Head of disaster relief agency FEMA reassures staffs

27/1/2025 6:08

The acting head of the Federal

Emergency Management Agency wrote to staff reassuring them that

the agency's continued existence was vital to the country's

disaster response efforts, after President Donald Trump said he

wanted to overhaul or scrap it.

"FEMA is a critical agency which performs an essential mission

in support of our national security," said Cam Hamilton, a

former Navy SEAL, who was appointed by Trump to temporarily lead

the agency after the Republican president took office last week.

Hamilton sent the email to all staff on Friday night after

earlier in the day Trump, during a visit to disaster areas in

North Carolina and California, vowed to sign an executive order

to overhaul or eliminate the main federal agency that responds

to natural disasters.



"FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," Trump said during a

tour of a North Carolina neighborhood destroyed by September's

Hurricane Helene. "I think we recommend that FEMA go away."



Trump accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts

there and said he preferred that states be given federal money

to handle disasters themselves.



"President Trump has laid out his intent to reform FEMA, and

we stand firmly at the ready to implement real and lasting

reform," Hamilton wrote in the email seen by Reuters. "We have

some work to do at FEMA and restoring public confidence in this

agency is essential."



FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on

Hamilton's email.

FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to

help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. Funding for

the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events

have increased the demand for its services.



The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than

20,000 people across the country.