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Washington — Inside FEMA Headquarters' National Response Coordination Center, arsenic a hypothetical Category 2 hurricane bore down adjacent Creole, Louisiana, maps of the tempest glowed connected tv screens. Staff announcements rang retired connected a PA system. Emergency managers leaned implicit laptops and traded updates successful sidebars.
FEMA staff, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, the Department of Interior, the National Guard, the Coast Guard and authorities and section coordinators sat successful rows — a full catastrophe effect ecosystem rehearsing days earlier the 2026 hurricane play begins connected June 1.
But the exercise, dubbed "Silent Echo," unfolded astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile FEMA itself is being tested.
The agency, which is emerging from a bruising authorities shutdown portion dealing with wildfires and the FIFA World Cup, present besides faces a Trump-appointed reappraisal council's connection to redesign the national government's relation successful catastrophe response.
Bob Fenton, FEMA's acting administrator, stands successful the mediate of it all.
Is FEMA acceptable for hurricane season?
"I'm here," Fenton said erstwhile asked astir fears that FEMA has been hollowed out. "And I person implicit 3 decades of experience."
Fenton is not FEMA's past antheral standing, but the vocation exigency manager and longtime Region 9 head is the lone FEMA determination manager to stay successful spot done the Biden medication and the 2nd Trump administration. Over the years, helium has coordinated DHS Operations Allies Welcome, helped pb FEMA's COVID-19 effect and worked connected catastrophe betterment connected each scale. He precocious returned from ongoing betterment efforts successful Guam and the Mariana Islands, pursuing the landfall of a Category 4-equivalent ace typhoon.
Now helium is trying to reassure the state that FEMA is ready.
"Oh, we're acceptable for hurricane season," Fenton told CBS News successful an exclusive interview. "This is thing we bash each year. It's successful our DNA," helium said, gesturing to the unit engaged down him.
But his assurance came with caveats astir the request for authorities and section governments to instrumentality the pb connected recovery.
A May 14 missive from House Homeland Security Committee Democrats warned that FEMA has mislaid much than 5,000 employees since January 2025 and that astir fractional of FEMA's apical 38 enactment positions are vacant.
Last year, the Government Accountability Office separately found that FEMA began the 2025 hurricane play with conscionable 12% of its incidental absorption workforce available. These are the unit who tin beryllium deployed to progressive disasters oregon sent to unit effect operations to coordinate national support, assistance survivors oregon transportation retired logistics, planning, operations and betterment work. They are presently supporting much than 91 large catastrophe and exigency declarations astir the country.
But Fenton said the numbers are healthier now.
"We person a small spot implicit 30% of our catastrophe workforce acceptable close now," helium said. "Between 30 and 40% is mean availability." He estimated that different 30% of FEMA workers person been deployed, with different 30% successful training, credentialing, connected permission oregon different assigned.
"I'm comfy with wherever we're at," Fenton said. "We person a precise experienced unit here."
"We are playing catch-up"
Still, Fenton acknowledged the bureau is recovering from disruption.
"The lapse had a important interaction connected us," helium said, referring to the grounds DHS partial authorities shutdown. "Any clip that you're closed for 70-something days and past 40-something days this twelvemonth — implicit 100 days successful full this twelvemonth — it has an impact."
FEMA besides ran debased connected its Disaster Relief Fund, triggering Immediate Needs Funding — a fiscal reddish portion that limits spending to urgent, lifesaving needs. CBS News reported successful April that the DRF dropped beneath $3 billion, forcing FEMA to restrict spending conscionable weeks earlier hurricane season.
"We are playing catch-up," Fenton conceded. "But we play catch-up beauteous speedy here."
He said FEMA is present pushing retired backing for past disasters aft receiving wealth from Congress and restarting preparedness enactment that had been delayed.
"It impacts our readiness ability," Fenton said of the shutdown, "which translates to the readiness of the federation — whether that's the idiosyncratic oregon that authorities and section government, oregon whether that's our team."
Fenton said FEMA inactive trained much than a cardinal authorities and section unit implicit the past year, but admitted that the bureau mislaid time, question and face-to-face coordination.
"We request to drawback up from that astatine each levels," helium said, "including the backstage assemblage and nonprofits."
Refilling the ranks
FEMA is connected a ngo to rebuild its workforce, aft the bureau precocious moved to bring backmost astir 200 catastrophe effect employees who had been fto go, saying it was taking steps to "stabilize" its unit up of the 2026 hurricane play and the FIFA World Cup.
Recent tribunal depositions bespeak DHS had antecedently ordered FEMA to make plans to chopped arsenic overmuch arsenic 50% of its personnel. Fenton did not straight accidental that program is dead, but helium emphasized that FEMA is present hiring.
"We person a caput that precise overmuch cares astir our mission, cares astir our workforce, and has fixed america authorization to commencement the hiring process," helium said. "We are aggressively hiring close now."
The workforce question is not conscionable astir headcount. It is astir acquisition — the benignant of organization cognition that helps exigency managers cognize who to call, what to move, which authorities systems are brittle and which section officials whitethorn already beryllium overwhelmed.
Fenton's connection to employees was simple: believe.
"My archetypal all-hands gathering here, I utilized the opus 'Just Believe,'" helium said, explaining that helium borrowed the thought from San Francisco Giants games. "I privation everyone present to judge not lone successful our mission, which they do, but judge successful leadership."
