Head of disaster relief agency FEMA reassures staff after Trump criticism

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(Reuters) – The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency wrote to staff reassuring them that the agency’s continued existence was vital to the country’s disaster response efforts, after President Donald Trump said he wanted to overhaul or scrap it.

“FEMA is a critical agency which performs an essential mission in support of our national security,” said Cam Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, who was appointed by Trump to temporarily lead the agency after the Republican president took office last week.

Hamilton sent the email to all staff on Friday night after earlier in the day Trump, during a visit to disaster areas in North Carolina and California, vowed to sign an executive order to overhaul or eliminate the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters.

“FEMA has turned out to be a disaster,” Trump said during a tour of a North Carolina neighborhood destroyed by September’s Hurricane Helene. “I think we recommend that FEMA go away.”

Trump accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts there and said he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves.

“President Trump has laid out his intent to reform FEMA, and we stand firmly at the ready to implement real and lasting reform,” Hamilton wrote in the email seen by Reuters. “We have some work to do at FEMA and restoring public confidence in this agency is essential.”

FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hamilton’s email.

FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. Funding for the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events have increased the demand for its services.

The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than 20,000 people across the country.

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)