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Executive Summary

The US Administration is considering shrinking or abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), despite its key role in US resilience to extreme weather events and other disasters. A capable FEMA is a US national security imperative to protect Americans from disasters and exploitation, safeguard US military readiness and critical infrastructure, and bolster global resilience. While FEMA could be made more effective by improving alignment of state and federal policies and better resourcing its workforce and IT systems, the ongoing and proposed cuts do not address these issues and risk severely degrading US national security.

What is FEMA?

FEMA is a part of the US Department of Ä¢¹½´«Ã½land Security (DHS) and is responsible for federal disaster support for US states and localities. Created as an independent agency in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, FEMA was absorbed into DHS when the department was formed after the 2001 September 11th attacks. Today, FEMA's role includes coordinating and providing assistance before, during, and after disasters of all kinds. Its responsibilities have expanded alongside growth in major weather-related disasters in the United States, responding to 639 fires, floods, and storms since 2020 (compared to 295 across its first decade of existence)., FEMA staff administer and coordinate grants, training, and other federal support, and form a hub of expertise and cadre of emergency managers who deploy during disasters. Key FEMA documents on strategic planning, climate resilience, data, and preparedness are available on the Center for Climate and Security's Resource Hub.

Proposed Cuts

The Trump Administration has signaled a desire to shrink, restructure, or abolish FEMA. In January, President Trump created a FEMA Review Council chaired by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to recommend changes to FEMA, and pushed states and cities to take over disaster relief functions, saying, "you don't need FEMA, you need a good state government.", In March, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told a cabinet meeting, "we're going to eliminate FEMA," amid reports the Administration seeks to shrink FEMA's role to immediate disaster assistance and move the Agency from DHS to a cabinet position under White House control. This stated intention to eliminate the agency in March comes despite the fact that a public comment period for the FEMA Review Council is open through May 15th, 2025.

Meanwhile, the Administration has begun cutting staff at the agency, slowed or stopped payments to disaster relief recipients, halted disaster relief volunteer support via a FEMA-Americorps partnership, and eliminated the roughly $5 billion Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program (an effort to bolster resilience ahead of disasters, created under the first Trump Administration).,,,, DHS leadership has directed staff, including FEMA, to cease work on climate change, and added new political conditions for DHS assistance, including that recipients "coordinate and cooperate" with DHS immigration enforcement and certify they do not "advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology.",

FEMA, Climate Resilience, and National Security

As the nation's frontline agency for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, FEMA operates at the intersection of disaster resilience and national security, addressing an array of hazards including hurricanes, wildfires, floods, cyberattacks, pandemics, and infrastructure failures. The Agency's work contributes to US national security by protecting American lives and reducing vulnerabilities to exploitation, bolstering military readiness and critical infrastructure, and contributing to international resilience and emergency response. FEMA's partial or total dismantling would severely degrade US national security in these areas, amid worsening extreme weather and other disaster risks.

Protecting Americans and Reducing Vulnerabilities to Exploitation

FEMA's work protects American lives and livelihoods in the face of disasters. In the past five years, weather-related disasters in the United States have killed more than 2,500 people and cost more than $750 billion (not counting thousands more deaths from extreme heat). FEMA's work before, during, and after disasters prevents these numbers from being far higher. In addition to lifesaving search-and-rescue and other disaster response, studies show federal funding for mitigating floods, fires, hurricanes, and other hazards saves six times more than it costs.

Ahead of disasters, FEMA flood risk mapping, hazard mitigation funding, and support for modern building codes help communities withstand worsening extreme weather. At the same time, FEMA's investments in preparedness and infrastructure resilience, such as the now-cut Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), speed and reduce the long-term costs of recovery., FEMA also translates climate hazard data from federal agencies like NASA, NOAA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the US Geological Survey into real-world risk assessment, hazard mitigation planning, community awareness, and emergency operations and recovery planning. These tools include the National Risk Index, Climate Risk and Resilience Portal, and Hazus.,, FEMA also stockpiles key supplies and employs experts who can be deployed during and after disasters.

