FEMA1

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SEE TWO 7 25

yikes noem dhs

denier 3/18

see katrina

SEE NEUTER AGY

SEE GUBMINT DISINFO hurric NC IMMIGRANT HOTEL BS

BAK 7 25

WHAT ABOUT ISM?

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AN 7 25

Outrage continues to grow against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem over her response to the deadly floods that ravaged Texas last week.

According to a Friday report from The New York Times,more than two-thirds of phone calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from flood victims went unanswered after Noem allowed hundreds of contractors to be laid off on July 5, just a day after the nightmare storm.

According to The Times, this dramatically hampered the ability of the agency to respond to calls from survivors in the following days:

*On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.

*That evening, however, Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies, and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.

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The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.*

Calling is one of the primary ways that flood victims apply for aid from the disaster relief agency. But Noem would wait until July 10—five days later—to renew the contracts of the people who took those phone calls.

"Responding to less than half of the inquiries is pretty horrific," Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told The Times.

"Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor: You've lost everything, you're trying to find out what's insured and what's not, and you’re navigating multiple aid programs," he added. "One of the most important services in disaster recovery is being able to call someone and walk through these processes and paperwork."

The lapse is a direct result of a policy introduced by Noem last month, which required any payments made by FEMA above $100,000 to be directly approved by her before taking effect. Noem, who has said she wants to eliminate FEMA entirely, described it as a way of limiting "waste, fraud, and abuse."

Under this policy, Noem allowed other critical parts of the flood response to wait for days as well. Earlier this week, multiple officials within FEMA told CNNthat she waited more than 72 hours to authorize the deployment of search and rescue teams and aerial imaging.

Following The Times'piece, DHS put out a statement claiming that "NO ONE was left without assistance, and every call was responded to urgently."

"When a natural disaster strikes, phone calls surge, and wait times can subsequently increase," DHS said. "Despite this expected influx, FEMA's disaster call center responded to every caller swiftly and efficiently, ensuring no one was left without assistance. No call center operators were laid off or fired."

This is undercut, however, by internal emails also obtained by The Times, which showed FEMA officials becoming frustrated and blaming the DHS Secretary for the lack of contracts. One official wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues: "We still do not have a decision, waiver, or signature from the DHS Secretary."

Democratic lawmakers were already calling for investigations into Noem's response to the floods before Friday. They also sought to look into how the Trump administration's mass firings of FEMA employees, as well as employees of the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may have hampered the response.

Following The Times' revelations, outrage has reached a greater fever pitch.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called it "unforgivable and unforgettable" and an "inexcusable lapse in top leadership."

"Sec. Noem shows that dismantling FEMA impacts real people in real time," he said. "It hurts countless survivors & increases recovery costs."

In response to the news, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) simply wrote that "Kristi Noem must resign now."

Others pointed out that Noem has often sought to justify abolishing FEMA by characterizing it as slow and ineffectual. They suggested her dithering response was deliberate.

"She broke it on purpose," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in an interview on MSNBC. "So that when it fails this summer, she can say, 'Oh, see, we told you—FEMA doesn't work.'"

"It's not really incompetence because they know what they are doing," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "They are intentionally breaking government—even the parts that help us when we are deep in crisis."

NOW READ:Don't believe Trump's new disinfo campaign about Social Security

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AN SALON 7 25

Following the deadly flooding that areas of Central Texas suffered over the 4th of July Weekend, President Donald Trump seems to be backing down from his proposal to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — at least for the time being.

But Salon's Amanda Marcotte, in an article published on July 14, emphasizes that hatred of FEMA runs deep on the far right. And she cites Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as a prime example.

"Noem isn't giving up the dream of ending the federal agency," Marcotte warns. "Sending innocent people to wither away in foreign gulags has been Noem's top priority at DHS, but she seems to be nearly as excited about cutting off aid to Americans who are suffering from natural disasters. In February, she declared her intent to 'get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.' In March, Politico reported that Noem plans to subject FEMA to the 'chopping block.'"

The Salon journalist continues, "Those plans haven't changed. This week, she reiterated that FEMA 'fundamentally needs to go away as it exists' and called for it to be 'eliminated as it exists today.' The 'as it exists today' caveat is put there to give Noem and Trump wiggle room, but make no mistake: Their goal is to destroy the system of disaster relief that Americans depend on, especially as climate change worsens."

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Marcotte observes that "white supremacist conspiracy theories" over FEMA existed long before today's "paranoid MAGA conspiracist bubble."

"The history of conspiracy theories about FEMA goes back to the agency's founding under President Jimmy Carter in 1979," Marcotte explains. "Far-right groups immediately started circulating rumors that FEMA's disaster relief mission was a cover story for the true goal: Rounding up white Christians into concentration camps, so the 'globalists' — read: Jews, people of color, feminists, queer people — could impose the 'New World Order.' As usual with racist conspiracists, the psychological motivation is a combination of sublimated shame and defensiveness, manifesting in a victim complex. In the imagination of right-wingers, the 'real' victims are white Christians, and it's the people who were once subjected to slavery, concentration camps and genocide who are the oppressors."

Marcotte continues, "At the center of the conspiracy theory is this concept of 'FEMA camps.' The claim is that FEMA will pretend to be setting up emergency relief stations, but really, they're laying groundwork for prison camps for white Christians."

Marcotte cautions against believing that Trump is really giving up on abolishing FEMA.

"First things first: Mainstream media reports that Donald Trump has 'backed away' or 'scrapped' plans to destroy the Federal Emergency Management Agency are greatly exaggerated," Marcotte laments. "Trump is just doing what he always does when faced with intense public scrutiny of his unpopular positions: Lying. As usual, he will go right back to doing the bad thing as soon as the news cycle moves on to something else."

*Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.

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NOTE NOEM DUFFY BLAME BIDEN

As TX deaths rise, officials blast faulty forecast by DOGE-gutted National Weather Service

Brett Wilkins Common Dreams

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an 6 25

no lnx

Revealed: Fear of extremists forced emergency workers to flee a rural disaster zone

A resident walks through debris following the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Marshall, North Carolina, U.S., October 8, 2024. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

Jordan Greenand Raw Story June 27, 2025

Late one night last October, at a church in a remote corner of Yancey County, North Carolina, government emergency medical workers participating in the response to Hurricane Helene gathered medications, records, laptops and radios, threw them into backpacks — and abandoned their field clinic.

More than two weeks after the massive storm ravaged the region, roads were badly damaged. Led by an ambulance, side lights illuminating the winding two-lane highway that follows Big Creek, the group made its way across the state line and into Tennessee.

Rumors about armed militia members threatening teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency had prompted FEMA to pause some operations. The same day in Rutherford County, roughly 70 miles from the field clinic in Yancey County, a 44-year-old man armed with an assault rifle was arrested for threatening to harm FEMA workers. In Tennessee, a sheriff said witnesses reported FEMA workers being harassed by armed people.

But the Oct. 12-13 evacuation of a state medical assistance team, including FEMA contract workers, on the order of a program director more than 250 miles away in the state capital, Raleigh, is being reported by Raw Story for the first time.

“It was late enough the community had gone to sleep,” said a FEMA contract worker who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We had a rotating cadre of [sheriff’s] deputies … They said, ‘We’re willing to set up an overnight guard.’

"The state medical team was like, ‘No, we’re not going to stay.’”

‘They know where you’re sleeping’

On Oct. 12, as darkness gathered, Dr. Tripp Winslow, medical director for the state Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) and physician for the Yancey County site, paced in the parking lot at Big Creek Free Will Baptist Church.

A medic had delivered an alarming report — of observing snipers on rooftops and viewing a social media post indicating militias were hunting FEMA.

In another part of the parking lot, three unfamiliar men approached. One inquired about the medics’ sleeping accommodations. A FEMA contract worker told Raw Story one man wore a shirt bearing the insignia of Savage Freedoms, an armed volunteer disaster response group that had become a focal point of medical workers’ concerns.

“I mentioned to Dr. Winslow: ‘We had these three people come up, and they know where we sleep. They know we’re not in the clinic at night,’” the worker told Raw Story.

“The state was like, ‘We’re not comfortable with you guys staying here, especially now that they know where you’re sleeping.’”

Asked for comment, Winslow referred questions to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

A photo submitted to Raw Story by a member of the medical team shows Big Creek Free Will Baptist Church, where the NC Office of Emergency Medical Services set up a field clinic.

The church was a disaster-response hub for an area cut off due to a bridge washing out on the road to the county seat, Burnsville. By the time the state medical assistance team arrived, a group of military veterans, Keystone Dynamic Solutions, had established a “command center” to land helicopters for supply delivery and dispatch teams to assist residents, liaising with the church’s pastor and deacon.

Keystone, which provides tactical combat training to civilians, describes its role in the aftermath of Helene as “a crucial buffer between small isolated communities and the larger state and federal agencies.”

The Big Creek site also provided a base for the local fire chief whose volunteer department was destroyed by flooding, and a rotating set of deputies from across the state.

Marlon Jonnaert, a Marine Corps veteran who helped land helicopters at Big Creek, confirmed there was an effort to assess the threat to government and volunteer personnel.

Jonnaert told Raw Story that Stanley Holloway, the fire chief, received a phone call from the Yancey County Emergency Operations Center stating that “there was a militia threat that included Big Creek.”

Nathaniel Kavakich, leader of the Keystone Dynamic Solutions team and also a Marines veteran, said in a podcast interview he encountered 10 heavily armed men whose questions were markedly similar to those directed at the medics at Big Creek.

“Who are you with?” the men asked, according to Kavakich. “Where are you laying your head at night?”

Kavakich declined to comment.

Jonnaert told Raw Story he wouldn’t call Savage Freedoms a “militia” or characterize their actions as “threatening,” but said: “I will say that in those moments it seemed like they were energetically antagonizing the government and drawing attention to their operation.”

Adam Smith, a U.S. Army Special Forces operator turned motivational speaker who leads Savage Freedoms, told Raw Story his group deployed a “small team” to perform “human remains detection” in Relief, in Mitchell County, 22 miles from Big Creek Free Will Baptist Church.

But Smith said he doesn’t believe it was members of his team who asked questions about where medical workers slept, because the group didn’t receive its first shipment of T-shirts until late on Oct. 12 or early the next day.

“Whoever the medical team is claiming to speak to them, I don’t think it’s possible that they would have our shirt, and I don’t think it’s possible they had any affiliation,” Smith said.

Amid reports of threats across the region that weekend, Savage Freedoms found itself on the defensive, posting a video on Facebook warning against “imitators” and featuring Smith saying unnamed people “use the name to gain access” and “do things that we would not do.”

Following the arrest in Rutherford County for threatening FEMA, Smith said, a National Guard liaison visited Savage Freedoms’ base at a Harley-Davidson dealership in Swannanoa. Smith said the liaison asked: “Do you have any affiliation with any militia in North Carolina?”

