The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is “not ready” for hurricane season, which starts June 1, an internal document warns as President Trump eyes eliminating the department entirely.
Internal slides obtained by The Hill state that “As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood, thus FEMA is not ready.”
The slides also state that per a hurricane season 2025 assessment, “resources are reduced” and the “quality of people lost cannot be replaced right away.”
And it says that the routine readiness process “has been derailed this year due to other activities like staffing and contracts.”
FEMA is the federal agency in charge of coordinating responses to disasters, working alongside states and localities to do so. It also helps communities rebuild after they’ve been hit.
The agency has become a major target of the Trump administration, with the president and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expressing interest in axing it
The slides obtained by The Hill raise concerns about this approach.
“If an organization hears it should be eliminated or abolished, the resources and cooperation are not there. Intent cannot be wind down and be ready to support [the] nation in a major response,” they state.
FEMA underwent a shakeup last week after acting head Cameron Hamilton was fired after saying that eliminating FEMA was not in the “best interest” of the American people.
Hamilton was replaced by David Richardson, who was previously assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
Reports indicated that Richardson told staff he would “run right over” anyone who stood in the way of his changes to the agency.
In memos obtained by The Hill last week, he instructed agency staff to provide assessments of FEMA’s preparedness for 2025.
CNN, which first detailed agency documents saying FEMA is “not ready” for hurricane season, reported that the finding comes at Richardson’s direction.
Meanwhile, ABC News reported on Thursday night that Richardson told staff “we’re about 80 or 85% there.”
Spokespeople for FEMA and DHS did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. But DHS told CNN that FEMA “is fully activated in preparation for Hurricane Season.”
“The slide was used during a daily meeting Acting Administrator David Richardson has held every day titled Hurricane Readiness Complex Problem Solving. In other words, exactly what the head of an emergency management agency should be doing before Hurricane Season,” a spokesperson told the news outlet.
However, Michael Coen, who was FEMA’s chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations, said in an interview with The Hill that the slides were “alarming.”
“For someone like me who has worked at FEMA across three different administrations, I don’t ever remember a time where career staff were this concerned about the status of the federal government’s readiness,” Coen said.
He also noted that the agency’s responsibilities go beyond just hurricanes.
“An earthquake could happen tonight in California, Oregon or Washington,” he said. “Under the leadership of the acting administrator, Richardson, … is FEMA ready to support…those communities? I don’t think they are.”
FEMA is not the only agency where concerns are being raised internally ahead of hurricane season. An internal document obtained by The Hill this week stated that National Weather Service offices were “critically understaffed” and sought to replace meteorologists with employees at other parts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
And it’s not just FEMA and NOAA — the Trump administration is targeting government services across the board via Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
