FEMA hiring overhaul drives fears of agency dismantling as hurricane season nears
After firing more than 200 probationary workers from the nation's federal disaster relief agency, the Trump administration has taken its first step to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just months ahead of hurricane season.
In an email labeled, "Hiring Update" and obtained by CBS News, FEMA informed employees on Friday night of a new hiring process that overhauls contract renewals for more than two-thirds of the agency's workforce, requiring all employees to submit requests for further extensions to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for approval.
The decision has created confusion among the ranks of thousands of employees impacted, with fears that the new process will effectively gut the majority of FEMA's workforce over the next two to four years by forcing employees to reapply for their jobs through the agency's overseers at DHS.
Spurred by President Trump's executive action last month directing the Department of Government Efficiency or "DOGE" to initiate large-scale reductions in the federal workforce, the new policy affects members of the agency's Cadre of On-Call Response known as "CORE" as well as FEMA's reservists.
"This change will apply to most FEMA positions, as two-year and four-year COREs and Reservists compose much of the workforce," the email read.
FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton briefed his leadership team on the decision last week, according to multiple agency sources, prompting regional directors to break the news to employees in all-hands meetings held on Thursday and Friday that left many staffers bewildered and upset.
"Employees have started to take their leave and go job hunting," one current FEMA employee told CBS News. "They've seen the writing on the wall."
FEMA's more than 8,800 CORE employees make up roughly 39% of the agency's workforce, according to a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, and are tasked with delivering disaster assistance before and after hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other federally declared emergencies. Notably, the first responders are uniquely financed through the Disaster Relief Fund, allowing them to operate through government shutdowns.
CORE employees staff recovery centers, sign up survivors for recovery assistance and perform door-to-door checks on communities that are devastated by storms and extreme weather events. The agency's roughly 7800 reservists make up a temporary, on-call workforce that is also deployed to disasters, emergencies and critical training, nationwide.
The email directed employees with contract termination dates after March 17 to submit requests for "renewals and extensions" to the Department of Homeland Security "for decision."
The hiring announcement does not apply to certain positions within The National Flood Insurance Program, and positions including Emergency Management Specialist, Human Resources Specialist, Contracting Specialist, Information Technology Specialist and attorney, according to the email sent to the FEMA workforce, Friday.
The email also states that all external hiring and onboarding of new employees has been frozen until further notice, except for political appointees.
In a statement to CBS News on Saturday, a DHS spokesperson said the decision is "cutting out wasteful spending and bureaucracy that slows down relief efforts."
"FEMA has implemented a full hiring freeze and instituted a DHS review process for all disaster-field positions that are up for renewal. The renewal review applies to the majority of the FEMA workforce," the spokesperson said. "President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem know that disaster recovery efforts are best led by state and local officials, not federal bureaucrats."
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing state and local governments to "play a more active and significant role" in preparing for emergencies nationwide.
"I say you don't need FEMA, you need a good state government," Mr. Trump said while visiting the Los Angeles communities following devastating wildfires in January. "FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation."
For months, the president has toyed with the idea of eliminating the agency. The nation's disaster relief arm was established under the Carter administration and later reshuffled under DHS as the department was stood up post-9/11.
Project 2025 policy proposals include a call for "reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government."
"If states aren't ready, they better get ready," one current FEMA employee told CBS News. "It takes FEMA four months to refresh and restock all of our goods that get sent out for hurricane season. I can't imagine the states are anywhere near staffed up enough or robust enough to handle this mission on their own."
For her part, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said that while the federal government should play a role in disaster relief, she supports the president's desire to "get rid of FEMA the way it exists today."
The move to reshape the hiring process for the agency's disaster relief foot soldiers also comes just months before the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
In an interview last December, former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CBS News the agency sees a federally declared disaster roughly every other day, with nearly 180 emergencies declared in the first 11 months of 2024 – a roughly 50% increase compared to 2023. The former administrator called the back-to-back disaster demands on the agency a "new normal."
CBS News has reached out to FEMA for comment on the new directive.
