is being developed which will
include disasters, assistance provided, and
current risks across every district---a “Region II at
a Glance.”
Complementing the research efforts, the
April meeting will include a hypothetical disaster
exercise where Division Directors and Branch
Chiefs will have the opportunity to examine each
division along several parameters, including
regulatory requirements, response procedures,
how divisions overlap, where our “gaps” are in
terms of division roles and responsibilities and
building transparency, integration, agreement, and
understanding.
With a clearer grasp of how, and why, our
divisions work together and the long-term
importance of integrating our various roles and
responsibilities, Region II will work smarter,
respond faster and more efficiently to any
emergency, and become an even stronger
component of the larger FEMA mission
nationwide.

FACES OF REGION II
Laura Forrest (left) and Pat Mason (right)
are Technological Hazards Program Specialists in
the Radiological Emergency Preparedness
Program (REP). They review and evaluate offsite
radiological emergency response plans, and
evaluate off-site power plant exercises. They also
report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) on the adequacy of offsite emergency
planning and preparedness in connection with the
licensing of commercial nuclear power plants.
Laura comes to FEMA after seven years
working with the Department of Defense, where
she served as an Engineer, and later as a
member of a Chemical Brigade. While there she
responded to several natural disasters, took part
in base planning for emergency operations,
exercise evaluation and several Homeland
Security Coordination missions. She has a B.A. in
Sociology and a MPA with a specialization in
Homeland Security Policy and Coordination. She
is currently working on a doctorate in emergency
management.
Patricia came to FEMA from NYSEMO where
she worked in the REP program. Prior to that, Pat
worked for Yates County’s Office of Emergency
Management. Pat has a BA in psychology from
Keuka College and a BS in Human and
Community Services, with a concentration in Fire
and Emergency Services Administration from
Empire State College. She is currently working on
a Masters degree. A mother of three, and
grandmother to eight, Pat’s youngest son is
currently serving in Iraq.
FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN