As Hurricane Florence bears down on the East Coast, with tropical storm-force blasting the shoreline, the government’s lead disaster official is under an internal investigation for his alleged misuse of government cars, POLITICO reports.
The former Alabama Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) director, and current director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Brock Long is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general (IG) as to whether or not he misused government vehicles and personnel during six-hour commutes from his home in North Carolina and FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
According to POLITICO, “Long started using a staff driver to get him home to North Carolina at the beginning of his tenure at FEMA last year. On the weekends Long spent in North Carolina, aides were put up in a hotel at taxpayer expense, according to one of the current officials.”
Long briefly addressed the investigation during a Thursday FEMA briefing.
“Bottom line is, we’ll continue to fully cooperate with any investigation that goes on and own up to any mistakes and push forward and keep going,” he said.
“I would never intentionally run a program incorrectly,“ Long added. “Doing something unethical is not part of my DNA and it is not part of my track record in my whole entire career. We will work with the OIG.”
From 2008 to 2011 Long served was at the helm of the AEMA where he worked on the Yellowhammer State’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and numerous other natural disasters. As Director, he served as the State Coordinating Officer for 14 disasters, including eight presidentially-declared events. Prior to that he was a FEMA Regional Hurricane Program Manager from 2001 to 2006.
