'This Entire Agency Needs To Be Eliminated As It Exists Today': Sec. Kristi Noem Slams FEMA

Forbes Breaking News

During a public meeting of the FEMA Review Council, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about reforming the agency, and called for state leadership in disaster responses.

Transcript

00:00Pleasure to introduce Secretary Kristi Noem. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

00:04Well, thank you, and good afternoon, everybody. I appreciate you all being here and making this

00:08such a priority. I do want to thank our Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, as well, for co-chairing

00:14this important review council. His input and wisdom has been incredibly valuable as we re-evaluate

00:19this agency and look at what we can put in place for reforms that are much more responsive to the

00:24citizens of the United States and to make sure that this agency is operating in the way the

00:29President Trump has laid out for all of us to make sure that it operates responding to people

00:36when they have a crisis or for the continuation of government. I also want to thank Governor Landry

00:42for hosting the crew and for all of his hospitality. His leadership has been absolutely fantastic and

00:48his insight and experience in FEMA and its response will be very valuable input to this review council

00:55as well. And Governor Phil Bryant, thank you. This man has spent dozens and dozens of hours

01:00putting in the work and contacting individuals and getting input so that we can end up putting this

01:07agency in the best place and position possible to be reformed and remade into a vision of an agency

01:13that respects people, responds, and doesn't get in their way. You know, when President Trump first

01:18established this review council, the goal was very simple. It was to provide recommendations on how to

01:24streamline and to right-size the federal government, especially in its role in disaster management.

01:31Now, I was in Texas this weekend and was there dealing and working with the individuals who are

01:38experiencing this heartbreaking tragedy and saw firsthand the devastated families, the reeling

01:44community, the leaders that are there on the ground responding. We certainly supported that

01:49immediately on search and recover efforts and partnered with the state and local governments

01:54to get Americans all of the resources that they need. Working together, state officials like Nim Kidd and

02:01the governor and his team, along with all the other agencies involved, have coordinated efforts that

02:06have rescued over 850 people. We now currently have an ongoing flooding situation going on in New Mexico as

02:13well, which we are in communication with the governor on and continuing to work there. And what President

02:19Trump has empowered us to do is to let these states and local emergency management officials

02:25run and make decisions that best respond to their communities and we be a support that comes in and

02:31comes alongside them when they need us. Federal emergency management should be state and locally led

02:37rather than how it has operated for decades. It has been slow to respond at the federal level. It's even

02:45been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis. And that is why this entire agency needs to

02:51be eliminated as it exists today and remade into a responsive agency. We owe it to all the American

02:57people to deliver the most efficient and the most effective disaster response. In fact, some of how we've

03:02responded to Texas is exactly how President Trump imagined that this agency would operate, immediately

03:09making decisions, getting them resources and dollars that they need so that they can conduct the response

03:15that they need to do on the ground. This job of remaking this agency is not nearly as simple as it should be

03:21because we're up against decades of gross mismanagement and negligence. The list of FEMA's failures is

03:29staggering. The scale of those failures is matched only by their longevity. FEMA has been disastrous at times,

03:37incompetent at times, and not just in the last few years, but for decades. There's times FEMA has performed

03:44very well and has responded and delivered the help that people needed. But we look back at instances like

03:52Hurricane Katrina, which happened 20 years ago next month. There are still many open claims left over from that

03:58disaster that have gone unanswered. And meanwhile, in the last two years, or in the first two years,

04:04I guess, after Katrina, $2 billion had been paid out in fraudulent claims. Payments for Katrina recovery

04:11are still ongoing, with $400 million being spent in just 2021 alone. And then after the wildfires in Maui,

04:20residents voiced concerns that every FEMA employee that they spoke with had different answers.

04:24None of them had conversations that resulted in getting assistance that was helpful or any clarity

04:30in their situations. The situation in Lahaina was so bad that one in six survivors were forced to trade

04:37sexual favors, other favors for just basic supplies. At the same time, illegal aliens were staying in

04:44luxury hotels using FEMA dollars. Much the Roosevelt Hotel is the one you're probably the most familiar

04:50with in New York City. They got to stay there for free on the taxpayer dime through this FEMA agency.

04:57Most of those rooms cost over $300 a night. In 2024, when Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast,

05:05FEMA's disaster relief fund was unable to provide the necessary relief because millions of dollars

05:10had been diverted to housing and transportation for illegal aliens. Now, FEMA was supposed to show up,

05:18and yet residents reported that they saw no FEMA personnel on the ground or applying for aid on

05:24their behalf. They instead had to rely on local volunteers. Right after Helene, Hurricane Milton also

05:31hit the Southeast. It was revealed that FEMA officials in Florida ordered relief workers to skip houses

05:37that had certain campaign signs, ones that had President Trump's name on them. And the workers

05:43responsible for that horrific act of discrimination have been fired. Politics has no place in disaster

05:49relief, and it won't in the future under our watch and under President Trump's watch. The American people

05:55deserve better, and they deserve better especially in times of disaster. The answer is going to be

06:01putting the federal government in its proper place, getting this bloated bureaucracy out of the way.

06:07And so that is why President Trump created this FEMA Review Council. The responsibility that you have

06:14is incredibly important. The future of disaster management has to be led by local communities

06:20and by states, with the federal government coming in in a supporting role, empowering them,

06:25not hindering them, and slowing them down with paperwork, bureaucracy, and lack of resources.

06:30State and local leaders know that their communities,

06:33what they know what they need better than the government ever could. They know their exact

06:38needs, and they know how best to prepare. People forget that the states are older than the

06:44Constitution, and that they created the Constitution, that federalism matters, and states' rights need to

06:50be respected. We need to focus more on helping, not hindering, and state and local authorities need to be

06:56empowered. We don't take charge of them. We give them the opportunity to lead the way. Now, a leader is

07:02someone who empowers others to do their job well and to be the best that they can be. The job of

07:08government is not to do everything for the people. It's to let people do things for themselves and

07:13empower them to make decisions and take personal responsibility for their lives, but to help them

07:18when a crisis happens. When I was a child, my dad always said to me, Christy, we don't complain about

07:23things. We fix them. And I want all of you to have that attitude. We could sit here and complain about

07:29FEMA and the failures of the past, but we are charged with fixing it. For far too long, people

07:34complained about the incompetence of FEMA. President Trump is wanting all of us to sit down with clear

07:41heads, clear minds, and a good heart and be willing to fix this agency. Together, we're going to

07:47revolutionize disaster response for the 21st century by going back to our founders' first principles and

07:53why that works. When American lives are at stake, failure is not an option. So I want to thank you

07:59all for what you're doing here. I ask that God bless your work and that we come up with the right

08:04answers for the American people. Our hearts and our prayers are with the people of Texas, the people

08:09of New Mexico, others that are going through a crisis today, and know that we will walk alongside

08:15them through this, but also that while we are doing that, that we use every opportunity in front of us

08:20to do better, to be better, and to continue to create opportunities that the United States of

08:26America can continue to be the best country leading the way in the world. So with that, I'll yield back.

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