FEMA “not ready” for hurricane season, internal review says

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FEMA “not ready” for hurricane season, internal review says

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is “not ready” for hurricane season in June, according to an internal review obtained by CBS News— as FEMA contends with staff cuts and a push by President Trump to eliminate the nation’s disaster relief agency.

The powerpoint presentation was created after FEMA’s new acting leader, David Richardson, ordered the agency to review hurricane preparedness, with storm season roughly two weeks away. In a series of slides, dated May 12, FEMA identified apparent problems at the disaster relief agency, including a need to “refocus on its core mission while preparing for the 2025 Hurricane Season.”

“As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood, thus FEMA is not ready,” said one of the slides. 

Elsewhere in the presentation, it says most of FEMA’s readiness process for hurricane season “has been derailed this year due to other activities like staffing and contracts” — an apparent reference to layoffs of probationary workers and sweeping changes to FEMA’s contract workforce.

“It has not been normal hurricane season preparedness yet,” the slides read.

CNN was

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on the internal document.

CBS News has reached out to DHS, which oversees FEMA, for comment. In a statement to CNN, the agency called the story “grossly out of context” and said it is “fully activated in preparation for Hurricane Season.”

“The slide was used during a daily meeting Acting Administrator David Richardson has held every day titled Hurricane Readiness Complex Problem Solving. In other words, exactly what the head of an emergency management agency should be doing before Hurricane Season,” a DHS spokesperson’s statement to CNN read. 

In a 30-minute town hall meeting with staff Thursday, Richardson would not say whether the agency is ready for hurricane season when asked, according to multiple FEMA employees. Richardson, who has been on the job for less than a week, responded that he’s still working on it and should have a better idea within a couple of weeks. 

The official start of Atlantic hurricane season is June 1. 

The internal presentation also cites “culture issues,” staffing shortages and challenges coordinating with other federal agencies.

Parts of the document seem to reference Mr. Trump’s plan to shift more emergency response duties to the states. The slides say there’s a perception that state officials are “passing [the] buck” to FEMA, and cite the need for “managing expectations and understanding what FEMA’s role is” — suggesting the federal agency should offer “supplemental assistance” in some cases.

During Thursday’s town hall, Richardson cited California and Texas as examples of states that are capable of responding to their own natural disasters, multiple FEMA employees said. The comment raised eyebrows among several FEMA staff members who deployed to Texas’ deadly winter cold snap in February 2021, causing hundreds of thousands to lose power. 

FEMA has faced a turbulent few months as it prepares for the Atlantic hurricane season. Mr. Trump has criticized the agency’s handling of prior natural disasters, and has

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scrapping FEMA or transforming it into a “support agency” that largely defers to the states.

The agency laid off hundreds of probationary employees earlier this year. And in March, the agency indicated a large share of its workforce would be required to apply for contract extensions through the Department of Homeland Security. The move could impact more than half of FEMA’s workers, CBS News has previously reported.

The agency’s former acting head, Cameron Hamilton, was fired by the Trump administration last week and replaced by Richardson after Hamilton told lawmakers he doesn’t believe eliminating FEMA is in the country’s “best interests” — clashing with Mr. Trump’s views.

In his first all-hands meeting last week, Richardson told staff, “Don’t get in my way… I will run right over you,” according to a recording obtained by CBS News.

Richardson, a former Marine who attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, backed Mr. Trump’s plan to shrink FEMA, and said he plans on looking for ways to “push things down to the states” and “do more cost sharing with the states.”

“I am as bent on achieving the President’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty, where I took my Marines to Iraq, eleven of them,” he said at last week’s meeting.

Michael Kaplan

Michael Kaplan is an award-winning reporter and producer for the CBS News investigative unit. He specializes in securing scoops and crafting long-form television investigations. His work has appeared on “60 Minutes,” CNN and in The New York Times.

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