BP hiring former FEMA head for recovery

BP says it's hiring a former Clinton-era emergency management official and his consulting firm to help with the recovery from the massive Gulf oil spill.

Incoming BP CEO Bob Dudley is in Biloxi, Miss., to outline his company's long-term efforts to help the Gulf.

The oil giant said Friday that as part of that effort it's hiring former Federal Emergency Management Agency head James Lee Witt and Witt Associates, a public safety and crisis management consulting firm.

BP says Witt's company has unrivaled experience in emergency response and recovery.

Local officials, especially in Louisiana, have been clamoring for more long-term commitments in the face of reports that the oil spill is dissipating, at least on the water's surface.