Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency

A gathering of officials to improve FEMA effectiveness brings to mind the observation of Sir Barnett Cocks: “A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and quietly strangled.” Much in this instance depends on the President’s appointments to the Council charged with this work, at least some of whom will not be federal officials. An encouraging sign is that among the perspectives sought for Council membership is expertise in “Federal-State relationships.” Likewise is it encouraging to see that the Council will seek input from State, local, and Tribal governments officials, among others. The Council will also compare FEMA’s past performance to that of “State, local, and private sector responses,” presumably to assess whether block grants to those entities might better serve the purposes for which FEMA was created. Finally, the Council will consider the role of “FEMA in our Federal system,” and “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance, to the States rather than supplanting State control of disaster relief.” These directions indicate that this order may generate reforms that give states more authority over disaster responses.

Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency – The White House

January 24, 2025