“My answer was, ‘No, definitively not,’” Smith said.

Savage Freedoms’ activities also drew the attention of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, headquartered across the state at Fort Bragg. Smith told Raw Story “an individual with direct connections” to the command contacted him to inquire about “a rumor that I, Adam Smith, was leading militia forces to subvert the efforts of FEMA.”

‘Rumors about FEMA’

Hostility towards FEMA, fueled by misinformation, appeared to drive a wedge between the state EMS team and the local community, medical responders told Raw Story. With the storm cutting off communication in a region with a longstanding distrust of the federal government, conditions were ripe for rumors supercharged by partisan imperatives in the final stretch of the presidential campaign.

When the FEMA contract workers arrived in Yancey County, state counterparts advised them to remove FEMA placards from ambulances and remove FEMA IDs from their belts, the FEMA contract worker said.

“As the week that I was there went on, there was some rumors about FEMA,” Jerry Zimmerman, a paramedic on the state EMS team, told Raw Story. “That kind of started the division between the state-funded resources, and Keystone and the community.”

Zimmerman went home before the team evacuated, but on the day he left, he mentioned to Holloway “that those ambulances were FEMA-funded.” The response was “very stand-offish and very agitated,” Zimmerman recalled, adding that he apologized to Winslow for inadvertently creating a rift.

Zimmerman said the medical team wondered: “With these rumors going around, are we going to be lumped in with FEMA and is that going to cause an issue for us? It ultimately did.”

The decision to pull out was made by Kimberly Clement, program director for the state Office of Emergency Medical Services, the FEMA contract worker said. Clement referred Raw Story’s inquiry to the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

A DHHS spokesperson confirmed the evacuation, but emphasized the input of the team on the ground while sidestepping a question about the role of state officials in Raleigh in the decision.

"On Oct. 12, 2024, several members of this team contacted the NC Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS) staff at the State Emergency Operations Center and indicated they had concern related to the current operation of the site," said Summer Tonizzo, a DHHS press assistant. "Their concern justified the team leaving the site."

Justin Graney, chief of external affairs and communications for NC Emergency Management, told Raw Story: “The misinformation that occurred surrounding Helene was unprecedented and helped to generate mischaracterizations of what the response looked like, what resources were available, and how different levels of government were working together.”

‘They felt they were abandoned’

The medical team returned to Big Creek four days later and stayed another three weeks, but the evacuation had ruptured community trust.

“Several of us felt a lot of guilt,” the FEMA contract worker said. “This community had no access … These people who normally have a doctor’s office and pharmacy 20 minutes away, now it’s a two-and-a-half hour drive — if they can make it at all.”

Zimmerman noted that the area was already cut off by flooding.

“Whenever this happened, they felt like they were abandoned,” he said. “From the community in Yancey County, they had nothing. The only thing they had was each other. We come up there and provide services for the length that we did and evacuate for our safety. It’s almost like they were abandoned again.”

Members of Keystone Dynamic Solutions criticized the evacuation.

“We do not want to downplay the concern for safety of all government employees and soldiers,” one wrote on Instagram the day after. “We disagree with the decision to withdraw those federal and state personnel that the local population is trying to trust. What we are seeing is a catastrophic loss of rapport.”

An Instagram post by a member of the Keystone Dynamic Solutions team references the evacuation of the state medical team on the morning after.Instagram screenshot

The medical team left the Big Creek site without telling any of their counterparts, including Pastor Todd Robinson and the Keystone team, of their plan. Local residents who showed up for appointments the following day discovered the staff had vanished.

They left a trailer and tent. The FEMA contract worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said the team left behind antibiotics and steroids, but a deputy agreed to guard them. The worker said they personally kept all narcotics on their person and no controlled substances were left behind.

Ricky Wilson, who lives next to the church, told Raw Story: “The militia teams that was supposedly threatening them — I don’t know. I told them they didn’t have anything to worry about. Most people would take care of them.”

The medical team gave Wilson’s wife some medicine to help with her Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Wilson said. She has since passed away.

“They checked on people that needed medical help,” Wilson said. “Older folks that was pretty well stranded, they helped them with medications. They was very much a help to the community while they were here.”

Dante Capane, logistics operations chief for the Keystone Dynamic Solutions team, said the medics treated one of their volunteers for a cut on his eye. The FEMA contract worker said they treated another volunteer who got his finger stuck in a log splitter.

The medics also treated two boys involved in an ATV accident, the worker said. A helicopter evacuated one of the boys, the worker said, adding that the other boy sustained injuries that warranted evacuation but his mother refused to let medics treat him.

“We did a lot of family medicine, refills on heart medication, diuretics, people stopping by with rashes and bee stings,” the FEMA contract worker said.

Some members of the medical team questioned whether pulling out was the right decision. But Zimmerman, who left before the evacuation, said they made the right call.

“I agree wholeheartedly with the decision,” he said. “They felt there was a threat of violence. If I walk into a residence and there’s a threat against me, I have all the rights to evacuate that residence, and wait for law enforcement.”

The FEMA contract worker told Raw Story they believe the state Office of Emergency Medical Services chose not to publicly disclose the evacuation out of a desire to avoid controversy.

“I think the amount of negative coverage coming out of the area was already impinging on the government’s attempt to help the community,” they said.

“People were already scared. They had been spun up about the negative aspects. I think OEMS was hesitant to pour more fuel on the fire, especially when [the threat] couldn’t be proven one way or the other.”

NOW READ: How Trump manipulates his supporters — and the rest of America

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richardson threat empl who get in way of agenda; does not know hurric season 6 25 msnbc

ppl in rm no joke? i will run over you if block agenda

By Frances Vinall

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was joking when he said that he didn’t know the United States had a hurricane season, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, said on Monday.

David Richardson’s comment to staff at a briefing on Monday was first reported by Reuters and drew swift, concerned reactions from Democratic lawmakers. The Atlantic hurricane season began Sunday and ends Nov. 30, with a 60 percent chance of above-normal activity this year and three to five major hurricanes expected, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What readers are saying

The comments express strong criticism of the Trump administration, particularly focusing on the acting head of FEMA's remark about not knowing the U.S. had a hurricane season, which was later claimed to be a joke. Many commenters view this as indicative of broader incompetence... Show more

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off bs

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FUCKERY

an 4 25

A federal judge ruled today that the Trump administration, including U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, violated his court order to unfreeze Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief to at least 19 states. The judge says the administration appears to be making a “covert” effort to punish states who oppose Trump’s oppressive immigration practices.

The New Republic reports U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued an injunction in March on behalf of 23 states suing the White House after the administration moved to pause FEMA aid to states. The Obama era judge ruled the hold-up “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”

The federal reluctance applies only to states with Democratic attorneys general, and McConnell found the Trump administration ignored his March court order, with at least 19 states submitting “undisputed evidence” they were not receiving FEMA funds appropriated by Congress. Hawaii reported that FEMA had yet to respond to its $6 million request and subsequent $500k reimbursement for climate-related wildfires. The state of Oregon, meanwhile, reported that FEMA had yet to respond to a request for $129.4 million in federal funds for wildfires, severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides.

“The Court’s intervention is necessary,” states wrote in a filing, because they “have continued to experience significant obstacles to accessing federal funds” while the government “reviews” spending.

Federal foot-dragging is not a “pause or a withholding of grants,” they say, “but an internal control” that appears to be used as a brick wall, with FEMA implementing a “manual review process based, covertly, on the President’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” targeting so-called “sanctuary cities.” McConnell noticed the connection between FEMA’s manual review process and the Invasion EO and ordered FEMA to “immediately cease” the manual review process and comply with his original court March order.

States became suspicious of being targeted as immigrant sanctuaries in January, after the administration released and order describing “the use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”

As of today, states have not sought to hold the Trump administration in contempt.

Click here to read the New Republic's article in full.

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AN APRIL 2025

Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders — who was once President Donald Trump's White House press secretary — is now urging him to reverse his administration's denial of her disaster relief request.

Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that Sanders' initial request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following severe storms in her state was denied. She's since written a separate letter begging her former boss to intervene and reverse the denial.

“The severe storms and tornadoes that occurred on March 14 and 15, 2025, produced catastrophic impacts across the state. The sheer magnitude of this event resulted in overwhelming amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the tragic loss of three lives and injuries to many others. Less than three weeks later, Arkansas was once again devastated by a second wave of severe storms, tornadoes, and a generational flooding event,” Sanders wrote.

“Without the support of a Major Disaster Declaration, Arkansas will face significant challenges in assuming full responsibility and achieving an effective recovery from this event," she continued. "I have determined that the severity and magnitude of these storms exceed the capabilities of the State and affected local governments to respond adequately. As such, supplemental Federal assistance is crucial.”

IFrame Content

Obtaining federal disaster relief may be difficult for even ruby-red states like Arkansas during Trump's second term. He has previously floated getting rid of FEMA entirely, following the destructive wildfires in Southern California earlier this year. And a recent report found that his administration's cuts to FEMA have since put hurricane-prone red states like Florida and Texas in a perilous position as hurricane season begins in June.

FEMA found itself embroiled in politics even before Trump's victory last November. After Hurricane Helene devastated much of the South in October, agency personnel found themselves under attack following threats from local residents in North Carolina. Misinformation about FEMA first responders proliferated after the storm, and resulted in aid being temporarily paused while the agency made efforts to keep its employees safe.

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 manifesto called for FEMA to be gutted and eventually privatized, in addition to privatizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) which was authorized by Congress in the 1960s.

Click here to read Rolling Stone's full report (subscription required).

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mma

February 11, 2025, edition of The Benny Show, streamed on YouTube

BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): Ladies and gentlemen, I have good and glorious news for you, and it's the reason why our stream was a minute late this morning. We have broken news of the FEMA top official, chief financial officer Mary Comans, has been fired by President Trump.

The top official at FEMA breaking here first, ladies and gentlemen, directly from our sources at DHS. FEMA is being gutted by Donald Trump.

This is the person in charge of billions of dollars in funding for FEMA who defied — please put it up — who defied President Trump and sent $60 million to criminal aliens in New York for luxury hotels, fired. Here's her photo.

We heard that they would be gutting positions. We didn't know it'd be the number one person at FEMA. How sick is the rot inside of our federal government? Breaking news this morning. This is your front seat to the golden era. Expect a lot more of this. We're working on some very big and very breaking stories. We are a dog with a bone. We are not going to let up on these corrupt, sickening bureaucrats.

More on the chief financial officer of FEMA getting walked out of the building by security, which is what just happened in Washington DC.

