“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” Trump said on Friday during a tour of a North Carolina neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Helene. “I think we recommend that FEMA go away.”

On Sunday, Trump signed an executive order to “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA.”

However, the elimination of FEMA, which has been under the Department of Homeland Security since 2003, is unlikely to be supported by Congress, as the agency has received support from both Democrats and Republicans. 

How FEMA operates

FEMA’s overall purpose is to coordinate with states how federal funding is used to address natural disaster relief and also to coordinate activities between federal agencies and authorities in relief efforts. An example of this would be FEMA acting as a liaison between North Carolina and the Army Corps of Engineers to remove debris and create infrastructure following Hurricane Helene. In addition to coordinating a direct federal response to natural disasters, FEMA manages preventive measures such as the National Flood Preparedness Program.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., FEMA has 10 district offices with more than 20,000 personnel. In December, Congress approved $29 billion for the agency to fund relief efforts. FEMA officials told Reuters the agency is currently supporting 108 major disasters and 10 emergency declarations.

For FEMA to be deployed to a natural disaster, the state’s governor must declare a state of emergency and then petition the president for FEMA to provide relief. On average, response deployments last two to three weeks, but some can last up to 30 days. Before FEMA issues a response deployment, the agency must make a mission assignment detailing the scope of the work, which lasts either 30 or 60 days. The Interior Department must approve the mission assignment before FEMA can send volunteers with appropriate skills to address the crisis.

Trump has criticized the agency for being “very bureaucratic” and “very slow.” He has also suggested that the states be put in charge of natural disaster relief response and then be reimbursed by the federal government. 

The origins of FEMA 

President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order creating FEMA in 1979. It absorbed the Federal Insurance Administration, the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, the National Weather Service Community Preparedness Program, the Federal Preparedness Agency of the General Services Administration, and the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration activities from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

FEMA, along with 21 other agencies, was absorbed in 2003 by the Department of Homeland Security, which was created by President George W. Bush in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The move was criticized by then-FEMA Director Michael D. Brown, who warned in 2003 that the reorganization would be “an ineffective and uncoordinated response” to a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. Brown’s fears were proven to be justified following the agency’s response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina flood, which killed more than 1,800 people. 

Congress’s 2006 “Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina” revealed federal funding for Hurricane Katrina was given less priority than preparations for counterterrorism measures.

Current criticism of the agency 

Even in recent natural disasters, from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico to rebuilding in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, FEMA has been criticized by both Trump and Brown for being unable to fulfill its goal due to being highly bureaucratic.

In January, Brown appeared on NewsNation to say it was “a mistake” to put FEMA under the umbrella of DHS. 

“The smartest thing they could do is to pull FEMA out, give it back its independent agency status, and give the director direct access to the president,” Brown said. “If you don’t have direct access to the president, like I had, it’s not going to work.”