Experts To FEMA Review Council: FEMA Must Become Independent, Cabinet-Level Agency Given DHS Politicization
Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Sends Letter Before FEMA Review Council Releases Its Final Draft Report
“FEMA’s placement under DHS has enabled Secretary Noem to impose political interference and red tape that directly endangers American lives.”
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Sabotaging Our Safety sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council, demanding that FEMA must become an independent, cabinet-level agency. The letter comes in advance of the FEMA Review Council releasing its final draft report, recommending ways to reform and streamline the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system. The council’s recommendations will directly inform the administration’s restructuring plans for federal emergency management, making this a critical moment for FEMA’s future.
Last month, Acting Administrator David Richardson resigned from his position as FEMA Acting Administrator and Trump plans to install Karen Evans, whose reputation for eliminating programs and slashing staff signals an escalation of the administration’s assault on emergency response capabilities. This revolving door of leadership—combined with systematic politicization—makes the case for removing FEMA from DHS oversight entirely.
The letter reads: “FEMA’s placement under DHS has enabled Secretary Noem to impose political interference and red tape that directly endangers American lives. The only solution is to make FEMA an independent, cabinet-level agency—giving the FEMA Administrator a direct seat at the table with the President—so it can respond to disasters without political obstruction from DHS leadership.”
“We urge the council to advise the President that FEMA must be made an independent, cabinet-level agency immediately, before more Americans’ livelihoods and lives are lost,” it continues.
The letter details the systematic failures of FEMA under DHS control during the Trump administration, beginning with Secretary Kristi Noem’s direct political interference in emergency operations. When catastrophic flooding struck Texas, her bureaucratic approval requirements delayed Urban Search and Rescue deployment for more than 72 hours while Americans feared for their lives. Disaster declarations themselves are being weaponized along partisan lines, with Democratic states denied relief at alarming rates while Republican states receive swift approvals.
Beyond this political interference, the administration has systematically dismantled FEMA’s capacity to respond as the nation faces an escalating crisis: this year alone has already seen at least 14 large-scale, billion-dollar weather disasters totaling over $100 billion in damages. Against this backdrop of mounting emergencies and depleted resources, nearly 200 FEMA employees warned that the combination of political obstruction and resource depletion risks another Katrina-level catastrophe.
A full copy of the letter is available here.