### Trump is signaling he wants to shutter or gut FEMA — another Project 2025 scheme

01/29/25

Ben Shapiro on FEMA: “It is a bizarre thing that area-specific crises ought to be thrust on the federal government”

01/27/25

### Sean Hannity endorses Kristi Noem's call to shut down FEMA

02/10/25

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Trump’s DHS freezes FEMA grant money hours after judge orders funding to be distributed

AN 2 25

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an 2 25

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979 under Democratic President Jimmy Carter, and Republican President George W. Bush recognized the agency's importance when FEMA was placed under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a recurring theme of the Bush Administration was that disasters were a national security matter.

But President Donald Trump, now two weeks into his nonconsecutive second term, is expressing his hostility to FEMA — a hostility that, according to Politico's Zack Colman, GOP lawmakers aren't necessarily on board with.

Trump is toying with the idea of abolishing FEMA, saying he may "recommend that FEMA go away" and adding, "I'd like to see the states take care of disasters."

"President Donald Trump's suggestions that he might shut down the federal agency charged with responding to disasters are running into trouble with Republican lawmakers," Colman reports in an article published on February 2. "Deeply red states are experiencing some of the costliest disasters, and lawmakers from those states fear that eliminating Federal Emergency Management Agency would leave them on the hook for increasingly expensive bills."

GOP lawmakers interviewed by Politico, according to Colman, drew a distinction between making changes to FEMA and abolishing it altogether after 46 years.

"While they're open to overhauling FEMA," the Politico reporter explains, "congressional Republicans said they flatly reject the idea of abolishing the agency."

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) recently told reporters, "FEMA can't go away. I think the first job of the federal government is to protect people and property."

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), according to Colman, is calling for FEMA to be "reorganized" but not abolished. And Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) wants to "overhaul" the agency but acknowledged that FEMA officials worked "very hard" during Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in 2024.

A.R. Siders, a faculty member of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, told Politico, "We've seen this pattern show up in the past where a Republican senator or congressman will say, 'You know, this is too much disaster aid. We should cut back on disaster aid.' Then, a disaster happens in their state — and then suddenly, they're very pro-disaster aid. This kind of rhetoric is easy to say and hard to stick to."

aha a 3 fer?

punish CA for not voting for him, gov and AG fight/sue call him out, beat up on immigrants dem gt replace theory BS; // dems did not want to help NC hurricane?

an 1 25

'Not good': Trump proposes 'getting rid of' FEMA and conditioning California aid on voter ID

Trump intensified his attacks on the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a visit to Hurricane Helene-damaged parts of North Carolina on Friday, announcing he is planning on reforming or “getting rid of FEMA,” and proposed an unprecedented move to condition disaster relief on the passage of a voter ID law by California’s lawmakers, “as a start.” Trump’s trip, which will include travel to California later Friday, appears designed to target the emergency management agency, which he has been criticizing for months.

In what appeared to be scripted remarks, Trump later elaborated that he would “sign 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. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and, uh, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time.”

“Calling FEMA and then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area,” Trump claimed. “They’ve never been to the area and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about, they wanna bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have,” he alleged.

“FEMA turned out to be a a disaster. And you could go back a long way, you could go back to Louisiana, you could go back to some of the things that took place in Texas. And it turns out to be the state that ends up doing the work. It just complicates it. I think we’re gonna recommend that FEMA go away. And we pay directly and we pay a percentage to the state, but the state should fix it.”

In his wide-ranging remarks, President Trump also claimed that “rather than going through FEMA,” disaster relief aid to California and North Carolina “will go through us,” meaning, through his administration. FEMA is a federal government agency under the wide umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The president nominates the HHS Secretary, a cabinet level official, and the FEMA administrator.

IFrame Content

And Trump appeared to say that he will assign Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley to manage financial aid to North Carolina, removing FEMA from the state.

“Trump also said FEMA would not be involved in further relief efforts and instead suggested that Whatley, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein (D), and a trio of Republican House members would be working with the White House directly because the agency ‘hasn’t done the job,'” The Independent reported.

“I wanna see two things in Los Angeles,” Trump also told reporters late Friday morning, “voter ID so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state. Those are the two things. After that, I will be the greatest president that California ever has ever seen.”

“I want the water to come down and come down to Los Angeles and also go out to all the farm land that’s barren and dry,” Trump claimed. This week the President appeared to suggest that water runs only north to south.

“So, I want two things,” Trump repeated, “I want voter ID for the people of California. They all want it. Right now you have no, you don’t have voter ID. People want to have to voter identification. You wanna have proof of citizenship. Ideally, you have one-day voting, but I just want voter ID to start, and I want the water to be released, and they’re gonna get a lot of help from the U.S.”

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AN 1 25

Trump, who made baseless attacks against FEMA during his 2024 campaign, suggested on Wednesday night that he wants to defund the Homeland Security emergency management agency and shift the burden for disaster relief to individual states. The move would revoke federal responsibility for managing crises like hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, and wildfires. While his remarks appear to align with The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, he appears to have gone further in appointing an interim FEMA head who reportedly “does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large scale disasters.”

Although he has repeatedly denied knowing anything about Project 2025, despite at least 140 of his former administration’s officials having been involved with the program, President Trump appears to be following the far-right plan to eliminate or largely downsize the 45-year-old agency. Its current incarnation was created by President Jimmy Carter, but the federal government of the United States has been assisting states with disaster relief for well over 200 years.

“Now, I will say that Los Angeles has changed everything, because a lot of money’s gonna be necessary for Los Angeles, and a lot of people on the other side want that to happen,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in a pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday night (video below). In recent weeks, California’s wildfires, fueled in part by climate change according to Scientific American, have decimated large swaths of the Los Angeles area, killing dozens of people.

“Well, they don’t care about North Carolina. The Democrats don’t care about North Carolina. What they’ve done with FEMA is so bad. FEMA is a whole other discussion. Because all it does is complicate everything,” Trump baselessly charged. “FEMA has not done their job for the last four years. You know, I had FEMA working really well, we had hurricanes in Florida, we had Alabama, tornadoes, we had. — but unless you have certain types of leadership, it’s really, it gets in the way.”

“And FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” Trump declared, alluding to wanting to dismantle the agency. “If they have a tornado, someplace, and if they have — let that state, Oklahoma is very competent. I love Oklahoma. 77 out a 77 districts and uh that’s never been done,” he claimed, referring to his Electoral College win.

On Thursday, The Independent reported, “Trump wants to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency and let states handle their own disaster needs.”

Project 2025 describes the Department of Homeland Security as a “bloated” bureaucracy that would “provide real opportunities for a conservative Administration to cut billions in spending and limit government’s role in Americans’ lives.”

It calls for “privatizing” FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, and “reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government,” as well as “eliminating most of DHS’s grant programs, and removing all unions in the department for national security purposes.”

Trump’s remark, “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” is similar to a portion of Project 2025’s proposal.

But Trump appears to have taken yet another step that could harm FEMA.

Trump has appointed a former Navy SEAL, Cameron Hamilton, who “does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large-scale disasters, like the wildfires in California,” to be the interim head of FEMA, according to The New York Times.

“Mr. Hamilton is an unusual choice to lead the agency, even in a temporary capacity. Since Hurricane Katrina, when the federal response was severely criticized, FEMA has been led by disaster management professionals who have run state or local emergency management agencies, or were regional administrators at FEMA,” the Times reported. “Mr. Hamilton does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large scale disasters like the wildfires that are raging in Los Angeles or the hurricanes, floods and earthquakes that FEMA typically manages.”

===

mma 10 24

Misinformation about the responses to hurricanes Helene and Milton— ranging from accusations that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is failing to mobilize resources to hard-hit areas to conspiracy theories that the government controls the weather — has surged across social media platforms in the past several weeks.

Media Matters found content on TikTok, Facebook, Telegram, and X where users expressed interest in traveling to instigate violence toward FEMA workers in North Carolina or said they supported others doing so.

The threats have forced FEMA to take safety precautions while distributing aid, and in one county, temporarily pause aid altogether. In Rutherford County, North Carolina, and Carter County, Tennessee, FEMA workers faced threats of violence from armed civilians.

Following online misinformation about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, FEMA faced threats of violence

According to The Washington Post, on October 12, North Carolina resident William Jacob Parsons was arrested after Rutherford County officials received a tip that “a white male had an assault rifle” and had made comments about going to harm FEMA employees.

There were initial reports that U.S. military personnel "had come across … trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA” but further investigation revealed that the threat was “more limited.” FEMA was operating in the area again as of October 13, but the Post reported that the agency was “working out of an abundance of caution” by stationing their operations at fixed locations instead of going door to door.

On October 15, a group of disaster relief workers said they came across a group of armed individuals confronting FEMA workers in Carter County, Tennessee.

“They were all armed, open carry not guns drawn, but they had surrounded them and there was a lady there that was yelling and threatening them,” said veteran volunteer Tracy Elder. WJHL reported that “During the confrontation, Elder did call 911 because she said they weren’t being rational,” but she was ultimately able to diffuse the situation.

Anxiety around potential encounters with armed civilians follows the proliferation of false claims on social media that FEMA has been “obstructing” or confiscating supplies or closing roads and bridges, preventing residents from leaving.

Social media users said they plan on forming armed convoys to go to North Carolina or support militias that are mobilizing against FEMA

Media Matters found social media content with significant engagement, including videos with tens of thousands of views, implying that armed civilians should confront FEMA. Some of these creators say they are part of active groups, though there aren’t currently reports of FEMA encountering armed militias.

Additionally, Media Matters found examples of users on alt-tech sites like Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social explicitly encouraging harming or killing FEMA workers.

One TikTok account with a username that seemingly implies violence against federal employees said — in a video with 322,000 views — that they are “part of a group that we are willing to get you through any and all roadblocks by any means necessary. Any means necessary. You know what I mean.” The original has been deleted, but as of this writing the video is still viewable on the app via repost.

On October 3, one TikTok user claimed without evidence in a video with over 60,000 views that “FEMA turned guns on people trying to help out.” He claimed that it was “confirmed by Newsmax.”

Another account appeared to be recruiting “special forces, SEAL teams, Rangers, Marines, anybody that has combat experience” to “build the team” prior to Hurricane Helene. The same account later began raising money for a 25-hour drive to North Carolina. In one video that has since been deleted, the TikTok user said that, “FEMA has no idea what’s coming” and that “we’re going to get our meat.”

Media Matters also previously found an October 5 video specifically calling for TikTok users to “organize” a convoy against FEMA, and another encouraging them to “stand by awaiting the rally point” to defend the country against “domestic enemies.” Both have been taken down from the app.

One TikTok user claimed on October 8 that a militia was going to Chimney Rock in Rutherford County, North Carolina to “stop the bulldozing and stop the mines.” He then said “y'all boys get started, give me a call. Let’s drain this fucking swamp.”

Accompanying support for armed militias in North Carolina were calls for sheriffs to arrest FEMA workers on X and Facebook. On X, Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote, “It is only a matter of time until law enforcement in North Carolina physically remove FEMA and any other federl assets who are impending rescue efforts and relief deliveries. The government is playing a very dangerous game.”

