From Inside Climate News: Community Leaders in Florida Say Trump’s FEMA Pullback Leaves Them Struggling to Fill the Void
Community Leaders in Florida Say Trump’s FEMA Pullback Leaves Them Struggling to Fill the Void
The president may have backed off killing the agency outright, but his FEMA Review Council clearly sees a much reduced emergency management role for the federal government.
From the GAO: GAO: Disaster Recovery Scams Continue to Target Survivors as Agencies Push Awareness Campaigns
“Key Takewaways:
“Disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires afflict hundreds of American communities and millions of people each year. The resulting federal disaster response—i.e., billions of dollars distributed quickly—also attracts scammers.
In this Q&A, the GAO looked at ways federal and state agencies are educating people to protect them from disaster assistance scams. For example, information booths at disaster recovery centers display signs with tips about identifying, reporting, and avoiding scams. Online information—including press releases and emergency app push notifications—also helps raise awareness.”
From HSToday: Nine Practical Ideas to Strengthen Preparedness This Hurricane Season
“As another hurricane season approaches, communities across the country will hear familiar advice: “It only takes one.” “Have a plan.” “Build a kit.” “Listen to local officials.”
Those messages matter. They save lives. Exercises, drills, social media campaigns, and public information outreach all play important roles in preparedness.
How about this year we take the opportunity to go one step further with practical ideas that strengthen not only individual preparedness, but community resilience and public trust before the first storm ever forms.
Emergency managers and public information officers are constantly searching for ways to improve preparedness outcomes. Some of the best opportunities may come not from replacing traditional preparedness efforts, but from expanding the toolkit.”
From the GAO: Disaster Assistance Scams: Education and Awareness Are Key to Consumer Protection
“Disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires afflict hundreds of American communities and millions of people each year. The resulting federal disaster response—i.e., billions of dollars distributed quickly—also attracts scammers.
In this Q&A, we looked at ways federal and state agencies are educating people to protect them from disaster assistance scams. For example, information booths at disaster recovery centers display signs with tips about identifying, reporting, and avoiding scams. Online information—including press releases and emergency app push notifications—also helps raise awareness.”
From HomelandSecurityNewswire: DROUGHT: As Drought Worsens, Western States Brace for Wildfires, Water Shortages
“From the Rockies to the Cascades to the Sierra Nevada, mountainsides across the West are sparsely covered by the snow that usually blankets the high country well into the summer. That snowpack is like a savings account that the West draws on when the hot, dry months arrive, but this year Western states are heading into the summer with a desperately low balance — threatening wildfires, drinking water, crops, electricity and more.”
From HSNW: As Drought Worsens, Western States Brace for Wildfires, Water Shortages
“From the Rockies to the Cascades to the Sierra Nevada, mountainsides across the West are sparsely covered by the snow that usually blankets the high country well into the summer. That snowpack is like a savings account that the West draws on when the hot, dry months arrive, but this year Western states are heading into the summer with a desperately low balance — threatening wildfires, drinking water, crops, electricity and more.”
From the New Republic: Trump’s FEMA Is an Unnatural Disaster
The president has staffed the agency in charge of federal disaster response with a rotating cast of fools—and it’s showing.
“FEMA is not all right. As the United States faces another summer of extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, the Federal Emergency Management Agency—which coordinates federal disaster response, relief, and preparedness—continues to shuffle through leadership a roster of mostly unqualified Trump loyalists.”
This is a first for this website, but the Diva wants to share the opinions and concerns of a sample of people who have made emergency management a career and find the present situation re FEMA perilous. Readers are invited to share their experience; comments will be kept confidential.
(1) From the Diva: I have worked in EM in many capacities since FEMA was created in 1979 – as a researcher, practitioner, consultant, conference participant, and writer/editor of 6 books. Currently I am very concerned with the lack of experience and attitude toward EM shown by the two appointees to the position of FEMA Administrator. A huge amount of knowledge and experience in EM has been lost in the past year.
(2) From a person retired from service in a big city emergency management agency:
“I feel the same way. Decades worth of dedication, hard work, years of training at EMI, certifications, IAEM Certification Levels all for nothing. All the detailed comprehensive emergency management plans and Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plans are worthless. I am no longer relevant as well. The destroyers are in charge of the asylum. I wonder what these geniuses will do when there is a catastrophic national disaster that destroys sections of several states that cross multiple jurisdictional borders. Who then owns the recovery?
I do hope there is a national repository that is archiving the documentation so that it will not be lost because we cannot afford to start all over again reinventing the wheel. Eventually they will be gone so we need to be ready to pick up the pieces.”
(3) From a person recently let go from a high level FEMA job:
“Succession planning is a continual, structured process of identifying and preparing employees for future work performance, which is essential for mission and operational success. An emphasis on professional development to promote succession planning and foster a learning culture has been lacking at FEMA. Effective succession planning is premised on careful monitoring of actual and projected attrition and the effectiveness of retention programs, which focus on retaining employees in key positions, such as field team, branch, and division leaders.
Although the Nov 2024 Strategic Foresight Final Report (AKA the 2050 strategic foresight initiative) identified a number of themes to enhance knowledge transfer and enable the agency to engage in more informed, intentional, and strategic decision-making in the face of uncertainty, the bureaucratic lens has hindered future efforts. At a time when budgetary restraints and human capital management issues within the federal government grow, qualified and motivated leaders proactively depart to seek roles in the private and public sectors. Well-conceptualized training for managers, supervisors, subject matter experts, and potential successors is needed to address the unique challenges of assisting communities in becoming resilient. It will take years to disseminate key institutional knowledge and strengthen emergency service personnel.
From Grist: FEMA’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. Internal turmoil and delayed aid expose the agency’s fragility under Trump.
“As 2025 draws to a close, the departure of the beleaguered acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, David Richardson, caps a tumultuous year for FEMA. In January, President Donald Trump took office and vowed to abolish the department. Though the administration subsequently slow-walked that proposal, its government-wide staffing cuts have led to a nearly 10 percent reduction in FEMA’s workforce since January. Now it faces a long-awaited report issued by a review council, commissioned by the president and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, just as a new interim FEMA chief prepares to take the reins in December.”
From Yahoo.com: Trump’s New FEMA Chief Is Known as ‘The Terminator’ For Gutting Agencies
“The new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Karen Evans, is known within the Trump administration as “The Terminator” for her slash-and-burn style of management, CNN reported Monday.
CNN reporter Gabe Cohen described Evans as a “longtime government employee with limited emergency management experience,” who recently served as a senior adviser in charge of cutting waste at the Department of Homeland Security. When she takes the helm at FEMA Dec. 1, Evans will become the third official to head up the agency in 10 months.
At DHS, Evans “quickly became known as the ‘final gatekeeper’ for all funding requests,” Cohen wrote. She was given the nickname, “Terminator,” for her habit of “terminating grants, terminating contracts, terminating people,” according to CNN.”