Formation of FEMA

A frequently occurring mistake that often appears even in official reports concerning FEMA states that FEMA was orginally created by Presidential Executive Order. That is incorrect. President James Earl Carter pursuant to then extant reorganization authority created FEMA by Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978, promulgated in May 1978, and not disapproved by Congress. It was made effective in two steps by two Presidential Executive Orders. E.O. 12148 issued July 15th, 1979 was the second implementing order. Frequently cited as still in existence, IMO [In My Opinion] that order is now a legal nullity and was made so by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which when it became effective March 1, 2003, eliminated by statute the name FEMA and all PAS [Presidential Senate Confirmed] positions previously held by FEMA. FEMA was not again a statutory entity until the enactment of PKEMA of 2006 which was effective March 31, 2007. So between March 1, 2003 and March 31, 2007 there was no legal organization in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government called FEMA. But on August 4, 2003, the brand name FEMA was authorized for use in a memorandum to all employees by Michael Brown.