A video of North Carolina Sheriff Tripp Kester “calling for local citizens to form militias to protect the Constitution” has been shared widely on Telegram, TikTok, Facebook, and X. The posts claim that he “calls for local citizens to form militias to protect the Constitution … either by voting, or God forbid, to use our 2nd amendment rights to protect ourselves from tyranny.” But the video is actually from 2020 when the sheriff was reacting to a proposed bill that was labeled as a “gun grab.”

In a video shared on Telegram, Jeremy Herrell, a host on the right-wing streaming network LFA TV, claimed that “the Sheriff departments are literally banning together with the fire departments and saying that they will arrest any federal employee that tries to impede on any rescue or relief by claiming jurisdiction.”

One TikTok user appears to be attempting to organize a gathering of some sort in Washington, D.C., from November 15-17 to “make your bullshit insurrection look like chump change.” The account previously posted at least one video promoting misinformation about the response to Hurricane Helene.

FEMA, the White House, and the media have been actively combatting pervasive misinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton

Fearing the exact scenario that is currently playing out in North Carolina and Tennessee, both FEMA and the White House made a point to push back against false claims about recovery efforts.

FEMA created a “Myth vs. Fact” page in an attempt to dispel rumors and President Joe Biden misinformation twice in televised appearances, triggering more backlash from right-wing media.

Several media outlets have debunked claims that FEMA is purposefully withholding aid and highlighted the agencies’ efforts.

Biden has urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to take action in Congress to approve additional aid for FEMA. Johnson has refused because “It would be premature to call everyone back now, because these storms are so large in their scope and magnitude, it's going to take a little bit of time to make those calculations.”

===

mma

“Your time is coming when Trump wins": MAGA media figures claim FEMA committed treason

One commentator said: “Hang them by the necks till they're dead ... I believe it's way past time for an armed revolution.”

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published 10/15/24 4:45 PM EDT

Numerous Trump-aligned media figures have accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its officials of committing treason over its handling of Hurricane Helene.

Those right-wing figures have said that “whoever is running FEMA is guilty of treason your time is coming when Trump wins”; that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “should be in prison for the treason he has perpetrated against this country”; and that someone should “hang” government officials “by the necks till they're dead and let their dead bodies rot while people see what is done to treasonous government. ... I believe it's way past time for an armed revolution.”

This kind of rhetoric is part of a larger theme: Former President Donald Trump and his media allies have repeatedly promised retribution against government officials and the media if he wins a second term in office.

Media Matters has been documenting the spread of conspiracy theories in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Pro-Trump allies, including those who are scheduled to appear at Trump-affiliated events in North Carolina, have been pushing the conspiracy theory that weather manipulation caused the recent hurricanes.

Vitriol against FEMA has already resulted in real-world consequences. A North Carolina man was arrested for allegedly making an anti-FEMA threats, and The Washington Post reported that “threats against federal emergency response personnel have hampered relief work in parts of western North Carolina hard hit by Hurricane Helene, prompting disaster workers to relocate because of safety concerns and feeding a cycle of fear and anxiety.”

Numerous right-wing media figures, including those linked to Trump, have claimed that FEMA and its officials are guilty of “treason,” with some suggesting that they should be killed.

The Hodgetwins are a podcasting duo that promotes false claims and anti-trans vitriol. They have been by now-Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and have met Trump, who has promoted them online.

They wrote: “Whoever is running FEMA is guilty of treason Your time is coming when Trump wins.”

Charlie Kirk is a right-wing podcaster who frequently pushes toxic rhetoric and conspiracy theories. He is a key Trump ally who heads a group that’s been tasked with helping Trump’s get-out-the-vote efforts.

He ran a segment that he headlined “Hurricane Helene Aid Withheld? FEMA Whistleblowers Expose A Treasonous Misuse of Taxpayer Money” and said of the alleged misuse: “It is treason.”

SGT Report is a far-right show that promotes conspiracy theories, including QAnon. Trump administration officials Kash Patel, Peter Navarro, and Mike Flynn have appeared on the show.

The show ran an episode that included the description: “Chaos, death and destruction brought to you by the criminal and treasonous Biden-Harris administration. The official tally of the dead from hurricane Helene currently stands at 227 but thousands of Americans are missing and presumed dead and FEMA under Biden-Harris is doing LESS THAN NOTHING, in fact, FEMA is standing in the way of search and recovery. Brent Johnson believes these corrupt politicians should be tried and hanged from the neck until dead for their treason. LISTEN!”

During the program, the host began by claiming: “It is treason. In fact, friends, it's worse than treason. I want you to think about this. If you planned a war against the people over which you rule using their own money and resources, isn't this just exactly how you would do it?”

Brent Johnson, a fringe commentator and author, said: “My solution, though, is considered to be a bit too radical. I would haul them all out. I would have the militia come in, pick them up, OK? Whisk them away someplace, try them, convict them and execute them, hang them by the necks till they're dead and let their dead bodies rot while people see what is done to treasonous government thugs. But, hey, that's just me, you know? And people would say, ‘I'm being outrageous. I'm being, I'm being too radical. I'm being, you know, I want war.’ I don't want war. I'm actually one of the most peace loving people around. But these people are vicious and evil.” He later added: “I believe it's way past time for an armed revolution.”

Stew Peters is a Hitler-praising antisemite who has promoted numerous conspiracy theories and calls for violence. Numerous Trump-linked officials have appeared on his show, including Republican National Committee lawyer Christina Bobb; and Trump administration officials Kash Patel and Peter Navarro.

He wrote on social media: “Alejandro Mayorkas is a lying subversive parasite and should be tried for TREASON” followed by the rat emoji and the skull and crossbones emoji.

Wayne Allyn Root is a radio host and conspiracy theorist. He at a Trump rally and has Trump, who has in turn frequently promoted Root online.

Root said on his radio show on October 7 of Hurricane Helene: “But even if you don't believe that's what someone's purposely doing, even if this is just nature and it's just pure bad luck right before an election, hmm, strange. But even if you don't believe that — the response to Helene is the worst response in history, everyone involved should be tried for treason. Kamala, Mayorkas, they all should be tried for treason, what they've done to the people of North Carolina.”

Sean Davis is the CEO and co-founder of the right-wing publication The Federalist. He has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories, including claiming that “Democrats are preparing to use the military to steal the 2024 election and prevent their opponents from lawfully taking power.”

He wrote in response to a clip of Mayorkas discussing FEMA funding: “He should be in prison for the treason he has perpetrated against this country.”

Jane Ruby is a health misinformer who has pushed the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was the result of weather manipulation. She is scheduled to speak in North Carolina on the ReAwaken America tour with Trump’s “inner circle.”

She wrote on social media: “Time For States NC, TN, FL, GA To KICK OUT FED GOVT/FEMA The fed govt is shutting down roads, blocking civilian rescue missions, and confiscating donations This is more than overreach, it is an ACT OF TREASON.”

Glenn Beck is a right-wing radio host who became a household name for his conspiracy theories on his now-defunct Fox News program. He was recently part of a Trump campaign event.

His website recently wrote of a rant on his program:

Glenn was and still is disgusted by the flippancy of the organization that should be at the forefront of meeting the needs of Americans, whose taxpayer dollars fund the agency.

The second time he saw FEMA agents, they were building showers — not for displaced victims but rather for volunteers.

“FEMA is despicable,” says Glenn in disgust. “I don’t like calling people traitors, and I won’t today, but I will tell you — a case could be made that there are a lot of people that are bordering on the line of treason.”

The people running FEMA are included on that list.

CNN 19 24

A North Carolina man was arrested over the weekend for allegedly threatening harm against FEMA employees responding to Hurricane Helene, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

William Jacob Parsons, 44, was arrested and charged with Going Armed to the Terror of the Public, a misdemeanor, Capt. Jamie Keever said in a news release issued Monday.

“Parsons was armed with a handgun and a rifle,” Keever said.

William Jacob Parsons

Rutherford County Sheriff's Office

The sheriff’s office began investigating Saturday after receiving a call that a man “made the comment about possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area.”

Parsons was found later that day after investigators received information about the color and license plate of his vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.

Parsons was arrested in his car outside a grocery store that is functioning as a storm relief site, Keever said.

Parsons is now free on a $10,000 secured bond, the sheriff’s office said.

It was not immediately clear if Parsons had an attorney. CNN was unable to reach Parsons Monday at any of the phone numbers listed in his name.

Threat caused some FEMA offices to close

Aid to several communities impacted by Hurricane Helene was temporarily paused in parts of North Carolina over the weekend due to reports of threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency responders, amid a backdrop of misinformation about responses to recent storms.

Some FEMA teams helping disaster survivors apply for assistance in rural North Carolina are currently working at secure disaster recovery centers in counties where federal workers are receiving threats, a FEMA spokesperson told CNN on Monday.

“For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, FEMA has made some operational adjustments,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Disaster Recovery Centers will continue to be open as scheduled, survivors continue to register for assistance, and we continue to help the people of North Carolina with their recovery.”

[

Related articleHow to apply for FEMA aid after Hurricanes Helene and Milton](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/politics/fema-aid-how-to-apply)

On Saturday, FEMA workers had to halt their work in Rutherford County due to reports National Guard troops saw “armed militia” threatening the workers, CNN affiliate WBTV confirmed after reviewing messages sent to employees of a FEMA contractor. The threats were first reported by the Washington Post.

In the announcement of Parsons’ arrest, Keever said, “It was determined Parsons acted alone and there were no truck loads of militia going to Lake Lure.”

Rutherford County is southeast of the hard-hit Asheville area, and part of the mountainous region slammed by deadly flooding and landslides as Helene carved a path of destruction through the Southeast after making landfall in Florida last month. More than 100 people were killed in North Carolina and thousands of others were left grappling with catastrophic damage.

“We are aware of significant misinformation online and reports of threats to response workers on the ground and the safety of responders must be taken seriously,” said Jordan Monaghan, deputy communications director for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “The Governor has directed the Department of Public Safety to identify with local law enforcement the specific threats and rumors and coordinate with FEMA and other partners to ensure safety and security as this recovery effort continues.”

Some FEMA operations were also paused Sunday in Ashe County, near the borders of Tennessee and Virginia, out of an abundance of caution, Sheriff B. Phil Howell said on Facebook. This included in-person applications for aid in at least two locations “due to threats occurring in some counties,” according to the county’s emergency management office. Those locations reopened Monday, the sheriff and emergency management office announced.

Howell urged residents to “stay calm and steady during our recovery, help folks and please don’t stir the pot.”

FEMA interruptions delay aid to victims

The delays to in-person work by FEMA will only slow down aid from reaching those who need it, especially in the complex terrain of western North Carolina, former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate told CNN.

