FEMA.gov

U.S. federal government primary source

Background

FEMA was created in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12148, consolidating several federal emergency and civil defense functions into one agency. For its first two decades it operated as an independent agency, focusing on cold-war civil defense and natural disaster response. After the September 11 attacks, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and FEMA was absorbed into the newly formed Department of Homeland Security in March 2003. FEMA's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 drew widespread bipartisan criticism for slow and disorganized response, prompting Congress to pass the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, which gave FEMA more autonomy within DHS and elevated its director. Under the Biden administration, FEMA's 2022–2026 Strategic Plan emphasized climate resilience and equity in disaster response. The second Trump administration, beginning in January 2025, moved sharply in a different direction: FEMA.gov removed the climate and equity strategic plan from its website, the agency disbanded its National Advisory Council, and staffing fell by roughly a quarter. President Trump established a FEMA Review Council by executive order in January 2025; the council's May 2026 final report recommended shrinking FEMA significantly, raising the damage threshold for federal disaster declarations, and shifting more responsibility to state governments. Because FEMA.gov is a government-run site, its published content, press releases, and policy documents represent the official position of the current administration rather than editorially independent journalism.

Sources

1. History of FEMA | FEMA.gov
2. Federal Emergency Management Agency - Wikipedia
3. What does FEMA do, and how is it funded? | Brookings
4. The FEMA Act of 2025: An Overview | Congress.gov
5. The Trump administration says it wants to eliminate FEMA | NPR
6. Death by a Thousand Cuts: FEMA Under the Second Trump Administration | NRDC
7. A Trump council recommends overhauling FEMA | NPR
8. FEMA Review Council Final Report | DHS
9. After Decades of Failure, the Trump Administration is Getting FEMA Back on Track | DHS
10. FEMA Reform: Comparing the Review Council's Recommendations and Congressional Proposals | Bipartisan Policy Center

Profile compiled 2026-07-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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