Federal Emergency Management Agency
Established: April 1, 1979
Mission: To coordinate and provide disaster relief to communities struck by natural or man-made disasters or terrorist attacks.
Reason for creation: FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, evolved from state governments’ frustration with the slow, inefficient response from the federal government whenever disaster struck. FEMA’s establishment culminated a shift away from states protecting their sovereignty to states actively ceding authority in emergency circumstances to the feds.
The federal government’s first involvement in disaster relief occurred in 1803, when Congress extended the deadlines for payments owed to the government by merchants in Portsmouth, NH, who were affected by a devastating fire in December 1802. Over the next 175 years, piecemeal efforts at addressing specific natural disasters had, by the 1970s, created a hodgepodge of 128 laws, each giving one or another federal agency authority that was often very narrow, limited and duplicative. It was also without leadership and coordination.
The following key laws summarize, according to GovFacts.org, the growing recognition of the pivotal role the federal government plays in emergency response:
1803 – Congressional Act of 1803
Problem: No mechanism for federal aid
Key Provision: Provided ad-hoc financial relief to merchants after a major fire
1936 – Flood Control Act of 1936
Problem: Uncoordinated flood control
Key Provision: Gave the US Army Corps of Engineers authority over federal flood control measures
1950 – Federal Civil Defense Act
Problem: threat of nuclear attack
Key Provision: Created the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) to prepare the nation for war
1950 – Disaster Relief Act of 1950
Problem: Lack of standing authority for natural disasters
Key Provision: Authorized the President to declare “major disasters” and provide supplementary federal aid
1968 – National Flood Insurance Act
Problem: High cost of flood recovery and lack of mitigation
Key Provision: Created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide affordable insurance and encourage local mitigation
1974 – Disaster Relief Act of 1974
Problem: Lack of direct aid to citizens
Key Provision: Established the first program for direct assistance to individuals and households (IFG Program)
By 1978, the governors of the 50 states had had enough of the dysfunction. In a report on the state of emergency management preparedness, the National Governors Association asked the federal government to create a lead agency that would coordinate the multiple functions of federal emergency response that too often overlapped and were at odds with one another.
Their message had reached the White House earlier that year. In June, President Jimmy Carter submitted to Congress a plan to reorganize several federal agencies under the authority of a new agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The new agency was to be activated no later than April 1 the following year. For better and worse, the agencies that were folded into the new organization were
- The Federal Insurance Administration (from HUD)
- The National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (from the Department of Commerce)
- The National Weather Service Community Preparedness Program (from the Department of Commerce)
- The Federal Preparedness Agency (from the GSA)
- The Federal Disaster Assistance Administration (from HUD)
- The Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (from the Department of Defense)
Two first-of-their-kind disasters prior to the April 1 deadline drove home the need for FEMA. In August, Love Canal burst into the media, making the public broadly aware for the first time of the dangers from toxic industrial waste. Then, on March 28, 1979, just days before FEMA was activated, Three Mile Island, the nuclear generating station in Pennsylvania, partially melted down.
Impacts: FEMA’s impact has been mixed, mostly due to shifts in political priorities according to which party occupies the White House. Created near the end of the Carter presidency, a pattern has evolved at FEMA, beginning under President Reagan and continuing since, in which Democratic presidents appoint experienced emergency managers to lead the agency, and Republican presidents don’t. This overt act of neglect has meant that FEMA achieved its greatest successes and received its most accolades under Democratic administrations, and its biggest failures and heaviest criticism under Republican administrations.
Republican presidents, who generally campaign against big government, have paid little heed to FEMA’s emergency management mandate. Recalling the Reagan years, Leo Bosner, a 30-year FEMA employee, said FEMA was a “Turkey Farm” for political appointees, while a 1992 House Appropriations Committee report called FEMA “a political dumping ground” led by appointees who had no experience to run the agency. One of FEMA’s most notable failures, its response to Hurricane Andrew, occurred soon after that report was made public, which was a highly visible failure of the George H. W. Bush administration during Bush’s reelection campaign.
