Michael Loewinger

But, you know, here it did happen.

When I first heard this story, I thought it could be explained simply by the rise of extremist militia groups in America.

But the more I learned about FEMA, its secretive origins, its unhinged leadership under Reagan, the more I realized that the agency that was born of the paranoias of the 20th century had been met with paranoia in return.

While reporting this series, I spoke to FEMA workers from just about every era of the agency.

And I've heard too many stories of threats from conspiracy theorists to chase them all down.

But for now, here's one more.

A FEMA official from the 90s told me that he'd seen FEMA head James Lee Witt walking around with a U.S.

Marshal security detail, but never learned why.

After some digging, I discovered that in 1998, Witt was asked to meet with the FBI.

An agent told him that a militia group had been selling VHS tapes with his home address and information on his kids and wife.

The death threats were credible enough that Witt was told to stop taking public transportation to work early in the morning.

As you'll learn in the coming weeks, these plots against FEMA's leadership foreshadow its current day unraveling.

But in the early 2000s, as FEMA was forced to shapeshift after 9-11, it wasn't anti-government militias that ultimately took down the agency that James Lee Witt built.

FEMA as an independent agency, as an organization that responded for eight years to the American people's needs, that has been destroyed.

It's not there now.

Next week, in episode two of my investigation, American Emergency, FEMA gets swallowed up by the Department of Homeland Security and the War on Terror.

They have driven a stake in the heart of emergency management in this country as we know it.

That's it for this week's show.

This series is reported and hosted by me, Michael Loewinger, with additional writing and reporting from me, Eloise Blondio, On The Media's senior producer.

Special thanks to Samantha Montano and Michael Cohen.