Homeland Security Secretary Confirms Plans to Eliminate FEMA

Trump has signaled that he wants to either eliminate or overhaul the agency.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak during a tour in Kodiak, Alaska, on March 17, 2025. Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said during a Cabinet meeting this week that she would eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

While providing a report on the border and Coast Guard operations, Noem said, “We’re going to eliminate FEMA.” She didn’t provide more details.

“That’s great. Great job,” President Donald Trump said in response to Noem’s remarks during the meeting.

Earlier this year, Trump suggested in public remarks that he may dissolve the emergency management agency—or at least overhaul it.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA’s not good,” Trump said in January.

He mentioned it again when he visited the aftermath of wildfires in Los Angeles in January, saying: “I say you don’t need FEMA, you need a good state government. FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation.”

After Trump said he wanted to overhaul or scrap FEMA, the agency’s acting head, Cameron Hamilton, wrote to staff and assured them that “FEMA is a critical agency which performs an essential mission in support of our national security.” Hamilton is a former Navy SEAL whom Trump appointed to temporarily lead the agency.

On March 19, Trump signed an order that seeks to hand over responsibility to state and local governments to deal with natural disasters or cyberattacks.

“Federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the state, local, and even individual levels, supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient federal government,” the order said. “Citizens are the immediate beneficiaries of sound local decisions and investments designed to address risks, including cyberattacks, wildfires, hurricanes, and space weather.”

This order is designed to provide more power to “state, local, and individual” preparation efforts and will bring “common sense into infrastructure prioritization and strategic investments through risk-informed decisions that make our infrastructure, communities, and economy resilient to global and dynamic threats and hazards.”

FEMA has a workforce of 20,000 staffers that can increase to more than 50,000 active members during disasters, according to the agency website. The agency was officially created in 1979 and was placed under DHS in 2004.

Aside from FEMA, federal agencies have fired nearly 25,000 newer workers, officials said in court filings last week.

Eighteen agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, started terminating workers after Trump took office, and the Office of Personnel Management directed officials to fire probationary workers who were not critical to agency missions. Many did not disclose the number of workers who were terminated.

The Epoch Times contacted DHS for comment on March 26.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.