NEWS

(File photo of Mark Cooper) WASHINGTON – Mark Cooper, who worked on Louisiana disasters for both Democratic and Republican governors, will join the presidential team that is studying the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mark Cooper was named to the panel over the weekend by President Donald Trump in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I know that the new members will work hard to fix a terribly broken system, and return power to state emergency managers, who will help make America safe again,” Trump wrote. Cooper was former chief of staff for Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and director of the Governor’s Office for Homeland Security under Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. Cooper has been on the ground in recovery efforts from disasters that have struck Louisiana in recent years, from Hurricane Katrina through the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before coming to Louisiana, Cooper was deputy fire chief for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He is now a partner with Five Score Partners LLC, a Baton Rouge-based business and government relations consulting firm. On the campaign trail and since his election, Trump has said that FEMA doesn’t work properly and needs significant changes — up to and including being eliminated. He wants some of the agency’s disaster relief functions returned to the states. FEMA has suspended or stopped taking applications for several programs aimed at mitigating disaster damage through infrastructure improvements, such as strengthening levees and raising structures. Last week, FEMA’s acting chair, Cam Hamilton, was fired. The Trump Administration did not give a reason for his termination, but it happened the day after he testified to Congress that FEMA should not be eliminated. Trump established the Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency by executive order on January 24. The goal for the council is to advise the president “on the existing ability of FEMA to capably and impartially address disasters occurring within the United States” and to recommend changes to FEMA’s missions, procedures and operations. The Council will be chaired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The committee also includes Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. Other members of the council include: Jane Castor, mayor of Tampa, Fla. Rosie Cordero-Stutz, sheriff of Miami-Dade County, Fla. Robert Fenton, Jr., Region 9 administrator and former acting administrator of FEMA Evan Greenberg, CEO of insurance company Chubb Limited Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee Trump has charged the council, whose members will only receive reimbursement of some expenses, with recommending significant policy and operational changes to FEMA before summer. Read the article by Mark Ballard here.

(File photo from Greater Baton Rouge Business Report) President Donald Trump on Monday appointed 13 members to his newly formed Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council—including one prominent Louisianan. That Louisianan is Mark Cooper, who brings over 30 years of emergency management experience to his post on the council. He previously served as chief of staff for former Gov. John Bel Edwards and currently serves as a partner at Baton Rouge-based crisis leadership and government relations consulting firm Five Score Partners. During his tenure in Edwards’ office, Cooper helped lead Louisiana’s emergency responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and five hurricanes, among other crises. Prior to joining Edwards’ staff, he served as Walmart’s senior director of global emergency management for over five years. He also served on the Cabinet of former Gov. Bobby Jindal as the director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and as Louisiana’s homeland security adviser. In those roles, he led Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and responded to other historic events like the BP oil spill and Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The FEMA Review Council, which will be co-chaired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, is described by the Trump administration as a “bipartisan group tasked with reforming and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system.” Trump created the council days after taking office as he publicly considered abolishing FEMA. Cooper was appointed to the council alongside notable names like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. View a full list of appointees here. Read the article by Dillon Lowe here.

Crews have spent the past several days setting up a one-mile-long portable barrier wall along the Kings River. Fire crews have spent several days preparing areas prone to flooding in the South Valley. Robert Arroyo has lived near the Kings River in Tulare County for over 20 years and vividly remembers when a levee breach in 2017 resulted in terrible flooding. "This looked like a lake," Arroyo recalled of the area surrounding his home. He says his home was okay but some of his neighbors' houses were damaged by floodwaters. "It's hard not to feel bad for them when their property is being damaged like it was, so I am sure they are glad that things are being done," said Arroyo. This time around, the Tulare County Fire Department and Cal Fire took several days to set up a one-mile long portable barrier called a muscle wall along the river. "What they do is, the water goes inside of them. They are approximately 6 feet long, and they interlock with each other. So, they connect almost like Legos. Once the guys get them in place, they run them along and use the (tarp) to reinforce the muscle wall. They are designed, once they are interlocked and filled water, to keep the water on the water side," said Tulare County Fire Battalion Chief Bryan Duffy. Arroyo says knowing the muscle wall is there is a relief. Rick Carhart with Cal Fire says the hard work to protect communities is happening all over the county and will continue in the weeks to come. "This is a situation that is going to be affecting Tulare County for months. So, how long we will be here? I cannot say, but I can tell you that resources will be working to keep residents safe for months and months from now," said Carhart. The muscle wall is staying until summer since the snow melt could last until then. Read the articles by Elisa Navarro here.

Gov. John Bel Edwards meets with Gov.-elect Jeff Landry; Edwards chief of staff Mark Cooper; and the incoming governor's chief of staff, Kyle Ruckert, right, at the Governor's Mansion in November 2023. Photo by Tyler Walker. Mark Cooper is a Republican who served as chief of staff during seven of the eight years that John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, served as governor. Before that, Cooper headed homeland security and emergency management for almost four years for then-Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican. Now he is applying his bipartisan disaster response work in Louisiana outside of the state. In mid-November, Cooper was in Denver at the National Governors Association meeting to help prepare new governors to handle a crisis on day one if it occurred. In mid-December, Cooper will provide training for chiefs of staff for new governors on the same topic JFK School of Government at Harvard University. He'll also be conducting table top exercises for new governors and their cabinets for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Naval Post Graduate Program in Monterey, Ca. Cooper, 60, helped guide Edwards and Jindal through hurricanes and other natural disasters. He also has plenty of experience serving as the senior director of global emergency management for six years for Walmart Stores, including Sam's Club. Before that, he spent 20 years working for the County of Los Angeles, including a stint as deputy fire chief, where he helped handle the response to the civil unrest following the beating of Rodney King in 1992 and after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. Read the article by Tyler Bridges here.