Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the President’s Nomination of George W. Foresman to be Under Secretary for Preparedness

Release Date: 10/21/05 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
October 21, 2005

I am pleased by President Bush’s nomination of George Foresman to be Under Secretary for Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Foresman is a highly respected, veteran emergency management professional with more than twenty years of emergency preparedness experience at various levels of government. Most recently, he served as an Assistant to the Governor of Virginia for Commonwealth Preparedness and was responsible for the Commonwealth's emergency and disaster preparedness activities, including coordination with the private sector.  

The Fiscal Year 2006 budget reinforces many of the structural and organizational changes proposed in the Second Stage Review process, and it provides $4 billion for the creation of a Preparedness Directorate. This directorate will consolidate the Department’s existing preparedness efforts, including planning, training, exercising, and funding to ensure a focused direction. In addition, the Preparedness Directorate will include a U.S. Fire Administration, Chief Medical Officer and an Assistant Secretary for Cyber and Telecommunications Security.    

There is an urgent need to enhance preparedness for catastrophic events in this country, and if confirmed, Mr. Foresman will play a key role in advancing the Department’s all-hazards approach by overseeing the new Preparedness Directorate.

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