Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the nation’s disaster relief backbone, is facing a wave of reforms, criticism, and controversy as the Trump administration and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem take sweeping action to overhaul the troubled agency. The last week of August 2025 saw a flurry of announcements, firings, and high-profile contract cancellations, all set against a backdrop of years of documented mismanagement, waste, and public frustration with FEMA’s performance.
On August 29, 2025, Secretary Noem announced the cancellation of thousands of FEMA contracts after the Department of Government Efficiency uncovered billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and unnecessary spending, according to Newsmax. The flagged expenses included $10.7 million for public safety announcements, $3.3 million for employee marketing, $1.6 million for just two workshops, and more than $1.2 million for a conference center concierge. Other questionable contracts covered everything from meeting planning and paperwork shredding to social media recruiting and diversity programs.
“Any American who opened the books at FEMA and saw their lackluster spending controls and policies would be horrified,” a FEMA spokesperson told Newsmax. The spokesperson went on to praise Noem’s leadership, stating, “Secretary Noem has been an extraordinary leader, bringing spending best practices, fiscal responsibility, and mission alignment to an agency that has run amok for far too long.”
The latest moves come as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to impose accountability and reform on FEMA, an agency that’s been under fire from both government watchdogs and the public for more than a decade. According to The Daily Wire, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was blunt in its assessment of internal critics, describing FEMA employees who oppose the changes as “disgruntled bureaucrats who have overseen years of failures.” A DHS spokesman told The Daily Wire, “The pattern is clear: FEMA has failed to deliver aid, mismanaged contracts and funds, and burdened survivors with a maze of paperwork. So it should surprise no one that the same bureaucrats who let these failures pile up are now the loudest critics of accountability.”
Just days earlier, on August 26, 2025, a letter signed by roughly 200 FEMA employees surfaced, claiming that the Trump administration’s reforms—staff cuts, the removal of climate change ideology, and interference with preparedness programs—were damaging FEMA’s ability to respond to disasters. Some employees who signed the letter or otherwise complained about agency leadership were placed on leave, as reported by Newsmax. The internal dissent included warnings to Congress that inexperienced Trump appointees could hinder hurricane response efforts.
The Trump administration, however, insists that its interventions are long overdue. “The truth is simple: FEMA was failing the American people. DHS is finally forcing change, and for the first time in years, real accountability is on the table,” a DHS spokesman told The Daily Wire.
FEMA’s troubles are not new. Under President Joe Biden, the agency drew sharp criticism for its handling of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, with flooding victims in North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee waiting days for federal responders. In a particularly troubling incident, a FEMA supervisor in Florida ordered her team to skip the homes of people displaying Trump signs or flags, resulting in at least 20 homes in Lake Placid being bypassed. The supervisor was fired after The Daily Wire exposed the guidance.
Mismanagement has extended to FEMA’s contracting practices as well. Earlier in 2025, an Atlanta woman was sentenced to prison and fined $1.7 million for fraud related to a 2017 contract to provide 30 million self-heating meals to Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane. She delivered only 50,000 non-heating meals, despite receiving $156 million. This episode echoed a broader pattern: after Hurricanes Maria and Irma, FEMA lost track of nearly 40% of supply shipments to Puerto Rico, valued at $257 million, with deliveries averaging 69 days to reach their final destinations.
Government watchdogs have repeatedly flagged FEMA’s failures. A February 2021 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that FEMA’s 2018 response to disasters in the Pacific Islands met its pre-award timeframe goal in only 14% of projects, with the process dragging on for nearly 13 months—more than double the 189-day target. In fiscal year 2019, just 28% of Public Assistance projects were obligated within targeted time frames. A separate 2022 GAO report confirmed that in one region, FEMA met its 189-day target in only 14% of cases, with average project awards taking over a year.
Financial oversight has also been a persistent problem. An April 2020 report revealed that FEMA had made over $3 billion in potentially fraudulent payments since 2003, often failing to collect sufficient documentation or verify eligibility for home repair assistance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency’s Lost Wages Assistance program added $3.7 billion in improper payments, while a January 2025 report found that FEMA over-obligated at least $1.5 billion for a state’s medical staffing grant, neglected to determine the cost allowability of $8.1 billion drawn down by a state, and made another $32.8 million in improper payments.
FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program is also in dire financial straits: as of March 2025, the Congressional Research Service put its debt at $22.5 billion, while Newsmax reported a $20.5 billion debt figure in the same period. These numbers underscore the fiscal instability that has plagued the program for years.
Secretary Noem, speaking at a FEMA Review Council meeting on August 28, 2025, didn’t mince words about the need for reform. She criticized inefficiencies in federal disaster relief spanning the past 15 to 20 years and called for changes to speed up federal support and give states more control over long-term recovery. “The priority should be reducing bureaucratic delays to deliver resources such as emergency aid and search-and-rescue services,” Noem said, as quoted by Newsmax.
The Government Accountability Office and the DHS inspector general have long called for FEMA to tighten fiscal controls and streamline disaster aid, citing delays, poor oversight, and waste. The Trump administration appears determined to heed those calls. In January 2025, President Donald Trump established a council to assess FEMA’s effectiveness and explore shifting more disaster response responsibility to states, a move that could fundamentally reshape the federal role in disaster relief.
Not everyone is critical of the new direction. Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, Nim Kidd, praised the federal response to the Texas flooding over the Fourth of July. “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and I can say with confidence that this was the fastest and most effective federal support Texas has ever received,” Kidd told The Daily Wire. He credited the administration’s partnership and rapid deployment of resources with saving lives and making a real difference on the ground.
Still, the internal strife at FEMA is palpable. While some see the Trump administration’s reforms as long-overdue accountability, others—both inside and outside the agency—warn that slashing staff, sidelining climate change, and centralizing control could undermine preparedness and response. As the debate rages, one thing is clear: FEMA is at a crossroads, and how it emerges from this period of upheaval will have profound consequences for disaster victims, taxpayers, and the very fabric of federal emergency management in the United States.
With billions at stake and lives on the line, FEMA’s future now hangs in the balance between reform and resistance, efficiency and oversight, and the ever-present challenge of delivering aid when Americans need it most.