Disaster applicants can start the process online and receive partial aid, but FEMA officials need to see the damage in person to finalize the request and get money into the hands of disaster survivors faster.

“Ultimately, they’re going to have to get inspectors in there and that could slow things down for people,” Fugate said. “Getting into these areas to verify this is where people live, this is their home, validate the damages caused by the disaster.”

FEMA continues to assess potential threats to its staff in impacted areas and the agency is coordinating with local officials on the safety of its employees and will make future adjustments as needed, the spokesperson said.

There were more than 1,200 FEMA staff providing support in North Carolina as of Saturday, according to an update from the agency. More than 250 Urban Search and Rescue personnel remained in the field and had rescued or supported more than 3,200 survivors, the update said.

Misinformation ‘unlike anything we’ve seen before’

Misinformation circulating about the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton has hampered response efforts to the storms, CNN previously reported. President Joe Biden requested information last week on the federal government’s digital response, including how officials were remediating misinformation, an administration official said.

[

Related articleInside the White House’s desperate scramble to swat down hurricane misinformation](https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/09/politics/white-house-hurricane-helene-misinformation)

“The contours of this misinformation are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” a senior Biden administration official told CNN.

Fugate said individual FEMA personnel have received threats in the past but on a much smaller scale.

“In the field, it’s rare,” Fugate said. “This is unprecedented. I know we’ve had individuals but not an area or a group that’s threatening FEMA.”

Senior US officials have instructed public affairs teams at federal agencies to ramp up social media posts from government accounts with photos illustrating how federal workers are clearing debris and dispensing aid, a US official familiar with the effort said.

Earlier this month, the public information officer for Rutherford County, Kerry Giles, told CNN, debunking the rumors “did consume resources that could have been more effectively utilized in the recovery efforts.” Rutherford and surrounding counties have been posting photos and information about aid efforts to combat the misinformation.

===

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https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/etc/femahist.html

1960s - 1970s

A series of major natural disasters hit the United States during these decades. Over 100 different federal agencies are collectively involved in the relief efforts and people often complain about the lack of coordination and poor results. There is growing recognition of the need for a centralized emergency management system.

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1979

Pressed by state governors, President Jimmy Carter creates the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

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1980s

During this decade, FEMA is not really tested by a major disaster and under Presidents Reagan and Bush, it endures scandal and becomes known as a sort of backwater and a parking lot for political appointees.

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1992 - Hurricane Andrew

This Category 5 hurricane -- the first in 23 years -- strikes southern Florida south of Miami. Thousands are stranded without food and water. Overwhelmed local emergency managers wait and wait for FEMA. It takes five days for federal troops to arrive.

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1993

Recognizing the political value in reforming FEMA, the new Clinton administration appoints James Lee Witt director. He is the first in the agency's history with direct experience in emergency management.

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1993- 2000

During Witt's tenure, both Democrats and Republicans credit him with reforming FEMA by lessening the bureaucracy, emphasizing the input of the agency's professional staff and focusing on working with communities to prepare for disasters.Charged with coordinating 22 different federal agencies as part of the Federal Response Plan to disasters, FEMA is elevated to a Cabinet-level status in 1996 by President Clinton.

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2001

Witt leaves FEMA when George W. Bush becomes president, and Bush appoints his former campaign director, Joe Allbaugh, to succeed Witt. In keeping with the Bush budget-cutting agenda, Allbaugh sets out to trim FEMA. He also wants to focus the agency: Allbaugh identifies the three most likely disasters facing the country -- an earthquake in Californa, a hurricane hitting New Orleans and a terrorist attack in New York.

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2003

In March 2003, President Bush creates the Department of Homeland Security in response to 9/11. It is the largest reorganization of government in 40 years, and as part of the process, FEMA is downgraded from an independent agency to a sub-department of Homeland Security.Morale plummets. Scores of lifelong employees leave. Allbaugh leaves for the private sector andMichael Brown, FEMA counsel, takes over.

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2003 - November 2005

During its integration into the Department of Homeland Security, [see chart] FEMA loses money to other agencies. Director Brown protests but says "terrorism was the issue du jour."

Despite the cutbacks, however, Brown has some planning under his belt for facing Hurricane Katrina. A year before Katrina, FEMA sponsored a disaster planning exercise called "Hurricane Pam". Its scenario: a devastating hurricane hitting New Orleans, with more than 100,000 people left behind in the city.

However, the "Pam" exercise is not completed. The Bush administration cuts funding for it. A 121-page draft report shows key planning decisions were not yet made: the issue of medical care for hurricane victims wasn't finalized, communications were not addressed at all, and important transportation decisions were left "to be determined."

Meanwhile, plans are drawn up to further reduce FEMA. In June 2005, Director Brown writes a memo to a top official at Homeland Security that expresses "serious concerns about the direction this is taking emergency management in this nation. …The proposed organizational structure is doomed to fail. …"

When Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005 and government at all levels takes days to help the stranded, suffering victims, no one receives more criticism than FEMA's director. A short time later,Michael Brown is removed from command of the crisis by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and subsequently resigns.

On Oct. 18, 2005, President Bush signs a Homeland Security appropriations bill that takes responsibility for preparedness out of FEMA

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https://theconversation.com/puerto-rico-has-a-once-in-a-lifetime-chance-to-build-a-clean-energy-grid-but-fema-plans-to-spend-9-4-billion-on-fossil-fuel-infrastructure-instead-169124

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v p sez fema ready to help on hurricane Laura? at rnc

https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/trump-looted-44-billion-from-femas-disaster-relief-fund-during-hurricane-season-to-pay-for-an-unemployment-supplement-report/

https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/the-white-house-pushed-fema-to-give-its-biggest-coronavirus-contract-to-a-company-that-never-even-had-to-bid/

no lnx

The White House pushed FEMA to give its biggest coronavirus contract to a company that never even had to bid

An international cargo plane arrives at Rickenbacker International Airport with 2.85 million surgical masks, 18,650 gowns, 170,000 N-95 respirators and 11.8 million gloves for distribution nationwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delivery is part of a FEMA air bridge bringing supplies to battle COVID-19. FEMA continues scheduling flights, bringing supplies to the hardest hit areas. Photos by Leo Skinner/FEMA

Written by Yeganeh Torbati / Pro Publica April 12, 2020

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Last month, as a deadly new virus swept over the globe, one Canadian defense contractor predicted on an earnings call that it would lead to a big business opportunity in the U.S. Thanks to the White House, that bet paid off just a few weeks later in a $96 million no-bid deal.

In an unusual move, even in times of disaster, the White House stepped into the federal purchasing process, ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to award a contract to AirBoss of America. The Trump administration has rushed through hundreds of deals to address the pandemic without the usual oversight, more than $760 million reported as of this week, but the AirBoss transaction is the single largest no-bid purchase, a ProPublica analysis of federal purchasing data found.

While FEMA placed the order, it was directed to do so by the White House, ProPublica found.

It is unclear why the White House chose AirBoss for the protective equipment, which is similar to products made by other vendors.

“I can’t think of an example of the White House sending FEMA a directive to procure items from a particular company in a particular manner,” said Tim Manning, a former FEMA deputy administrator during the Obama administration.

The March 31 FEMA contract called for the company to produce 100,000 powered respirators and filters for medical workers treating patients in New York — a critical need that the Trump administration has been slow to address. The contract calls for them to be delivered to New York by July 31, five months after the state’s first reported case.

A little more than a week after a White House official publicly praised the deal, AirBoss’ stock price has more than doubled on the Toronto exchange.

A rubber manufacturer that sells to the auto industry and militaries, AirBoss targeted growth in U.S. federal contracts when it formed a new subsidiary, AirBoss Defense Group in Maryland, in January. The new entity absorbed AirBoss’ existing Maryland-based company, Immediate Response Technologies, that has contracted with the Pentagon for years. The FEMA contract was awarded to Immediate Response.

“Against a backdrop of a $750 billion budget request by the U.S. Department of Defense, significant global political instability and the specter of the emerging COVID-19 outbreak, we believe this business built around a strong survivability platform is well positioned to grow in the quarters and years ahead,” the parent company’s president, Chris Bitsakakis, told analysts in March.

For FEMA, the single deal makes up two-thirds of the $140 million the agency has spent on COVID-19 response through April 8, federal purchasing data shows.

In response to questions from ProPublica about the award, FEMA said the company “provided an unsolicited offer to the Government which was found to be acceptable.”

“The company’s proposal/offer was submitted by a White House task force assisting with sourcing of needed supplies and equipment,” the FEMA statement said. In the government database, a contract officer wrote that the procurement was “ordered by the White House.”

In an email, Gren Schoch, CEO of the AirBoss parent company, said the firm’s devices have been used “for many years protecting doctors from contagious or contaminated patients. The picture is pretty self explanatory.” He referred ProPublica to the White House for further information. The White House did not respond to questions.

The Trump White House’s involvement in purchasing supplies is highly unusual, because the task of figuring out the best suppliers is typically left to procurement professionals and acquisition lawyers who know the markets best, Manning said.

Vice President Mike Pence leads the official White House Coronavirus Task Force, which is made up of representatives from federal agencies and is overseeing the pandemic response. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a White House official, has also established his own group working on the coronavirus response, which critics have dubbed a “shadow task force,” complaining that it adds another layer of confusion and bureaucracy to an already chaotic government effort.

FEMA did not respond to a question about which White House task force submitted AirBoss’ bid to the agency.

The federal government has published details of more than 2,000 orders worth nearly $2.5 billion to companies to address the pandemic. For instance, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent nearly $76,000 on a hand sanitizer order last month, while FEMA spent more than $322,000 on licenses for employees to use Zoom, the teleconferencing software that helps people work from home.

More than a quarter of the COVID-19 response contracts were signed without competitive bidding, ProPublica found. The Army, for instance, rushed through about $415 million to hire firms to transform buildings like the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens into makeshift hospitals. The VA spent more than $160 million, also eschewing any competitive bidding, for medical supplies, ICU beds and ventilators.

But the AirBoss deal was the first — and largest — where contract officers explicitly noted that the White House ordered the deal, ProPublica found. FEMA reported executing a second no-bid contract on the White House’s orders on Tuesday for N95 respirators, the commonly used masks that have become scarce. That deal, with Texas-based Prestige Ameritech, was worth about $9.5 million.

In a press release announcing the AirBoss deal, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro praised the company.

“ADG has stepped up with lightning speed, and their willingness to help meet the urgent need for powered respirators will save American lives,” Navarro said.

Typically, the White House has little involvement in procurement decisions, which are handled by individual agencies. But Kushner has taken a direct hand in coordinating emergency supplies, and Navarro was recently put in charge of the administration’s effort to corral American manufacturers in producing the products health care workers need most.

Ethics experts have criticized the White House’s effort as lacking transparency and opening the federal government to further influence from companies.

