Jerome Hauer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Jerome Hauer is the director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness (OPHP) of the US since May 5, 2002. He was the director of Office of Emergency Management under New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani from 1996 to 2000. Additionally, he was a former employee of Kroll Inc. which studied biological terrorism attacks.

Hauer joined IBM in 1993 to manage programs for Hazardous Materials Response and Crisis Management and Fire Safety. For his production of related training videos he received the International Film and TV Critics of New York Bronze award in 1996. In the early 1990s he received a master's degree in emergency medical services from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and later became a member of the Johns Hopkins Working Group on Civilian Bio Defense. He wrote several articles on possible bio terrorist attacks. On April 10, 1998 Hauer attended a "roundtable on genetic engineering and biological weapons" under President Bill Clinton.

On September 11, 2001, Jerome Hauer was a national security advisor with the National Institute of Health, a managing director with Kroll Associates (the firm in charge of security for the World Trade Center complex), and a guest on national television, because of his background in counter-terror and his specialized knowledge of biological warfare.

[edit] Family

Jerome Hauer's deep family roots in the New York Jewish community. Hauer's mother, Rose Muscatine Hauer, is the retired Dean of the Beth Israel School of Nursing and the Honorary President of the New York Chapter of Hadassah, the Daughters of Zion movement that is one of the central Zionist organizations involved in the creation and maintenance of the State of Israel.

Jerome Hauer is the son of the late Milton G. Hauer and Rose Muscatine who married April 4, 1949. His mother's parents, Hyman David Muscatine (1881-1964) and Rebecca Bertha (nee Gartner), were Hebrew-speaking Zionists. They both came to the United States in 1908-1909; Hyman from "Russia Poland" in 1908 and Rebecca from the Austrian Empire in 1909.

His father's parents, Moritz and Gussie Hauer, immigrated from Hungary before the turn of the century.

[edit] Relationship with Rudolph W. Giuliani

Hauer was the first director of Mayor Giuliani's Office of Emergency Management. He directed the agency since 1996, when Giuliani shifted responsibility for the city's emergency preparedness from the Police Department to the new agency – headed by Hauer. Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Hauer began their relationship in January 1996 when Mr. Hauer was hired to lead the new Office of Emergency Management, created to coordinate the city’s response to crises. Mr. Hauer, who was little known before he became a Giuliani aide, had previously run emergency management programs for the State of Indiana and IBM.

[edit] 9/11 Conspiracy Suspicions

Jerome Hauer is best known for being the director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) when he made the decision to build a $13 million crisis center on the 23rd floor at 7 World Trade Center. This crisis center was unveiled in June 1999, and became the subject of tension between the agency and the Police Department, whose own command center at 1 Police Plaza had until then been the focus of emergency preparedness operations.

As the first director of the new crisis center, "one of Hauer’s first tasks was to find a home for an emergency command center to replace the inadequate facilities at police headquarters," according to the Times.

Reports indicate that the OEM crisis center at the World Trade Center was not being used on 9-11 by the usual personnel. The center had been temporarily relocated to Pier 92 on Manhattan’s West Side, due to a FEMA drill which was supposed to begin on the day after 9-11, according to statements made by Mayor Giuliani. The site was immediately controversial because it was part of the trade center, which had already been the location of a truck bomb attack in 1993. City officials, though, including Mr. Hauer, have long defended their decision, even after the command center had to be evacuated during the 2001 terror attack. The OEM crisis center in WTC 7 is suspected as being the control center for the pre-planned demolition of the towers. The center, and all of the evidence of the crime, was destroyed when the 47-story tower was completely demolished at about 5:25 p.m. on 9-11. Mr. Hauer decided to build the offices of the OEM on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, next to the twin towers and just a few blocks from City Hall.