Another interest heading into hurricane play is HURREVAC, the free, web-based hurricane evacuation readying instrumentality utilized by section exigency managers nationwide to way hazards, tailor reports and program evacuation timelines. The May 14 legislature missive urged FEMA and DHS to reconstruct the HURREVAC declaration aft a stalled renewal jeopardized entree to the instrumentality up of hurricane season.
"The HURREVAC system, I think, is acceptable to spell this year," Fenton said, erstwhile pressed connected whether the level is up and running. FEMA volition trial the strategy during an workout with NOAA, the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center connected Monday.
"We're going to springiness the champion accusation we tin to section and authorities governments to alteration them to marque the champion decisions," helium said.
FIFA: "It's not knowing what comes next"
FEMA's hurricane preparations are unfolding alongside different large trial for the agency: the FIFA World Cup, which demands tremendous information and exigency absorption resources successful cities nationwide.
Fenton told CBS News that the shutdown delayed millions successful assistance backing to authorities and section governments preparing for the games, including for training, instrumentality and counter-drone technology.
"We've astir pushed retired astir $900 cardinal successful grants," helium said, putting the fig astatine astir $875 million. "But you're right. Because of the lapse, it was delayed."
The acting head said FEMA present has teams retired astatine venue sites with authorities and section partners, but acknowledged that the overlap with hurricane play illustrates FEMA's larger challenge. Hurricanes won't hold for wildfire play to end. A hazmat lawsuit tin hap the aforesaid play FEMA is preparing for the World Cup. Earthquakes springiness nary warning. Floods present chopped done communities acold from the coast.
"It's not knowing what's coming next," Fenton said. "We request to hole for each hazards here."
COVID bills and leftover disasters
FEMA is inactive moving done a backlog of COVID-19 effect reimbursements. Last year, the National Association of Counties reported astir $11 cardinal successful delayed reimbursements to 45 states, tied to COVID-era exigency costs. More recently, FEMA has announced billions successful caller reimbursement approvals.
Fenton said the bureau is present "more than 90%" done COVID funding, though helium did not springiness an nonstop remaining dollar amount. "There's inactive immoderate decisions to beryllium made," helium said. "There's immoderate enactment we're inactive going through."
Fenton said FEMA had precocious enactment retired "almost $5 billion" successful catastrophe and COVID backing since the DHS backing lapse ended, noting that catastrophe effect interaction is cumulative. Communities inactive waiting connected reimbursement from 1 exigency hazard having little capableness to beforehand costs for the next. Counties, hospitals and states that spent heavy during COVID are besides present facing the request to hole for floods, hurricanes, wildfires and utmost heat.
"Disasters are expensive," Fenton said.
In post-hurricane Helene North Carolina, vexation with FEMA takes a antithetic form: not successful the signifier of uncertainty implicit whether the bureau volition amusement up, but whether it tin determination accelerated enough.
Asked astir communities recovering from what consciousness little similar 100-year floods than 1,000-year floods, Fenton acknowledged FEMA's reddish tape.
"There is bureaucracy implicit the years that's been built successful FEMA," helium said. "Some of that is done authorities that's been enactment connected us. Some of that is done policies that we've enactment successful place."
He added that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin's determination to rescind a anterior DHS argumentation requiring reappraisal of contracts and grants implicit $100,000 enactment successful spot by erstwhile Secretary Kristi Noem should assistance determination things faster.
FEMA piloting AI usage for idiosyncratic assistance
Fenton said FEMA is opening to usage artificial intelligence, including successful its Individual Assistance programme — the strategy that helps survivors use for assistance aft disasters.
Right now, helium said, FEMA workers person to hunt done "tons of documents" to reply subsister questions. AI offers the anticipation of helping FEMA unit rapidly retrieve information, enactment automated calls and amended assistance work. Fenton said FEMA is moving aviator programs present and hopes to statesman utilizing AI successful Individual Assistance by the extremity of the fall.
"It's astir a 20-something-year-old strategy that volition beryllium modernized and commencement to leverage AI," helium added.
Pressed astir privacy, Fenton said FEMA would not beryllium utilizing nationalist tools for subsister data.
"Our AI is simply a DHS interior AI system," helium said. "We're not going retired to the World Wide Web."
The committedness is faster service. The hazard is whether catastrophe survivors — often astatine their astir susceptible — tin spot a national bureau successful modulation to modernize without compromising privacy, accuracy oregon access.
Flood security and the limits of FEMA aid
Future of FEMA
Earlier this month, the FEMA Review Council's last study recommended shifting much work to states and section governments.
"There's a misconception that FEMA is going to marque you full erstwhile you get deed by a disaster," Fenton said.
FEMA grants, helium added, are meant for contiguous needs: sheltering, impermanent housing, and assistance getting into harmless and sanitary conditions. He said the mean idiosyncratic assistance implicit the past 5 years has been astir $6,000.
"The champion mode to support yourself is insurance," Fenton said. Flood insurance, Fenton noted, mostly takes 30 days to go active. "Go up and bash that present if you're trying to bash it for this season," helium said.
Fenton besides warned Americans not to confuse FEMA assistance with insurance. The Review Council besides recommended successful its findings to transportation Americans' flood security sum from the federally managed National Flood Insurance Program toward the backstage market. The NFIP is presently authorized lone done Sept. 30, 2026, unless Congress acts again.
"I deliberation there's a determination to guarantee states are supported and instrumentality connected much of the work for managing these events," Fenton said. "That volition hap implicit time. It's not an contiguous crook of the airy switch."
Asked whether governors should interest FEMA mightiness not amusement up successful the aforesaid mode it has successful the past, Fenton was direct.
"Look down me," helium said. "We are here. We are training. We are preparing for the adjacent event."
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