During and after disasters, FEMA leads and coordinates federal interagency action, from crisis response to long-term resilience. Through the Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), FEMA brings together federal agencies, including the military, to rapidly deploy resources, restore critical services, and deliver life-saving assistance. Whether it's wildfire evacuations, COVID-19 vaccine distribution, or hurricane logistics, FEMA ensures that the range of federal capabilities is effectively brought to bear. As disasters evolve into long-term recovery, FEMA activates the Recovery Support Functions (RSFs)-coordinating housing, economic recovery, infrastructure restoration, and public health services., These frameworks help communities rebuild in ways that reduce future risk and promote long-term security.

Diminished FEMA investments in disaster preparation, response, and recovery would create more opportunities for bad actors to exploit, including foreign adversaries and domestic extremists. Russian and Chinese networks used 2023's Maui wildfires, 2024's Hurricanes Helen and Milton, and 2025's Los Angeles wildfires to spread disinformation to try to undermine recovery and stoke social and geopolitical divisions.,, Following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, domestic extremists attempted to propagandize and recovery efforts, part of a long history of US militant groups attempting to capitalize on natural disasters.,, During uncertainty and hardship resulting from disasters, US extremists seek to gain support, divide communities, and discredit government legitimacy-narratives foreign adversaries amplify., But an apolitical, competent, and well-communicated federal disaster response of the type provided by FEMA has helped defuse such tensions.

Bolstering Military Readiness and Critical Infrastructure

FEMA's work also supports US military facilities, personnel, and critical civilian infrastructure. For example, in 2023 FEMA joined the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, an effort legislated in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act instructing the US Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the US Department of the Interior (DOI) to promote sustainable land use and protect natural resources around military facilities. Many Sentinel Landscapes are located around critical military bases or ranges and face rising risks from wildfires, floods, and extreme weather. The addition of FEMA broadened the Partnership's mission from land conservation and defense readiness to include disaster resilience and community protection. FEMA brings expertise in risk mapping and hazard mitigation planning, resilience funding, climate adaptation, and community engagement, helping the Partnership embed resilience into defense planning, protecting both military operations and civilian infrastructure. FEMA's involvement helps connect DoD's readiness goals to community disaster resilience; link long-term conservation investments with FEMA's hazard mitigation priorities; and coordinate whole-of-government support to protect both people and military missions.

FEMA's work also benefits servicemembers and their families affected by climate disasters, with the agency responsible for serving the roughly of military personnel who live off-base. FEMA's work with these communities helps indirectly support military readiness, recruitment, and retention. In 2024, a representative of the localities making up Hampton Roads, which houses the world's largest navy base at Naval Station Norfolk, that "given 70-80% of our military members live off base and critical utilities and services are provided from the community, making an installation resilient is of limited value if personnel can't get there."

FEMA's work bolstering civil preparedness also frees up resources for national defense. Climate-related natural disasters have resulted in over across the United States since 2022, often in close collaboration with FEMA. These domestic deployments mean US military forces are unavailable for other national security missions, and a withdrawal of FEMA support would likely mean either greater demands on the military or worsened impacts on American populations. FEMA plays a central role in supporting and expanding the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program across the United States, which trains volunteers in tasks like search and rescue, first aid, fire suppression, and shelter operations. Through funding and technical guidance, FEMA enables communities to build local response capacity and improve resilience to a wide range of hazards-from wildfires and floods to mass care events and terrorist attacks. Ä¢¹½´«Ã½land security grant programs provide federal funding to states, localities, tribal nations, and territories, allowing them to train and equip CERT volunteers. As climate risks intensify, these programs reduce strain on public safety systems and help to minimize the demand for military relief.

Finally, FEMA protects critical civilian infrastructure, supporting resilience planning across the US government's 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors-from energy and communications to transportation and public health. FEMA helps ensure these systems are prepared for and can recover from both physical and cyber threats by funding mitigation projects, conducting risk assessments, and supporting continuity of operations. For example, FEMA's BRIC and HMGP grant programs have helped fortify energy grids, protect hospitals from flood risk, and strengthen wastewater systems across disaster-prone regions. By securing the systems that underpin daily life-electricity, clean water, healthcare, and governance-FEMA prevents vacuums that can be exploited by hostile actors, and maintains systems that US national defense depends on. For example, US military transportation and power projection rely heavily on civilian road and railway networks, which are vulnerable to extreme heat, strengthened storms, and other disasters.

