(Reuters) – The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has written to staff assuring them that the continued existence of the agency is critical to the nation’s disaster response efforts, after President Donald Trump said he wants to overhaul or abolish it.
“FEMA is a critical agency that performs a critical mission in support of our national security,” said Cam Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, who Trump named to lead the agency on an interim basis after the Republican president took office last week.
Hamilton sent an email to his staff Friday night after Trump, during visits to disaster areas in North Carolina and California earlier in the day, promised to sign an executive order overhauling or dismantling the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters.
“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” Trump said during a tour of North Carolina neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Helena in September. “I think we’re recommending that FEMA go.”
Trump has accused FEMA of failing to provide emergency relief and said he prefers states receive federal money to handle disasters on their own.
“President Trump has outlined his intent to reform FEMA, and we are firmly committed to implementing real and lasting reform,” Hamilton wrote in an email seen by Reuters. “We have work to do at FEMA, and it is critical to restore public confidence in this agency.”
FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hamilton’s email.
FEMA is bringing in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. The agency’s funding has soared in recent years as extreme weather has increased demand for its services.
The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than 20,000 people across the country.
