FEMA - Big Changes Coming?

President Donald Trump has made no secret that he’s not a big fan of the Federal Emergency Management System (FEMA). Several times Trump has stated he wants changes to the agency, a restructuring, or even doing away with it entirely and just sending the money used to operate FEMA directly to the states.

To get recommendations on what to do with the agency Trump has formed the FEMA Review Council. Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg has been asked to serve on the bipartisan group tasked with reforming and streamlining the agency.

Here are other council members:

Co-Chair: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem

Co-Chair: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Greg Abbott, governor, State of Texas

Phil Bryant, former governor, State of Mississippi

Jane Castor, mayor, City of Tampa, Florida

Mark Cooper, former chief of staff, Governor John Bel Edwards

Rosie Cordero-Stutz, sheriff, Miami-Dade County

Kevin Guthrie, executive director, Florida Division of Emergency Management

1. Nim Kidd, chief, Texas Division of Emergency Management

Michael Whatley, chairman, Republican National Committee

Glenn Youngkin, governor, Commonwealth of Virginia

Robert J. Fenton, Jr., region 9 administrator and two-time acting administrator, FEMA

In the meantime, the president fired acting administrator Cam Hamilton. No reason was given for Hamilton’s release. David Richardson, a now former Homeland Security assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction, has replaced Hamilton.

In his first contact with the FEMA staff, Richardson made it clear that it was not to get in the way of the president’s push for reforms. He says in most agencies about 20% of a staff will not support the vision of those tasked with running the organization.

“Don’t get in my way if you’re those 20% of the people, I know all the tricks,” Richardson said. “Obfuscation. Delay. Undermining. If you’re one of those 20% of the people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not because I will run right over you. I will achieve the president’s intent. I am as bent on achieving the president’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”

Richardson said one thing that will likely change is more cost sharing by the states when disaster hits. “We’re going to find out how to do things better, and we’re going find out how to push things down to the states that should be done at the state level,” he said. “Also going to find out how we can do more cost sharing with the states.”

How much is still up in the air.

This issue — how much states, as opposed to the federal government, should pay for disaster recovery — has been a growing concern, especially at a time of an increasing number of natural disasters that often require Congress to repeatedly replenish the federal fund that pays for recovery.

But states often argue that they are already paying for most disaster recoveries on their own and are only going to the federal government for those events truly outside of their ability to respond.

Richardson did not take questions from the staff members, saying he wanted them to first read memos he was going to be sending out later Friday. He planned a town hall next week, when he will take questions from the staff.

A ‘mission analysis’ is planned for FEMA

In the memos obtained by The Associated Press, Richardson told the agency it would be conducting a “Mission Analysis” of the organization to identify “redundancies and inefficiencies” while also clarifying the organization’s “core” mission and “deterring mission creep.”

He also listed tasks to be accomplished in the coming weeks — including providing internal assessments of the agency’s preparedness for 2025; a list of all known gaps “in preparedness or core capabilities"; a list of lessons learned from past disasters; and an overview of “disaster aid before FEMA’s existence and the role of states and the federal government coordinating disaster management.”

He said he was honored to be in the role, leading an organization he described as an “unwieldy beast.”

Richardson arrives at FEMA at a time of immense turmoil and as it prepares for hurricane season, an extremely busy time for the agency.

Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/44x0MfV

Source link: Associated Press — https://bit.ly/4dcX3q0

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3GUbTWv