The Trump administration had considered significantly scaling back the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and rebranding it into a smaller, more limited organization. The memo was authored by the then-acting FEMA head Cameron Hamilton and addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who reportedly supported the idea. President Donald Trump and Noem had previously stated their intentions to reduce the size of the agency.
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The document outlines various functions that could be reformed, transferred, or eliminated, such as long-term housing assistance for disaster survivors and new enrollments in the National Flood Insurance Program. Additionally, the memo proposes providing smaller amounts of aid for a lesser number of incidents, which would inherently diminish the federal government's involvement in disaster response. The proposed changes would aim to be implemented by late 2025.
The memo also includes a list of potential new names for the rebranded agency, such as the Office of Crisis Management (OCM), Office of Crisis Response (OCR), National Crisis Response Agency (NCRA), and the National Office of Emergency Management (NOEM). The latter acronym coincidentally aligns with Noem's name.
It is important to note that while the memo presents these ideas, only Congress has the power to eliminate FEMA as an agency. The actual implementation of such drastic changes would require legislative action and is not guaranteed to occur. The memo provides insight into the administration's considerations regarding the future of the agency and its role in national emergency management.
Bloomberg news