Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing back against criticism over her plan to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), calling for a return to state-led disaster response. Noem insists the agency has become bloated and inefficient, proposing a bold restructuring that places governors at the center of emergency relief.
Secretary Kristi Noem defended her proposal to transform FEMA during recent public remarks, stating the agency is riddled with bureaucracy and high costs. Noem shared with Fox, “I am not surprised that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform; including many who worked under the Biden Administration to turn FEMA into the bureaucratic nightmare it is today… I refuse to accept that FEMA red tape should stand between an American citizen suffering and the aid they desperately need.”
Noem, who now co-chairs the FEMA Review Council alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, aims to scale back federal dominance in disaster response. The council is tasked with recommending reforms to streamline operations and improve efficiency across federal emergency programs.
According to Noem, the current FEMA structure is “extremely expensive” and disconnected from the communities it’s intended to serve. She proposed a model where “every disaster should be locally executed,” leaving federal agencies in a support role rather than controlling operations. Her vision aligns with President Trump’s longstanding stance on empowering states and reducing federal intervention.
President Trump echoed his support, saying, “It’s extremely expensive and, again, when you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind, in a state, that’s what you have governors for. They’re supposed to fix those problems, and it’s much more local and they’ll develop a system, and it will be a great system.”
Critics from within FEMA and former agency officials have pushed back against the idea, arguing that the plan threatens decades of structural improvements made since Hurricane Katrina.
Noem dismissed these voices as career bureaucrats defending a failed status quo. She emphasized that states, not Washington, are best equipped to respond to local emergencies swiftly and effectively.
The FEMA Review Council is currently evaluating key areas including the length of time disaster declarations remain open, the speed of aid deployment, and the timeline for filing claims. These assessments are intended to guide the transition toward a more responsive and localized system, should the reforms move forward.
