WASHINGTON — Former Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell warned in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday that the nation’s top disaster response agency will be “strained” amid efforts by President Donald Trump to scale back the federal government and potentially axe FEMA altogether.
“They are going to be strained,” Criswell said in response to a question regarding FEMA’s readiness for the hurricane season just getting underway in the wake of major cuts to its workforce as a result of Trump’s government downsizing campaign, known as the U.S. DOGE Service.
“It is going to be harder because they’re going to be doing the same mission with less people,” she continued. “They’ve lost some institutional knowledge.”
Watch the full Spectrum News interview here.
At the same time, Criswell, who served as the head of FEMA for four years under former Democratic President Joe Biden, acknowledged that the effort to rid the agency of bureaucracy has some merit, especially, she said, as it relates to more seamlessly reimbursing states to rebuild.
“And there is a lot of bureaucracy that can be taken out, things that I was frustrated [with] during my time but there is also a lot of regulation that you can’t get rid of,” said Criswell. “There's a balance between getting rid of some of the bureaucracy, but also maintaining accountability.”
Despite staffing reductions and cuts to resilience programs as a result of DOGE – spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk – and an executive order in March designed to give states more control in responding to disasters, it is unclear what other movement has occurred to carry out Trump’s desire to possibly shutter FEMA entirely, even as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department houses the agency, reiterated such an intent during a Cabinet meeting.
Trump’s FEMA review council, originally announced days after he took office again and tasked with evaluating the future of the agency, is just getting underway.
Criswell said she believes there has been some “misunderstanding” of the role FEMA plays in disaster response, noting states have always had the “primary responsibility” for managing disasters and the agency only steps in when one requests assistance due to an event being “so significant that it exceeds their capability.”
“But you’ve also seen a little bit of a shift in posture,” she said. “People are realizing that while FEMA definitely needs to have some improvements, the role that they play is so critical in supporting these jurisdictions before, during and after disasters.”
The former FEMA head – the first woman to serve in the role – argued the uncertainty surrounding the agency tasked with leading the federal government’s response to disasters around the country hurts morale.
“I think that there was definitely some impacts to morale early on, and I think it lingers now, right, with all of the uncertainty and all of the conversations about, you know, we want to get rid of FEMA, we're going to downsize FEMA, FEMA hasn't been doing their job,” she said. “I mean, that's demoralizing and, as I said, these are amazing public servants."
She also pushed back against criticisms Trump levied at FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene under her leadership that were amplified on the president’s trip to hard-hit North Carolina days after he returned to the White House.
“When you heard the president and others say that we don’t see FEMA on the ground, well FEMA’s role isn’t to replace the first responders, the firefighters, the police officers,” she said. “We do send in urban search and rescue teams or other search and rescue teams to go assist but the role is really to embed with the state, and the local jurisdictions, and hear from them firsthand what their needs are and move those resources in.”
What is expected to be a busy hurricane season kicked off over the weekend amid concerns about FEMA’s readiness following an internal review, first reported by CNN, finding the agency was not fully prepared.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the agency was taking the season seriously, amid a saga this week involving FEMA’s current acting head, David Richardson.
“Secretary Kristi Noem and the FEMA leadership are all over this,” Leavitt said at Tuesday’s press briefing. “They are committed to ensuring that federal resources and tax dollars are there for Americans in need.”
Trump tapped Richardson to lead the agency last month after his initial pick for the role Cameron Hamilton was ousted one day after he testified to Congress that FEMA should not be eliminated.