Don’t Eliminate FEMA, Return It To Original Mission – Civil Defense

Though FEMA is our nation’s federal go-to for disaster preparation and response, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has become a disaster in itself. And it has been this way long before President Donald Trump came to office.

But Trump now has the opportunity and mandate to fix it; not by adding to the bloat and over extended missions, or by eliminating it altogether, but by returning it to its original much narrower but critical, core national security mission – civil defense and major war.

Originally intended to prepare the country for major catastrophes, like nuclear war, and as the nation’s civil defense agency — orchestrate the national response afterwards — it is now focused on everything but that.

Garrett M. Graff a WIRED contributing editor and the author of Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die notes in ‘The Secret History of FEMA,’ that Harry Truman started FEMA’s forerunner, the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), in 1950.

It became FEMA in 1979 under Jimmy Carter in an effort to restore national civil defense planning and unite the nation’s disaster response with its planning for “continuity of government,” the secret programs to protect our institutions in the event of nuclear war or similar catastrophe.

This included managing fallout shelters, evacuation routes, and coordinating civil defense efforts. The agency’s early years also saw a strong emphasis on developing civil defense plans and capabilities at the state and local levels. 

However, he adds:

… the agency has evolved from a top-secret series of bunkers designed to protect US officials in case of a nuclear attack to a sprawling bureaucratic agency tasked with mobilizing help in the midst of [any] disaster.

The transition has not been smooth, to say the least.

After the Cold War, FEMA’s focus gradually shifted towards a more comprehensive “all-hazards” (mostly everyday natural disasters) approach to emergency management.

In 1993, under Bill Clinton, FEMA’s director ended the country’s Civil Defense and national mobilization programs. Believing major war was no longer a danger after the fall of the Soviet Union, the same director would go on to reshape FEMA and its culture completely. 

He would dismantle its Civil Defense and national mobilization legacy while leaving a few unconnected parts to linger for years to come.

He also removed FEMA from its role as the President’s coordinating agency for the remaining fragments of the Civil Defense and national mobilization programs dispersed throughout the federal government, 

Under George W. Bush, after the 9/11 terror attacks, FEMA was transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While plenty of positive things came from this, including the focus on terrorism and the first ever national exercises to test FEMA, mission creep, bloat and general ineffectiveness also expanded during this time.

And it has only grown worse since. By turning into the nation’s primary disaster agency for every crisis big or small — including under Joe Biden, massively supporting illegal aliens — rather than focusing on true national calamities and possible war, FEMA has become a bloated, overused mess spending nearly $30 billion annually on disaster aid.

It has also made states, the true first responders, weak and dependent on the feds in any crisis.

As Dan Lips and Natalie Enclade of the Foundation for American Innovation explain in ‘The Case for Focusing FEMA’s Mission’: as FEMA has quietly evolved into a gigantic grant-making agency, distributing billions annually to states, local governments, and nonprofits, preparedness and disaster response have become more federalized, and made states less self-reliant and capable, and more dependent.

FEMA’s outdated and overused disaster declaration process provides federal funds for routine events like floods, wildfires, storms and tornadoes — contrary to congressional intent to help only when a state is truly overwhelmed. 

They note:

Last year alone, 175 events were declared emergencies or major disasters, signaling that each was allegedly so severe it overwhelmed state resources and required federal intervention. This staggering number raises serious questions about whether these declarations reflect genuine disasters or an over-reliance on federal aid for routine incidents.

While some in Trump’s circle, and at times Trump himself, talk of eliminating FEMA, America needs FEMA, just not the way it is currently formed and operated.

That’s why some, like me, propose refocusing the agency on its core original mission, national civil defense in case of nuclear war, EMP attack, cyber-attack, conventional attack, terror attack, civil conflict, massive natural disaster, or any combination thereof. 

Otherwise, FEMA’s failure in its original purpose could prove devastating. As H. Quinton Lucie wrote in his superb piece, ‘How FEMA Could Lose America’s Next Great War,’ as of now:

The United States lacks a comprehensive strategy and supporting programs to support and defend the population… during times of war and to mobilize, sustain and expand its defense industrial base while under attack from a peer or near- peer adversary. These legacy programs were disbanded and broken up over 25 years ago, and without a reinvestment in these activities by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), America risks losing its next great war.

Thankfully, Trump has created the vehicle to reverse the damage done to FEMA, and our nation.

Only days after being inaugurated, Trump established a “Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency’ named the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council. This council has the one-year mission of evaluating all aspects of FEMA operations, its history and original purpose. 

Trump should tell this Council to focus on restructuring FEMA and renewing its original national security and civil defense mission, not disbanding it.