The Trump administration this week began signaling plans to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other U.S. government agencies’ responses to natural disasters.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a little-noticed executive order aimed at “achieving efficiency through state and local preparedness,” ordering National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and the heads of relevant agencies to establish policies to bolster America’s resilience to natural disasters and “move away from an all-hazards approach.” The executive order also states that the Trump administration is moving to give individual states greater authority over disaster preparations.
“This order empowers State, local, and individual preparedness and injects common sense into infrastructure prioritization and strategic investments through risk-informed decisions that make our infrastructure, communities, and economy resilient to global and dynamic threats and hazards,” Trump wrote in the executive order.
In January, Trump criticized FEMA while at Asheville Regional Airport in western North Carolina prior to touring areas that were ravaged by Hurricane Helene in September, telling reporters that the agency has “turned out to be a disaster” and “a very big disappointment.”
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump told reporters at the time.
“I’ll sign an executive order to begin the process of reforming FEMA or getting rid of FEMA,” the president added. “I think FEMA’s not good.”
The same day, Trump unveiled an executive order establishing a council to “assess” FEMA, stating that the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene and other recent natural disasters “demonstrate the need to drastically improve” the agency’s “efficacy, priorities, and competence, including evaluating whether FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response ultimately harms the agency’s ability to successfully respond.”
“Despite obligating nearly $30 billion in disaster aid each of the past three years, FEMA has managed to leave vulnerable Americans without the resources or support they need when they need it most,” Trump stated in the executive order.
FEMA became the subject of intense public scrutiny after two hurricanes, Helene and Milton, devastated the southeast and reports surfaced of agency employees being told to avoid providing aid to homes that displayed certain political messages.
Marn’i Washington, a former FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance crew leader, was fired in November after reportedly instructing FEMA employees to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while out providing aid for Florida residents impacted by Hurricane Milton.
FEMA was later criticized for being underprepared to provide Americans adequate disaster relief. Between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20, just days after Hurricane Milton hit Florida on Oct. 9, the agency received 900,000 calls from survivors, but failed to answer 47% of them, Politico reported in November. Still, FEMA has shelled out millions of dollars for services to illegal migrants, allocating funds for a grant program designed to increase “equity” in disaster responses in recent years.
After promising sweeping change to the agency, the Trump administration first began by conducting mass layoffs at FEMA, including firing four FEMA employees in February for sending millions of taxpayer dollars to New York City hotels to house and provide care for illegal migrants.
Notably, FEMA, alongside dozens of federal agencies, began moving to eliminate any mentions of climate change as well as diversity, equity and inclusion from its official documents last week under Trump’s direction.
“For far too long, state and local governments have … neglected investing in resilience, infrastructure, and disaster preparedness because they can count on an unlimited backstop from the federal government – an unsustainable and irresponsible strategy that has resulted in needless destruction and deaths of everyday Americans,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The Trump administration is committed to shoring up our disaster relief apparatus by working with state and local governments to prioritize resilience and preparedness.”
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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