"A watchdog report found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has had to reassign employees working on ongoing disaster recovery to respond to new disasters and deploy staffers to perform jobs they’re largely not trained to do."
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s past recovery efforts have been impeded by staffing shortages, and officials are facing an ongoing hurricane season with even fewer employees, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Tuesday.
“Given continued demands on the federal response workforce and recent staff reductions, the federal government will likely need to meet its disaster response mission with fewer available resources this year,” investigators wrote. “Should the U.S. experience a similarly catastrophic peak hurricane season in September and October 2025, as it did in 2024, meeting response needs could be a major challenge.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted “above-normal” hurricane activity this hurricane season, which runs June 1 through Nov. 30.
GAO reported that the number of active FEMA employees decreased from about 25,800 to 23,350, or 9.5%, between Jan. 1 and June 1. Of the roughly 2,450 departures, 1,465 were due to the workers participating in a voluntary separation program.
Additionally, the watchdog found that 24 members of FEMA’s Senior Executive Service left between Jan. 25 and June 1 — 20 due to a separation program. In comparison, the agency reported an average of 13 SES departures annually during the three previous fiscal years.
As of mid-June 2025, FEMA’s SES cadre was only half filled."
Sean Michael Newhouse reports for Government Executive September 3, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"Disaster Assistance High-Risk Series: Federal Response Workforce Readiness" (GAO)
"Watchdog Warns Trump’s Cuts at FEMA Pose a ‘Major Challenge’" (New York Times)
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