From HSToday: Senior Leader Departures Raise Concerns About FEMA’s Disaster Readiness
“In a troubling development for America’s emergency preparedness, FEMA is experiencing an unprecedented exodus of leadership and staff just weeks away from the 2025 Danger Season1. Over a dozen senior leaders – including those with the most disaster recovery experience – have either resigned or been fired, according to recent reports.

The leadership drain comes on top of approximately 1,000 job cuts and resignations from the agency’s more than 20,000-person workforce. These departures create a significant void at an agency already stretched thin as it responds to ongoing recovery efforts from devastating storms and wildfires in North Carolina and Los Angeles. The indiscriminate mass firing of essential FEMA staff will cause endless disruption to an agency that was already inarguably understaffed and overstretched … [and] will have longstanding consequences for the people that experience disaster at their doorstep,” warned Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The last thing we need is to hollow out an agency responsible for helping to save lives and rebuild after disasters.” .