Trump needs to transform FEMA, not shut it down

President Trump has recently announced big plans for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The president called FEMA “a disaster,” and told reporters “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” during a visit to hurricane-ravaged Asheville, North Carolina.

If the elimination of the nation's crisis management team during a period of never-ending, mind-bogglingly complex crises seems counterintuitive, that’s because it is. We need FEMA now more than ever, and that need will only continue to grow.

Rather than dismantling FEMA, we need to reimagine it as an elite federal agency capable of managing the increasingly complex and severe disasters of a polycrisis age.

The president is right that the massive flow of federal disaster funds to states can be counterproductive and even corrosive. This is because the promise of FEMA money causes the states to under prepare for disasters, creating a cycle of dependency.

Another, even more destructive effect is the process itself. It is a huge administrative burden, for the state and for FEMA. To meet the urgent demands of its individual and public assistance programs, FEMA has abandoned its core mission of emergency management and instead devotes its time and talent to bureaucratic paperwork. We saw this during Hurricane Maria in 2017 when FEMA’s inability to coordinate led to prolonged suffering in Puerto Rico.

The most striking recent example was in December 2019, when a novel coronavirus with no known human immunity emerged in Hubei Province, Central China. In those dark days, the president watched as his most powerful agencies — Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security and FEMA — failed to take ownership of the crisis. They all pointed at each other and dithered as the virus began to spread rapidly and invisibly across the nation.

As strange as it may sound, pandemics are among the easiest types of catastrophes to manage. The next black swan event will be worse. It will strike suddenly and with great intensity, with its most urgent problems emerging in the crucial “golden hours” — a time of maximum chaos.

When this happens, we will need FEMA to transform a fragmented federal bureaucracy — along with a vast network of government agencies, private enterprises, nonprofits, voluntary organizations, faith-based groups and academia — into a massive crisis response team, custom-built and battle-hardened for the job.

This reimagined FEMA will eliminate plausible deniability by preparing these organizations in advance to face every crisis head-on. It will keep watch around the clock and size up every threat, so when the White House calls, that massive crisis team of teams will already be activated and able to talk about not only all of the things it is already doing, but all of the things it is not yet doing and when it will be doing these things.

Many believe that the government possesses an innate ability to respond to disasters. Nothing could be further from the truth. As this president knows all too well, his government is a slow-moving creature of habit, ill-suited to the demands of the disaster zone.

A revamped and reimagined FEMA would catalyze an agile, government-led response to the inevitable next catastrophe. It would put the president in the driver's seat but would own the disaster, so he doesn’t have to.

Kelly McKinney is the vice president of Emergency Management and Enterprise Resilience at NYU Langone Health in New York City and a former member of FEMA’s National Advisory Council.

Topics

Trump during his Los Angeles visit says "You don't need FEMA"

As President Trump visited Los Angeles and met victims who lost their homes in the area's historic wildfires, he suggested that the future of FEMA is uncertain. The damage caused by the Palisades ...
CBS News - 4d
In hurricane-ravaged North Carolina, Trump suggests that FEMA should be overhauled or shut down

On a visit to a North Carolina neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Helene, President Trump was highly critical of FEMA, suggesting it should be shut down. Trump arrived late Friday in Los Angeles ...
NBC News - 5d
Trump says FEMA has 'really let us down' in North Carolina

President Trump said Friday the disaster relief led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina has been disappointing, emphasizing that ...
The Hill - 5d
Trump’s latest border actions are ‘shutting down the asylum system as we know it’

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s move to end birthright citizenship. NBC News Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley, NBC News Senior White House Correspondent ...
NBC News - 6d
Mexico Rushes to Help Stranded Migrants After Trump Shuts Down the CBP One App

The Mexico Embraces You program provides 2,000 pesos for deported migrants who cannot afford to return home.
Wired - Jan. 22
Trump Administration shuts down White House Spanish-language page, social media

Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, his administration took down the Spanish version of the official White House website
ABC News - Jan. 22
Trump officials shut down CBP One app

Trump administration officials minutes after the new president took office on Monday shut down a mobile app for migrants to make appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border. By shutting down the CBP One ...
The Hill - Jan. 20
TikTok shuts down in the U.S. (updated)

TikTok just ran out of tiktoks as the countdown ended for the app’s time in the U.S. In the early hours of January 19, the wildly popular short-form video app went dark. The shutdown left me (and ...
VentureBeat - Jan. 19

More from The Hill

Hegseth touts Guantánamo Bay as 'perfect spot' to house migrants

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Guantánamo Bay is the “perfect spot” to house deported migrants, after President Trump signed a memo Wednesday ordering a facility there be prepared for that ...
The Hill - 4h
Vance lauds Trump’s second term approach: ‘All gas, no brakes’

Vice President Vance praised President Trump’s approach to his second term, touting the quick and broad actions of the new administration as well as the stamina of the president compared to his ...
The Hill - 5h
Watch: Local authorities respond to airplane collision near Reagan National Airport

A regional jet and helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport shortly before 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday evening. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) said that a PSA Airlines regional jet, ...
The Hill - 5h
Regional jet carrying 64, military helicopter on training flight collide near Reagan National Airport

A regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a military helicopter on Wednesday night as it approached Reagan National Airport. The flight was en route from Wichita, ...
The Hill - 5h
Zuckerberg hails Trump administration on Meta earnings call

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday praised President Trump’s administration and said he looks forward to “redefining” the relationship the tech giant has with governments. “This is also going to ...
The Hill - 6h