“Now we know we’ve got orders coming in through the White House, and there’s no way anybody can be assured that the government is obtaining the goods and services that best meet its needs,” said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Because it’s being done at the White House, we don’t know whether or not any of these individuals have financial interests that can be enhanced by directing this.”

At a White House press briefing last week, Kushner described a haphazard process that relies on Trump associates making personal appeals to the White House to get equipment. For instance, Trump told Kushner on April 2 that he had heard from friends in New York that the city’s public hospitals were running low on supplies. Kushner said he then called Dr. Mitchell Katz, who runs the city’s public hospitals, asked what was most urgently needed and arranged for a month’s worth of N95 masks to be sent.

Former FEMA officials said large sole-source contracts are often justified during emergencies because federal officials don’t have time to wade through multiple competing bids. The respirators in the AirBoss contract are made by a variety of manufacturers, but the ability to quickly deliver them may have been a factor.

“In a normal time, you sole-source because they’re the only ones that make something you need,” Manning, the Obama-era FEMA official, said. “In a crisis time, you sole-source because they’re the only people that have what you need in a time that you need it.”

AirBoss did not make an executive available for a phone interview. Schoch, AirBoss of America’s CEO, didn’t provide specifics on how many of the powered air-purifying respirators, or PAPRs, have been delivered and to which hospitals. FEMA said that all the devices will be delivered within three months and that New York will determine how they are distributed.

But how and where the respirators are being distributed is unclear. Michael Lanza, a spokesman for the New York City Health Department, said the agency has not received any PAPRs from the federal government. The New York State Health Department did not respond to questions.

“We delivered everything we had in inventory and are currently ramping up production,” Schoch said. “The entire order is due in 13 weeks. In the past, most of this particular product has been sold directly to end users. We have been a supplier to the U.S. military for 20 years.”

On Wednesday, a congressional oversight committee released information showing the Trump administration has almost emptied the nation’s stockpile of personal protective equipment. But the administration had sent out just 100 PAPR devices overall as of April 6, to Washington state and Alaska, the data shows.

The devices consist of a facepiece, breathing tube, battery-operated blower and filters. They are used in construction and health care settings to protect the wearers from fumes or infectious particles. The specific type of PAPR that FEMA purchased from AirBoss is certified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jim Chang, director of safety and environmental health at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said the AirBoss devices appear to be “run-of-the-mill” PAPRs. Although the exact unit price AirBoss is charging the government is unknown, the total contract size and number of units suggest a maximum price of around $960 per device, which Chang said is within the normal range.

Research published in 2015 showed that PAPRs are often used as an alternative to N95 masks in health care settings, because they don’t require the same “fit testing” that the masks do.

A 2014 Pentagon memo outlining how to protect medical workers caring for Ebola virus patients included one of Immediate Response Technologies’ PAPR models on its list of recommended devices, in addition to versions made by 3M, Avon and MAXAIR.

Several companies that manufacture PAPRs, including 3M, did not respond to questions from ProPublica about whether they are fulfilling any federal orders for the devices. A Honeywell spokesman said the company does not comment on bids or contract pursuits. One company, Draeger, referred only to a prior announcement about an order of N95 masks, and said it was based on an official tender by the government.

Derek Willis contributed reporting.

Do you have access to information about federal contracts that should be public? Email david.mcswane@propublica.org or yeganeh.torbati@propublica.org. Here’s how tosend tips and documents to ProPublica securely.

Filed under:

Health Care

https://www.ecowatch.com/disaster-aid-federal-buyouts-2640914729.html

wealthier counties receive more federal home buyouts in the wake of natural disasters than poorer areas, regardless of whether or not these homes are at increased risk of flooding, new research shows.

A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances analyzes 40,000 voluntary buyouts made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 1989, finding that federal grants were given disproportionately to counties with higher population and income.

The study theorizes that wealthier counties have more resources to apply for and administer federal grants than poorer ones. The study also finds that within those wealthier counties, the federal money is often used to tear down homes in poorer neighborhoods — which authors posit could be due to a combination of factors, including that local officials "are using the buyouts as an opportunity to get rid of neighborhoods that they don't feel are desirable parts of their community," author A.R. Siders told the New York Times.

For a deeper dive:

New York Times $, NPR, AP

Trump Complains Puerto Rico Getting 'Too Much' Disaster Aid as ... ›

Congress Gives Final Approval to Long-Delayed Disaster Aid - The ... ›

FEMA Flood Maps Ignore Climate Change, and Homeowners Are Paying the Price

BY JAMES BRUGGERS

dhs took money from emergency response for ICE baby jails trms

N carolina

pig, 1.x million dead chickens, coal ash

socialize cost, pvtize profit

https://www.alternet.org/hurricane-florences-surge-expected-hit-homes-already-cost-government-millions

Though the flooding from Hurricane Florence is predicted to be unprecedented, residents of the coastal North Carolina towns threatened by the storm surge know what it’s like to take on water. Some homes in these areas have been repeatedly flooded — and repeatedly bailed out by federal flood insurance.

ProPublica examined storm surge predictions by the National Hurricane Center, layering a map of areas expected to be affected by Florence over a map of the most flood-prone properties tracked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides most of the flood insurance for U.S. homeowners.

Critics have long argued that the program subsidizes risky development, but efforts at reform inevitably stall because raising premiums would make flood insurance unaffordable for lower-income residents. The insurance is required for federally backed mortgages of homes in flood-prone areas. The program is more than $20 billion in debt.

Looking at some of the towns, it’s easy to see why.

High-risk areas include communities along the Pamlico River and North Topsail Beach, which is on a barrier island near Wilmington. Homes there have gotten multiple flood payouts from FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program going back as far as 1978. One property in North Topsail Beach has received nine separate payments, totaling $77,000, though the building is worth just $37,125. Another in nearby Topsail Beach has received 10 payments worth $467,000. That building is worth $300,000.

FEMA places buildings like these — including 1,132 across North Carolina — on a special list called “severe repetitive loss” structures because they’ve been flooded and rebuilt again and again with FEMA flood insurance. Properties that qualify for the list have made at least four claims of more than $5,000 each since 1978, or two claims with a combined value that’s worth more than the building itself. There are more than 35,000 such properties nationwide.

Collectively, the buildings in North Carolina are worth at least $280 million, and they’ve received $164 million in payments, according to FEMA data provided by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. The list undoubtedly will grow after Hurricane Florence, placing additional strain on a debt-ridden program that experts say is in desperate need of reform.

The areas facing the worst impact from Hurricane Florence are among the most vulnerable in the country when it comes to sea-level rise; parts of North Topsail Beach, for instance, are eroding at 5 feet per year. And a team of scientists concluded on Wednesday that climate change had supercharged the storm — increasing its projected rainfall by roughly 50 percent and its size by 50 miles.

Rob Moore, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said these homes are “perfect examples of what we’ll see as sea levels continue to rise.”

North Carolina has a rocky history of confronting sea-level rise. In 2012, after scientific advisers for the state predicted up to 39 inches of rising sea levels over the next century, state legislators passed a law saying North Carolina would only base policies on studies that exclusively used historical data, effectively outlawing climate science. The current governor has backtracked, and North Carolina has joined a multistate effort to tackle climate change.

Moore said the government should fund more property buyouts to permanently remove homes from risky areas. Nationwide, a majority of the homes on the list belong to low-income and middle-class residents, he said, and since buyouts often take years to process, most homeowners can’t afford to wait and are forced to use insurance claims to rebuild in the same place.

The slow-moving hurricane will linger over the Carolinas through the weekend.

https://www.alternet.org/fema-head-blames-hurricane-deaths-puerto-rico-spousal-abuse

Long, the administrator of FEMA, echoed Trump's statements disputing the death toll in Puerto Rico last year on Meet The Press today, going so far as to claim some of the hurricane-related deaths may be incidents of "spousal abuse."

Long was being interviewed in large part over FEMA efforts with Hurricane Florence, but the topic shifted to Hurricane Maria and President Trump's accusations that the 2,975 deaths reported by the Puerto Rico government were inflated by Democrats to make the president look bad.

Initially, Long attempted to deflect, claiming the president was "taken out of context" when he said there were no lessons to learn from the response in Puerto Rico and blamed the local government and the private sector for the botched response.

Trump's FEMA Chief Faces Investigation For Personal Use Of Government Vehicles

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/heres-how-hurricanes-contribute-racial-inequality

Hurricane Lane, which is bearing down on Hawaii, is a reminder of the devastation hurricane season can bring.

Only one year ago Hurricane Harveyravaged Houston, followed closely by Irma and Maria, which left a trail of destruction across Florida and Puerto Rico. Despite the private and government aid provided after these disasters, thousands continue to struggle even today.

However, not everyone is struggling. In fact, some actually benefit economically from these extreme weather events.

In a new study, which I co-authored with my colleague James Elliott, we found that populations that are privileged in terms of education, race or homeownership gain wealth in the aftermath of natural disasters, exacerbating already wide economic inequities.

Not only that, how the government delivers aid is partly to blame.

Disasters on the rise

Natural disasters from hurricanes to wildfires are on the rise, both in terms of frequency and severity.

And they take a heavy toll. Last year alone, the United States suffered US$260 billion in direct damages from natural disasters. While that’s a devastating figure, it fails to encompass the full extent of the impact – such as a loss in income or uncovered expenses such as medical bills – that can last for months and even years after cleanup begins.

Previous research has shown the aftermath of disasters is more devastating for less privileged residents as they are more likely to lose their job, have to relocate and pay**higher rents** due to reduced housing availability.

In our recent paper in the journal Social Problems, we found that the effects are even more profound, with whites, the highly educated and homeowners actually improving their relative financial situation after a disaster, while blacks, those with less education and renters are worse off compared with their peers.

Whites make gains while others lose

We combined nationally representative data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics on nearly 3,500 families with government figures on natural hazard damages, Federal Emergency Management Aid and local population demographics in every U.S. county.

We then explored how extreme natural disasters influenced changes in family wealth from 1999 to 2013. Throughout our analysis, we controlled for race, education, age, homeownership, family status, residential mobility as well as neighborhood and county demographics with the aim of comparing households that were similar. We also only compared families who started out with similar wealth in 1999.

Overall, we found a surprisingly strong correlation between the scale of damage a county experienced and an increase in average wealth. That is, people who lived in counties that suffered extreme disasters tended to accumulate more wealth over the period than those who lived in mostly unaffected parts of the country. And the more damage a county experienced, the more pronounced the relative gains in wealth.

Greater wealth, however, was not experienced by everyone. Using a statistical technique called interactions, we were able to see how these changes affected different segments of the population depending on race, education and homeownership.

First, we considered the effects of race and found that whites who lived in counties that experienced extreme natural disasters accumulated $100,000 more wealth than their peers with similar characteristics who did not.