In 2001, George W. Bush’s administration continued the pattern, appointing political supporters with little or no disaster relief experience to head FEMA. According to Bosner, the new administration immediately began to deconstruct the agency, including termination of Project Impact, an initiative that was expected to appeal to the Republicans in power because it focused on individual and private sector responsibility.
Then came 9/11. FEMA, which had been elevated by President Clinton to cabinet level in 1996, was eventually folded into the newly created Department of Homeland Security. By the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, FEMA had lost many of its experienced personnel, returning the agency to the kind of slow, disorganized response it was known for prior to Clinton’s presidency. The Hoover Institution reported, “From 1993 until 2001, FEMA was far better prepared to handle a catastrophic natural disaster than it was in 2005.”
On the other hand, Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden appointed people with extensive emergency management experience. Clinton’s defeat of George H.W. Bush in 1992 not only averted FEMA’s possible closure, it led to FEMA’s resurrection and fulfillment of its potential. Clinton’s FEMA director, James Lee Witt, engineered a remarkable turnaround that enabled the agency to respond effectively to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Midwest flooding the following year, tornadoes in Arkansas in 1997, and 1999’s Hurricane Floyd, winning praise from the news media and even the political opposition. Clinton placed such a priority on FEMA’s work that, as noted above, he made it a part of his cabinet.
In 1996, the editors at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote, “FEMA has developed a sterling reputation for delivering disaster relief services.”
Two years after tornadoes ripped through his home state, Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) lauded the agency’s response, saying, “FEMA’s reaction was outstanding.”
Under Obama, the agency was hailed for its swift response to Hurricane Sandy, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) effusive in expressing his gratitude for the administration’s efforts.
And yet, this pattern of partisan failure and success seems to have been ignored. A 2014 paper from the Cato Institute advocated that “state and local governments and the private sector should fund disaster preparedness and relief for disasters by themselves” and that “FEMA should be closed down”. The author, Chris Edwards, heavily criticized FEMA for its failures, emphasizing the agency’s poor performance in response to 1992’s Hurricane Andrew and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, and cited criticisms of the Obama administration’s response to Hurricane Sandy even after acknowledging that “FEMA appears to have done a better job” in its response to this disaster. He didn’t mention FEMA’s stellar performances in the ‘90s.
Not only did Edwards ignore the success FEMA has enjoyed under Democratic presidents, but his call to shift responsibility to state and local governments also ignored history: It was the states that had requested the creation of such an agency back in 1978. In 2024, 46 years later, the National Governors Association reiterated its support for FEMA with a bipartisan request to Congress that it fully fund or expand several disaster relief programs.
In his first term, President Donald Trump broke with his Republican predecessors and appointed qualified managers to lead FEMA, though he shrank the agency’s staff by 6.3% and its funding by 2.1% and removed reports acknowledging FEMA’s successes under Obama. With experienced leadership, the agency mostly avoided the kind of backlash it had received under previous Republican administrations even as it dealt with the aftermath of a major hurricane and the deadliest wildfires in California history.
It has been a different story during the first 22 months of Trump’s second term. Trump initially appointed Cameron Hamilton, another appointee with no background in emergency management, as acting director of FEMA but abruptly fired him in May 2025 after Hamilton told a House panel that he believed eliminating FEMA would not be in the country’s best interests. At the time, it was widely believed that Trump planned to dismantle FEMA.
Then, after cycling through three acting directors, Trump reversed course in Spring of 2026 and nominated Hamilton to be FEMA’s administrator. That same May, a panel created by the president to assess FEMA’s role issued its final report, recommending that FEMA be substantially reduced in size and that state and local governments take on more responsibility.
Hamilton was confirmed by the Senate and took office in August.
>> Sources <<
