http://philanthropy.com/free/update/2001/10/2001100303.htm
Red Cross Fires Two Top Disaster-Relief Officials
By Grant Williams
Shortly after last month's terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers, the American Red Cross fired the manager and another top employee of the charity's Disaster Operations Center, which is located in the Red Cross national headquarters building in Falls Church, Va.
The Red Cross describes the operations facility as the "nerve center" of its disaster relief services. A press release issued by the Red Cross on September 11 said that the operations center was "on national alert" and was "closely coordinating with federal, state, and local agencies."
The employees let go, who had worked for the Red Cross for many years, were Anne D. Miller, manager of the disaster center, and Elizabeth McNulty, who had been the center's manager of "technical support." Neither of the former employees could be reached for comment.
The departure of Ms. Miller and Ms. McNulty upset many people associated with the Red Cross, all of whom asked not to be named, because the two employees were perceived as talented and dedicated and because the firings took place at such a crucial time -- following the terrorist attacks when the Red Cross was in high gear responding to the crises.
David T. McLaughlin, chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, said that the firings stemmed from "operational difficulties" and "problems in terms of responding to the Pentagon disaster" in the days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He said that other Red Cross workers quickly filled in for the fired employees and made sure that the difficulties and problems did not result in any diminution in the quality or amount of services that the Red Cross provided in the aftermath of the attacks.
"Any time you have disasters of the magnitude that were there, both in the Pentagon and also in New York, it puts enormous strain on a disaster-operations system, because it just hasn't experienced anything of that magnitude," said Mr. McLaughlin. "So if you've got problems in the system, either in the way the system works or in the way that people are implementing it, the problems come out and become evident," he said.
"I don't want to, in any way, disparage the two people who were let go in this. It isn't that they aren't good individuals, they certainly are fine people," said Mr. McLaughlin, who is chief executive officer of Orion Safety Products, president emeritus of the Aspen Institute, and a former president of Dartmouth College. "But the decision was made that the changes had to be made at that time in order to respond adequately to what disaster services was being faced with."
He added of the fired workers: "They were well treated in their severances. It was a management decision made and one that probably was proper; I don't second guess the management at all."
According to an article posted in February on the Red Cross's Web site, the charity's Ernest P. Bicknell Disaster Operations Center is "the hub" of the charity's disaster-relief efforts.
"The Red Cross responds to about 60,000 disasters each year," the article said. "Most are handled by local chapters, but about 500 a year go beyond the capabilities of local units. In many of those emergency cases, the DOC is 'activated' -- the national relief center takes over, mobilizing people and material resources to help victims of disaster who are often hundreds or thousands of miles away."
The article continued with a quote from Ms. Miller: "The purpose of the Disaster Operations Center is twofold. The first job is to acquire information about a disaster. The second is to acquire and assign resources for the relief effort."