For people of color, on the other hand, this effect was reversed. Specifically, black residents living in disaster-prone counties lost $46,000 in wealth compared with their counterparts elsewhere. And Latino residents in affected counties lost $101,000 relative to similar peers.

In other words, while whites benefited financially by living in areas hit by hurricanes and other disasters, people of color were clobbered.

We then examined the impact of education, holding other factors constant. We found that higher levels of education were also associated with a tendency to benefit from natural disasters, while those with less experienced devastating losses.

Finally we focused on homeownership. Similarly, our results showed that those who owned emerged a lot better off than those who rented.

Our findings suggest that natural disasters are worsening wealth inequality, especially along racial lines. For example, in Monmouth, New Jersey – a New York City suburb that experienced the most natural disaster damage in the U.S. from 1999 to 2013 – $111,000 of the increase in the white-black wealth gap during the period can be attributed to the impact of the disasters.

This map visualizes these rising inequalities across the largest metropolitan areas.

FEMA aid plays a role

This evidence is depressing in its own right. Yet, what is arguably even more disturbing is Federal Emergency Management Aid is further exacerbating these inequalities.

FEMA aid is distributed to mitigate the negative repercussions of hazards. In the best of worlds this federal assistance would reduce inequality – or at least curtail its expansion. What we found is quite the opposite.

Unlike what you might think, FEMA aid is not distributed solely based on damage or need. In fact, when we compared the amount of natural disaster damage in counties across the U.S. from 1999 to 2013 with how much aid FEMA allocated to them, the correlation is weak. This suggests factors other than need, such as politics, are primarily driving FEMA aid decisions.

However, statistically, this means we can isolate the effect of FEMA aid from natural hazards. When we did this, we found that FEMA aid also exacerbated inequalities. In New York County, for example, which received nearly $8 billion in FEMA aid from 1999 to 2013, we found that $105,000 of the increase in the white-black wealth gap is attributable to FEMA aid.

In short, much like natural disasters themselves, FEMA aid is exasperating wealth inequality.

Lingering questions

...

3/18 icn

Boston’s sea level rose about 9 inches last century, but it is on track to rise another 1.5 feet in just the first half of this century alone.

With every powerful storm that hits (and tomorrow will bring the fourth to the Atlantic Coast in a month), damages rise. And these events may be coming more often in the future: A warming Arctic is having the perverse effect of increasing extreme winter weather in the Northeast.

Meanwhile, San Francisco is facing a double whammy of sinking land and sea level rise.

All this, even as ICN reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency dropped the words "sea level rise" and "climate change" from its new strategic plan. When billions of investment dollars are washed away in the next storm, what will be left?

===

'Climate Change' Removed From FEMA's Strategic Plan

Last year, one of the hottest years in modern history, was also the costliest year ever for weather disasters, setting the U.S. back a record-setting $306 billion in spending aid and relief cost.

But it appears the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency that responds to hurricanes, flooding and wildfires, is ignoring a critical factor that exacerbates these natural disasters: climate change.

On Thursday, FEMA released its Strategic Plan for the next four years, which replaces the Obama-era version that made repeat mentions of climate change.

The new document does not mention the terms "climate change," "sea level rise" or even "extreme weather." The only phrasing that comes close is "rising natural hazard risk" and "pre-disaster mitigation," without mentioning what drives those risks.

The plan states: "Disaster costs are expected to continue to increase due to rising natural hazard risk, decaying critical infrastructure, and economic pressures that limit investments in risk resilience. As good stewards of taxpayer dollars, FEMA must ensure that our programs are fiscally sound. Additionally, we will consider new pathways to long-term disaster risk reduction, including increased investments in pre-disaster mitigation."

FEMA's Strategic Plan for 2018-2022

In comparison, the 2014-2018 Strategic Plan from President Barack Obama's FEMA highlighted the necessity to adapt to future climate-influenced risks:

"Scientific evidence indicates that the climate is changing and significant economic, social, and environmental consequences can be expected as a result. A changing climate is already resulting in quantifiable changes to the risks communities face, showing that future risks are not the same as those faced in the past. State, tribal, territorial, and local demands for climate-enabled risk management information and tools are expected to rise and evolve as the need to adapt to climate change increases. The emergency management community will need to adapt appropriately to these changing risks as they strengthen their risk-management programs."

FEMAs Strategic Plan for 2014-2018

Responding to the report, FEMA Public Affairs Director William Booher told NPR, "It is evident that this strategic plan fully incorporates future risks from all hazards regardless of cause. Building upon the foundation established by FEMA's previous two Strategic Plans, this plan commits the agency, and the nation, to taking proactive steps to increasing pre-disaster investments in preparedness and mitigation."

Bloomberg noted that current FEMA director Brock Long, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, has skirted around the issue of man-made climate change.

"The term climate change has become such a political hot button that, I think, it keeps us from having a real dialogue," he told the publication last summer.

Long also told CNN in September, "Regardless of what causes disasters, it's our job within the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to manage the consequences."

Education:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Long grew up in Newton, North Carolina, graduating from Newton-Conover High School.^[2] He received his B.S. in criminal justice and M.P.A. from Appalachian State University. He also graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School's Executive Leadership Program.

Career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Long was an emergency management official in Georgia, where he served as the Statewide Planner/School Safety Coordinator for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency from September 1999 to November 2001.^[3] He worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as Hurricane Program Manager from November 2001 to January 2006.^[4] Long was the Southeast Regional Director for Beck Disaster Recovery from February 2007 to February 2008.

Long headed the Alabama Emergency Management Agency from 2008 to 2011 under Governor Bob Riley and developed the state's response to the H1N1 influenza. During the *Deepwater Horizon* oil spill, he was the State Incident Commander for the Alabama Unified Command.^[5]

In 2011, Long joined the emergency management consulting firm Hagerty Consulting, where he was executive vice president.^[6]

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

President Donald Trump nominated Long to be administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on April 28, 2017.^[5] On June 20, 2017, he was confirmed by the United States Senate with a vote of 95 to 4.^[7]

In August 2017, Long faced the first major natural disaster of his tenure in the form of Hurricane Harvey. He stated that the hurricane would likely be recorded for Texas as "the worst disaster the state's seen," with the recovery period expected to take "many years." Weeks before, he had told interviewers that his biggest concern was major hurricane preparedness.^[8] Long received widespread praise for his handling of the federal response to Hurricane Harvey.^[9]

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16032018/fema-strategic-plan-climate-change-natural-disasters-relief-flood-maps-storms-wildfires

Trump-appointed FEMA Administrator Brock Long avoided the words "climate change" in the agency's new strategic plan. Disaster relief organizations like the Red Cross, meanwhile, are using climate science to strategically position supplies where they're likely to be needed

Despite a disaster-stricken 2017, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dropped discussions of climate change from its strategic plan, the document intended to guide the agency's response to hurricanes, flooding and wildfires through 2022.

The plan projects that "rising natural hazard risk" will drive increased disaster costs, but it fails to connect last year's record-setting disasters to the changing climate and does not mention that natural disasters exacerbated by global warming are expected to become more frequent and severe as temperatures rise, a conclusion made unequivocally in last year's Climate Science Special Report, part of the National Climate Assessment.

While the plan notes that more people are moving to coastal areas, it says nothing about sea level rise, only that "natural and manmade hazards" will become "increasingly complex and difficult to predict."

FEMA says the agency will work toward "incentivizing positive behavior change" in communities and emphasizes the individual's role in responding to disasters.

"This plan is just the beginning as we galvanize the whole community to help individuals and families during times of need," FEMA Administrator Brock Long said in a press release Thursday. "We are going to be talking about it a lot and acting on it."

Asked about the absence of any mention of climate change in the document, FEMA Public Affairs Director William Booher told NPR: "It is evident that this strategic plan fully incorporates future risks from all hazards regardless of cause."

Last Strategic Plan Emphasized Climate Risk

FEMA's last strategic plan, released during the Obama administration, stressed the need to incorporate climate change into the agency's planning. "A changing climate is already resulting in quantifiable changes to the risks communities face, showing that future risks are not the same as those faced in the past," the 2014-2018 plan stated.

Under the Obama administration, FEMA not only emphasized the rising threats of climate change, the agency made it difficult for states to ignore them. In 2015, the agency changed its guidelines to require any state seeking money for disaster preparedness to assess how climate change threatened its communities.

International disaster relief organizations like the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are also increasingly using climate science for strategic planning, including for determining where to stockpile supplies for the fastest response.

Flood Risk Rising

The Trump administration's plan comes as a new study finds that the country's flood risk is much higher than FEMA anticipates, largely because the agency has failed to approve flood maps in much of the United States. The study found that more than 40 million people, roughly three times the agency's current number, will face 100-year flooding.

Before last year—when the country was struck with a record-setting 16 disasters causing more than $1 billion in damage each—FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program was already $25 billion in debt. President Donald Trump has called for budget cuts, including a $667 million cut from its state and local grant funding and $190 million from FEMA's Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program.

Trump's FEMA director is facing his first big challenge with Hurricane ...

https://www.vox.com/2017/8/27/16208730/trump-fema-director-disaster-relief

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

:{Aug 27, 2017 - :{Trump:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: filled the spot of :{FEMA director:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: in June, after it was vacant for 6 months. So far, his choice of :{Brock Long:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: is inspiring confidence in state emergency officials, in large part because Long spent many years as a state emergency official. :{FEMA:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: has bounced back from its diminished reputation under the ...:(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

FEMA Welcomes New FEMA Administrator Brock Long | FEMA.gov

https://www.fema.gov/news.../fema-welcomes-new-fema-administrator-brock-long

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

:{Jun 23, 2017 - WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency released the following statement today, attributed to William Booher, :{FEMA:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: Spokesman.“After a Senate confirmation vote of 95-4 earlier this week, :{Brock Long:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: was officially sworn in as :{FEMA administrator:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, by Department of Homeland Security ...:(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

The Head of FEMA Defended Its Handling of Hurricane Maria | Time

time.com › Politics › Puerto Rico

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

:{Oct 11, 2017 - The :{Trump:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: Administration remained on defense about its handling of Hurricane Maria this week. ... But :{Brock Long:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, the :{administrator:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, argued that his agency's role was improperly understood. “:{FEMA:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: is not a first responder,” he told reporters in the conference ...:(style="word-wrap:break-word"):}:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will "officially shut off" food and water aid to Puerto Ricofour months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.

"The reality is that we just need to look around. Supermarkets are open, and things are going back to normal," Alejandro De La Campa, FEMA's director in Puerto Rico, told NPR. "If we're giving free water and food, that means that families are not going to supermarkets to buy."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-brock-long-the-governments-point-man-in-houston/

...FEMA's administrator often becomes the public face of the relief effort. In 2005, FEMA chief Michael Brown was widely criticized for running the response to Hurricane Katrina, and shortly thereafter resigned in disgrace.

