More than dozens of senior leaders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including those with the most experience in major disaster recovery, have been fired or resigned, diluting their management ranks a few weeks before hurricane season.
The senior rank departures include approximately 17,000 employees, as well as approximately 17,000 employees.
These changes represent huge losses at agencies already suffering from understaffing as they attempted to help communities recover from catastrophic storms and wildfires in western North Carolina and western Los Angeles.
As soon as he returned to the White House, President Trump considered officially disbanding FEMA. The departure suggests that the agency is already thinning.
“The substantial cuts in FEMA staff will have dangerous ripple effects on communities across the country,” said Shanaudvaldie, senior climate resilience policy analyst for the Coalition of Concern Scientists. “When FEMA staff are under-capacity, this is going in the wrong direction.”
More than 800 FEMA employees will leave under the Trump administration's so-called postponed resignation offer. They include the agency's best lawyers and his agents, as well as senior officials who reduce the risk of facing the community from future disasters.
The agency's leadership will retain “applause” for employees leaving Friday, according to documents viewed by The New York Times. FEMA staff members are encouraged to meet in the Washington headquarters lobby on Friday afternoon to praise their colleagues as they leave the building.
The administration fired FEMA's chief financial officer and senior officials in charge of the federal flood insurance program, serving as more than 200 probation employees.
Furthermore, the administration shows that it will eliminate the work of other unknown numbers of FEMA employees working on issues related to climate change and equity.
FEMA news agency has introduced requests for comment to the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA. A department spokesperson declined to comment.
Before Trump returned to Japan, the agency was already struggling to fill the position. In 2023, the nonpartisan US government accountability agency reported that FEMA had staffed two-thirds of staff in positions assigned to them. That gap partly reflects the tolls brought about by FEMA's needs to respond to an increase in disasters exacerbated by climate change.
In his first week of office, Trump said states should manage the disaster on their own, and that a council should be established led by secretaries of defense and homeland security to consider the future of FEMA. “I recommend that FEMA leave,” Trump said. It is unknown if the council met.
Among the top managers departing are Adrian Sevier, who has been working as the lead lawyer for FEMA for 10 years, before which he has been vice-prime minister for eight years. On Tuesday, Sevier wrote to Rinkedin that he was leaving, thanking those who worked for him. “You've all supported and defended the Constitution,” he wrote.
Mr Sevier's aide Michael Cameron also spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, according to three people familiar with his decision.
Neither Sevier nor Cameron were contacted for comment.
The role of FEMA's top lawyers is particularly important in agencies that require prompt response and often involve hundreds of millions of dollars of emergency assistance. FEMA's best lawyers will guide staff to spend their money quickly and properly in ways that avoid fraud, waste and abuse.
According to people inside the agency, FEMA has lost these executives as well as at least seven staff members responsible for managing disaster recovery operations. Workers known as “federal coordinators” are incredibly valuable and shortage. As of Thursday morning, 54 officers were already deployed, with only three being sent to manage new disasters that could occur.
Other senior managers departed include FEMA's representative Chief Human Resources Officer, Deputy Director of Operations, and Associate Administrators of mitigation measures that oversee programs designed to reduce disaster exposure. Two of FEMA's deputy chief information officers, responsible for information technology, including computers, software and cybersecurity, have also set out.
Two weeks ago, the agency fired Chief Financial Officer Mary Commans after Elon Musk claimed it was misleading that he spent money on evacuating immigrants at a “high-end hotel” in New York City. Commans oversaw payments allocated by Congress for emergency housing, which was part of her job.
A week later, Christopher Page, who worked on the National Flood Insurance Program, was fired from his job. Page wrote on LinkedIn that he had been working for FEMA since 2010, but recently received a promotion. His new role meant that he was technically on probation and thus easily finished.
The Flood Insurance Program guarantees millions of homes across the United States. That insurance allows the real estate market to function in those areas. Without insurance, the bank will not issue a mortgage. Without a mortgage, most people can't afford to buy a home. Page's job was to find ways to improve the program.
“I wanted to be there for disaster survivors on their worst day,” Page wrote.
