As the Federal Emergency Management Agency prepares for the hurricane season that is approaching, the agency is poorly prepared, according to an internal document obtained by ABC News.
The document was prepared for the interim administrator of FEMA, David Richardson, while taking the rudder of the agency responsible for managing federal disasters.
“As FEMA transforms into a smaller footprint, the intention of this hurricane season is not well understood, so Fema is not ready,” according to the document.
The document says that Fema is not sure of its future, while planning the hurricane season, which begins on June 1.
The limitations and hiring of personnel will also affect FEMA operations, according to the document, as well as the lack of coordination with the states.
Richardson was placed in FEMA by National Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem after former interim administrator Cam Hamilton was fired last week due to his testimony in front of a camera panel, according to a source familiar with the matter, which was against the closing of the agency.
The interim administrator of FEMA, Richardson, organizes a meeting with the agency’s leadership in preparation for the hurricane season, on May 12, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Graham Haynes/Fema
Richardson told the employees during his first meeting of all the hands last week that he does not get in his way when he tries to achieve the president’s objectives, a source told ABC News.
“Do not get in my way if those 20% of people are,” employees told Friday morning last Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. “I know all the tricks.”
“Oldlocation. Delay. Minimum. If you are one of those 20% of people and believe that those tactics and techniques will help you, they will not because I will run directly on you,” he said, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. “I will achieve the president’s intention. I am so determined to achieve the president’s intention to ensure my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”
A spokesman for the National Security Department told ABC News that the information is “very out of context.”
“You are referring to a line in a deck of nineteen pages and the opinion without the foundation of an official within the agency,” said a DHS spokesman. “The slide was used during a daily meeting that the interim administrator David Richardson has celebrated every day entitled Problem Resolution of the Hurricane Preparation Complex. In other words, exactly what the head of an emergency management agency should be doing before the hurricane season. This is just another example of a long line of internal leaks of people who clearly could not worry less about the Americans and prefer Manufacture of the sections of his own self -aggravated.
The moral in FEMA has sunk since Noem said he was going to eliminate the agency, according to sources within the agency.
Noem was pressured during a camera panel on Wednesday on whether he has a plan to eliminate FEMA. She said she didn’t have a plan, but said the White House would present a plan.
“There is no formalized final plan on how this works, because the contribution of Congress is of vital importance,” Bennie Thompson told representative.
CNN first reported the internal review document.