Contributing to International Resilience and Incident Response

While primarily focused domestically, FEMA also works internationally to build resilience or respond to crises faced by strategic US partners. FEMA provides technical expertise to countries developing their own emergency management systems, often in partnership with other US federal agencies and multilateral bodies like the United Nations and World Bank. Areas of collaboration include: Building code modernization and enforcement, hazard mapping and risk assessment, emergency operations center development, incident command system (ICS) training, and climate adaptation and resilience planning. For example, FEMA has worked with partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen flood risk management, including capacity-building for national disaster management authorities and technical support on integrating climate data into risk planning. Such investments help vulnerable regions contend with food insecurity, hurricanes, migration, and displacement, and other climate security challenges.

FEMA's expertise also bolsters responses to overseas crises of all kinds, whether climate or conflict-related. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FEMA was an active participant in the DHS Ukraine Coordination Cell. In this role, FEMA coordinated with other DHS components, the Department of State, and USAID; lent its disaster expertise to inform responses to displacement; and assisted in contingency planning for cascading energy, cyber, or supply chain stress in the United States.

The Future of FEMA: Reform and Investment vs. Dismantling

Certainly, there is room to improve FEMA's capabilities and resources, but recent actions and proposals mostly go in the opposite direction. The future of FEMA should be one of modernization, strategic reform, and renewed investment, not chaotic dismantling, especially at a time of escalating climate, disaster, and security risks. If the FEMA Review Council is more than a political exercise, it must include review of FEMA's budgetary history, workforce needs, operational models, and past requests for modernization-many of which have gone unmet. It would also examine whether housing FEMA within DHS has hindered its effectiveness, particularly when FEMA funds, staff, and mission space have repeatedly been diverted to address unrelated border enforcement operations under previous Republican and Democratic administrations.,

There are valid questions around FEMA and the proper balance between federal, state, and local authorities, as the promise of federal disaster assistance and insurance can contribute to perverse incentives that invite risky state policies., However, addressing these challenges requires retaining the capabilities that the federal government is uniquely situated for, including stockpiling supplies to avoid interstate bidding wars, coordinating across the federal government and among states, and housing expertise. Additionally, many states and localities-especially rural and under-resourced ones-lack the capacity to shoulder the full burden of disaster response and recovery. Yet critical funding streams like the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) have been flatlined for years, leaving states unable to build the emergency management capacity required for an era of compounding crises.

Delivering faster relief and smoother recovery requires investment in the very systems long identified for modernization. Antiquated technology platforms, limited staffing, and outdated administrative processes have been flagged repeatedly as barriers to timely disaster assistance and efficient recovery., FEMA's workforce is already strained by the increasing pace and scale of disasters-denigrating their contributions, reducing AmeriCorps support for disasters, and adding new political constraints will further undermine morale and performance.

Observers have also called for FEMA to invest more heavily in pre-disaster resilience building, which is more cost-effective than responding to and recovering from accelerating disasters. The elimination of resilience programs like BRIC makes such an approach more difficult, wasting years of planning and hard-won progress by overburdened communities already operating on the edge. Further defunding or fragmenting FEMA may push responsibilities-and costs-onto the private sector, leading to a future where disaster response is no longer a public service, but a privatized industry. Such an approach would risk eroding public oversight, fragmenting disaster response across jurisdictions, and endangering the poorest communities.

Conclusion

FEMA's role before, during, and after disasters is of growing importance to US national security as extreme weather events increase, but FEMA's role is at risk of being drastically reduced or eliminated. FEMA's national security contributions include leading and coordinating work that protects Americans and mitigates foreign exploitation of disasters, bolstering US military readiness and critical infrastructure resilience, and improving international resilience and disaster policies that benefit the United States. Better aligning state and FEMA policies, improving FEMA's workforce, and investing in pre-disaster resilience are all ways to refine FEMA's contributions, but proposed cuts go in the opposite direction. FEMA's role should reflect the recognition that disaster resilience is national security, that capacity cannot be wished into existence without investment, and that helping Americans in crisis is not a partisan issue. A nation that cannot protect its people from disaster is a nation that is not secure.