Coming and goingDHS Undersecretary George Foresman resigns

The internal DHS conflicts over control of the country’s emergency preparedness planning claimed a major casualty last week when George Foresman resigned as undersecretary for the Preparedness Directorate at the Homeland Security Department. Not that he had much of a choice. As part of a post-Hurrricane reorganization, the directorate is being shut down, and, after losing out on the FEMA chief position eventually given to R. David Paulison, Foresman faced the prospect of retiring on top or accepting a position of lesser responsibility as head of the newly constituted directorate of National Protection and Programs. (The NPPD will include the Office of Cyber Security and Communications, the Office of Infrastructure Protection, the Office of Risk Management and Analysis and the Office of Intergovernmental Programs.)

Executives take note. Although Foresman cites the desire to spend time with his family as his reason for resigning, he sounds like a great addition to a company’s board of directors. Consider the resume: Foresman previously homeland security adviser to Virginia Governor Mark Warner and spent twenty-two years in state and local emergency management before joining DHS. He also served as the vice chairman of the Gilmore Commission, which submitted five annual reports on terrorism readiness to Congress between 1998 and 2003. We trust that if our readers take us up on the suggestion, they will write to us about it.