At the time, President Bush was also criticized for appointing Brown, whom he famously called "Brownie" and defended as doing a "heck of a job." Brown had little experience in emergency management and had spent more than a decade as a top judge for the International Arabian Horse Association. The ensuing catastrophe in New Orleans, which was located directly in the path of the category-3 storm, diminished FEMA's reputation.

President Obama's appointee to lead FEMA, Craig Fulgate, was credited with reforming the agency. Mr. Trump appointed Long to lead FEMA in June amid fears that the 2017 hurricane season could produce several major storms capable of making landfall in the U.S.

What did Long do before this?

Brock Long has worked as an emergency manager in Georgia, worked at FEMA during Hurricane Katrina, and ran the Alabama Emergency Management Agency during 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He then worked in the private sector as an emergency manager before joining the Trump administration.

Emergency managers who have worked for Democratic and Republican administrations alike have praised Long as highly capable. "He's got the relationships throughout emergency management, throughout the states," Barry Scanlon, a FEMA official under President Clinton, told NPR. "He has the respect of the people who do this every day, which is vitally important."

"Brock brings both State and FEMA experience to the job," Long's predecessor, Fulgate, told Forbes earlier this year. "He knows the programs and challenges he faces."

...

[hide]

Education:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 2011, Long joined the emergency management consulting firm Hagerty Consulting, where he was executive vice president.^[6]

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

References:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Straehley, Steve (May 25, 2017). "Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Who Is Brock Long?". AllGov. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Griffin, Kevin (May 1, 2017). "President Trump nominates Hickory resident Brock Long to lead FEMA pending Senate confirmation". Hickory Daily Record.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Shepherd, Marshall (April 29, 2017). "Brock Long Is Trump's Nominee For FEMA Administrator. Who Is He?". Forbes.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Holdeman, Eric (March 22, 2017). "Brock Long: Next FEMA Administrator?". Emergency Management.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Long#cite_ref-NYT_5-1) Nixon, Ron (April 28, 2017). "Trump Nominates Former Disaster Relief Manager to Lead FEMA". The New York Times.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Cioffi, Chris (April 28, 2017). "NC man is Trump’s pick to lead FEMA; no post for McCrory yet". The News & Observer.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ van der Bijl, Hanno (June 21, 2017). "Alabama leader tapped to head FEMA". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Joel Achenbach (August 27, 2017). "FEMA director says Harvey is probably the worst disaster in Texas history". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Nixon, Ron (September 8, 2017). "Brock Long, the FEMA Chief, Faces Test in Back-to-Back Hurricanes". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2017.

External links:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brock Long.

Biography at FEMA

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Preceded by Craig Fugate	Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 2017–present	Incumbent

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Craig Fugate

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

2017–present

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Chiefs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

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https://www.ecowatch.com/fema-san-juan-mayor-2494757627.html

FEMA Chief Says 'We Filtered Out' San Juan Mayor After She Pleads 'We Need Water!'

The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) dismissed the mayor of San Juan's vocal criticism of the Trump administration's Hurricane Maria relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

"We filtered out the mayor a long time ago," FEMA administrator Brock Long said in an interview with ABC's This Week on Sunday.

"We don't have time for the political noise," he continued. "The bottom line is that we are making progress every day in conjunction with the governor."

Long's comment was in regard to Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz's tweet alleging that FEMA did not respond to a request for support after a hospital in San Juan lost power and patients needed to be transferred out.

Cruz also tweeted over the weekend, "WE NEED WATER!" and "there is no help in the horizon."

"In regards outages and the hospitals, we've built an entire 9-1-1 system," Long insisted during his interview. "We monitor the hospital system daily. So if there is a power failure at a hospital … we're actually life-lighting the ICU patients out of those hospitals."

"But as far as the political noise, we filter that out, keep our heads down, and continue to make progress in restoring essential functions in Puerto Rico."

Several weeks after the Sept. 20 Category 4 storm devastated the U.S. territory, only 11.7 percent of the island's electricity consumers have power, and 56.8 percent of Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority customers have potable water, according to FEMA's website tracking the federal response to Hurricane Maria.

FEMA was under scrutiny last week for removing stats about Puerto Rico's electricity and water access from the website. That information returned by Friday afternoon.

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/18032015/fema-states-no-climate-planning-no-money

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is making it tougher for governors to deny man-made climate change. Starting next year, the agency will approve disaster preparedness funds only for states whose governors approve hazard mitigation plans that address climate change.

This may put several Republican governors who maintain the earth isn't warming due to human activities, or prefer to do nothing about it, into a political bind. Their position may block their states' access to hundreds of millions of dollars in FEMA funds. Over the past five years, the agency has awarded an average $1 billion a year in grants to states and territories for taking steps to mitigate the effects of disasters.

"If a state has a climate denier governor that doesn't want to accept a plan, that would risk mitigation work not getting done because of politics," said Becky Hammer, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council's water program. "The governor would be increasing the risk to citizens in that state" because of his climate beliefs.

The policy doesn't affect federal money for relief after a hurricane, flood or other disaster. Specifically, beginning in March 2016, states seeking preparedness money will have to assess how climate change threatens their communities. Governors will have to sign off on hazard mitigation plans. While some states, including New York, have already started incorporating climate risks in their plans, most haven’t because FEMA's old 2008 guidelines didn't require it.

"This could potentially become a major conflict for several Republican governors," said Barry Rabe, an expert on the politics of climate change at the University of Michigan. "We aren't just talking about coastal states." Climate change affects droughts, rainfall and tornado activity. Fracking is being linked to more earthquakes, he said. "This could affect state leaders across the country."

Among those who could face a difficult decision areRepublican Governors Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Greg Abbott of Texas and Pat McCrory of North Carolina—all of whom have denied man-made climate change or refused to take action. The states they lead face immediate threats from climate change.

The five governors' offices did not return requests for comment by press time.

Environmentalists have been pressing FEMA to include global warming in its hazard mitigation guidelines for almost three years. FEMA told the Natural Resources Defense Council in early 2014 that it would revise the guidelines. It issued draft rules last October and officially released the new procedures last week as partisan politics around climate change have been intensifying.

On March 8, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting said Scott instituted an unwritten ban on the use of "climate change" or "global warming" by Florida officials. Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma took a snowball to the U.S. Senate floor as evidence the climate isn't warming, highlighting GOP leaders' climate views.

"The challenges posed by climate change, such as more intense storms, frequent heavy precipitation, heat waves, drought, extreme flooding, and higher sea levels, could significantly alter the types and magnitudes of hazards impacting states in the future," FEMA wrote in its new procedures.

FEMA's disaster preparedness program has been granting money to states since the 1980s for projects as diverse as raising buildings out of floodplains and building safe rooms. States are required to update their plans every five years to be eligible for the agency's mitigation funding. Since 2010, FEMA has doled out more than $4.6 billion to states and territories as part of this program.

Republican-led regions constitute eight of the top 10 recipients of this category of FEMA money between 2010 and 2014. Louisiana was No. 1, having received almost $1.1 billion from FEMA for hazard mitigation. New Jersey was third with nearly $379 million, and Texas fourth with almost $343 million.

The gubernatorial approval clause was included in the new guidelines to "raise awareness and support for implementing the actions in the mitigation strategy and increasing statewide resilience to natural hazards," said FEMA spokeswoman Susan Hendrick.

The new federal rules don't require public involvement in the creation of states' disaster preparedness plans, eliminating the opportunity for environmental groups and concerned citizens to submit comments or concerns about the assessments.

GOP White House Contenders: An Early Rundown of Their Climate Change Positions

By Katherine Bagley

Climate Change Impacts Absent from FEMA's Redrawn NYC Flood Maps

By Katherine Bagley

FEMA: Caught Between Climate Change and Congress

By Katherine Bagley

3. Fox News Turned To Disgraced Former FEMA Director Michael Brown To Deny Climate Change, Baselessly Attack FEMA Policy As “Orwellian”

On the May 6 edition of Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto, Cavuto invited Michael Brown, the disgraced former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to attack FEMA for requiring that states applying for disaster preparedness funds produce plans that consider the impacts of climate change. Brown, whose claim to fame is botching the response to Hurricane Katrina, questioned the need for the policy by disputing that “man has much impact” on climate change, and echoed the misleading “climate is always changing”talking point by asserting: “[W]e’ve always had tornadoes, we’ve always had floods, we’ve always had hurricanes, and we’re always going to.” Brown also described the new FEMA policy is an “Orwellian” ploy meant to force the federal government’s “vision of climate change” on to states. Later, Brown admitted on Twitter that he is a “denier” when it comes to climate change.

~ NC

10/14

FEMA Will Require States to Examine Climate Risks in Disaster Planning

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is about to make a significant shift in the way it handles climate change.

FEMA Cronyism Led to Failure

Michael Brown, who resigned September 12, 2005, as FEMA's director, "has become a symbol of cronyism," Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times.

Brown "didn't know the difference between a tropical depression and an anxiety attack when President Bush charged him with life-and-death decisions," Maureen Dowd wrote in the Times.

"W. trusted Brownie simply because he was a friend of a friend," Dowd said. "He was a college buddy of Joe Allbaugh, who worked as W.'s chief of staff when he was Texas governor and as his 2000 presidential campaign manager."

When FEMA was "reorganized under Homeland Security, stripping it of authority,"Allbaughleft the agency to become a**lobbyist**for companies like**Halliburton**, leaving behind "an eviscerated FEMA" with "his friend Brown in charge," Dowd**said**.

Spencer S. Hsu wrote in the September 9, 2005, Washington Post that "Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the**Sept. 11, 2001**, attacks.

"FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a **:{U.S. Chamber of Commerce:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** official who was once a political operative."

"Meanwhile," Hsu reported,"veterans such as U.S. hurricane specialist Eric Tolbert and World Trade Center disaster managers Laurence W. Zensinger and Bruce P. Baughman -- who led FEMA's offices of response, recovery and preparedness, respectively -- have left since 2003, taking jobs as consultants or state emergency managers, according to current and former officials."

...

FEMA1

Following online misinformation about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, FEMA faced threats of violence

Social media users said they plan on forming armed convoys to go to North Carolina or support militias that are mobilizing against FEMA

FEMA, the White House, and the media have been actively combatting pervasive misinformation about Hurricanes Helene and Milton

“Your time is coming when Trump wins": MAGA media figures claim FEMA committed treason

Threat caused some FEMA offices to close

FEMA interruptions delay aid to victims

Misinformation ‘unlike anything we’ve seen before’

1960s - 1970s

1979

1980s

1992 - Hurricane Andrew

1993

1993- 2000

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2003 - November 2005

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FEMA Chief Says 'We Filtered Out' San Juan Mayor After She Pleads 'We Need Water!'

FEMA Cronyism Led to Failure