An internal document warns that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is “not ready” for the upcoming hurricane season, which begins on June 1, as President Trump considers the possibility of dissolving the agency altogether.
According to internal slides obtained by The Hill, there is a lack of clarity regarding FEMA’s direction in the upcoming hurricane season as the agency scales down its operations, indicating that FEMA is unprepared.
The slides also reveal that, based on a forecast for the 2025 hurricane season, “resources have been reduced” and it will not be easy to quickly replace the “quality of people lost.”
And it says 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 assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
Reports indicated 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 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 the 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.
