Acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton said the agency is prepared for hurricane season, even as it faces worker shortages, disaster fund limits and criticism over delays in federal recovery programs.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say the agency is prepared for hurricane season despite staffing losses, funding pressures and criticism from communities frustrated by delays in disaster recovery programs.
At FEMA headquarters this week, federal and state officials conducted a hurricane response exercise built around a simulated Category 2 storm striking Creole, Louisiana. The drill included FEMA, the National Guard, the Coast Guard, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and local emergency agencies ahead of the June 1 start of hurricane season, according to CBS News.
The exercise came as FEMA continues working through significant internal challenges. House Democrats have warned that the agency has lost more than 5,000 employees since January 2025 and that nearly half of FEMA’s top leadership posts remain vacant. A Government Accountability Office report also found FEMA began the 2025 hurricane season with only 12% of its deployable disaster workforce available.
Acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton said the agency remains ready to respond.
“Oh, we’re ready for hurricane season,” Fenton told CBS. “This is something we do every year. It’s in our DNA.”
Fenton acknowledged that FEMA is still dealing with the effects of a lengthy Department of Homeland Security funding lapse and government shutdown.
“The lapse had a significant impact on us,” Fenton said. “Any time that you’re closed for 70-something days and then 40-something days this year — over 100 days in total this year — it has an impact.”
FEMA recently reached Immediate Needs Funding status after its disaster relief fund dropped to low levels, forcing the agency to limit spending weeks before hurricane season.
“We are playing catch-up,” Fenton said. “But we play catch-up pretty quick here.”
The agency has begun rehiring disaster personnel and accelerating recruitment ahead of hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup.
“We are aggressively hiring right now,” Fenton said.
FEMA is also working through COVID reimbursement backlogs and rising disaster costs across the country.
“Disasters are expensive,” Fenton said.
The agency has faced mounting criticism from storm-damaged communities over delays, paperwork and federal recovery requirements. Fenton said FEMA is aware of those concerns.
“There is bureaucracy over the years that’s been built in FEMA,” he said.
At the same time, the Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council is pushing to shift more disaster response responsibility from the federal government to state and local governments.
Fenton also warned homeowners and disaster survivors not to assume federal assistance will fully replace lost property or cover all recovery costs.
“There’s a misconception that FEMA is going to make you whole when you get hit by a disaster,” he said. “The best way to protect yourself is insurance.”
FEMA is testing artificial intelligence tools to speed disaster assistance processing, but Fenton said the system would be limited to government use and would not expose survivor information to public platforms.
“Our AI is a DHS internal AI system,” he said. “We’re not going out to the World Wide Web.”
Asked whether states should expect FEMA’s response to differ from past years, Fenton pointed to the training exercise underway behind him.
“Look behind me,” he said. “We are here. We are training. We are preparing for the next event.”
The agency’s message heading into hurricane season is that it remains operational and prepared, even as it works to rebuild staffing, manage limited disaster funds and address criticism over federal disaster bureaucracy.