United States: In a seismic declaration on Tuesday, President Donald Trump laid out his clearest blueprint yet for pulling the plug on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), stating that the agency will be gradually dissolved following this year’s storm barrage. Speaking during an Oval Office briefing, Trump emphasized that the responsibility for a calamity response should rest squarely on the shoulders of state leadership.
“We’re transitioning away from FEMA dependency,” Trump noted, with unmistakable firmness. “Governors ought to shoulder that responsibility—and if they fumble the aftermath, perhaps they aren’t fit for the helm.”
Additionally, Trump stated that federal rescue funds would no longer flow freely through FEMA, but would instead be disbursed from the executive level. This maneuver aligns with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts, which anticipate an unusually fierce and lethal hurricane season ending on November 30.
For months now, both Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose jurisdiction encompasses FEMA, have openly condemned the agency, branding it obsolete. Noem doubled down on those sentiments Tuesday, voicing that FEMA “must be retired in its current form.”
“History bears witness to FEMA’s failures—countless citizens have suffered. President Trump refuses to let this cycle repeat,” she asserted, according to CNN.
While the administration prepares for this year’s storm season, Noem affirmed that pre-positioning efforts are underway, especially in historically vulnerable regions. Simultaneously, she revealed that states are forging cross-border pacts and communication networks to fortify their independence in handling natural disasters. The federal arm, she said, will step in only when devastation breaches the ordinary threshold.
Noem now jointly heads the FEMA Review Council with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. This Trump-mandated task force is tasked with presenting recommendations aimed at paring down FEMA’s presence and reimagining its core purpose.
Still, the idea of erasing FEMA has sent shockwaves through emergency response corridors. Critics argue that most state governments lack the bandwidth—both financially and logistically—to bear the weight of apocalyptic-scale disasters, even with the occasional federal cushion.
“This betrays a fundamental misread of the federal government’s purpose in disaster landscapes,” a veteran FEMA official remarked to CNN. “From Trump’s words, it seems their endgame is to scrape through the hurricane stretch and then dismantle the whole framework.”
FEMA currently limps into the storm season wounded—undermanned, demoralized, and beleaguered by a mass talent exodus. Since January, a tenth of its workforce has departed, including many senior figures. By year’s end, projections suggest that roughly 30% of staff may be eliminated, resulting in a downsizing of the workforce from 26,000 to approximately 18,000.
In a last-ditch effort to buttress preparedness, Noem has reopened dormant training hubs and extended disaster deployment contracts for thousands of transient personnel.
However, FEMA’s grasp appears to be fading already. Last month, Noem installed David Richardson—a former Marine and martial arts tactician with zero disaster command experience—as the agency’s head. He hailed from DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction branch and has since filled the FEMA ranks with a cadre of homeland security operatives, marginalizing seasoned disaster veterans.
While Richardson initially promised a revamped hurricane readiness playbook, he shelved those plans last week. Internal memos cited that FEMA would instead mirror its 2024 operations, holding back any forward-facing strategy until the Trump FEMA Review Council delivers its verdict.
Communication between the White House and FEMA also seems to be fraying. On multiple occasions, the President approved federal disaster declarations, yet the agency lagged behind in execution due to delayed briefings, which slowed financial lifelines to battered locales, as reported by CNN.
As for what lies ahead, Trump’s full-scale vision for disaster governance remains cloudy. Yet insiders suggest new policies may soon make securing federal assistance far more labyrinthine.
“The FEMA experiment? A pricy misfire,” Trump said with blunt resolve. “When a cyclone or crisis hits, the governors are supposed to step up. That’s their job. Fix what’s broken.”
