Kristi Noem Defends FEMA Overhaul Amid Bureaucrat Backlash

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem isn’t backing down after more than 190 current and former FEMA employees accused the Trump administration of dismantling the disaster relief agency. In fact, she’s doubling down and laying out a bold, America-first vision for an agency that has long been bloated, inefficient, and riddled with bureaucracy.

"I refuse to accept that FEMA red tape should stand between an American citizen suffering and the aid they desperately need," Noem said in a fiery statement to Fox News Digital. "That’s why I am working so hard to eliminate FEMA as it exists today."

Noem’s comments come in direct response to an open letter signed by a group of FEMA insiders many of whom served under Joe Biden’s mismanaged leadership complaining about Trump-era reforms. The letter, circulated by a liberal nonprofit called Stand Up for Science, paints FEMA as a victim of budget cuts and internal disruption.

But here’s the truth Noem and President Trump are exposing:

• FEMA has been a bureaucratic nightmare for decades, failing to respond effectively to disasters from Hurricane Katrina to recent wildfires and floods.

• The Biden administration spent hundreds of millions resettling illegal immigrants while Americans still wait for payouts from natural disasters over 15 years ago.

• Under Noem and Trump, FEMA is being transformed into a streamlined, deployable disaster force cutting out consultants and wasteful contractors in favor of results-driven action.

President Trump said it best:

“When you have a tornado or a hurricane... that’s what you have governors for. They’ll develop a system, and it will be a great system.”

That’s what Noem is building: local-first, lean, accountable emergency response, not some DC labyrinth that burns tax dollars while survivors wait months for bottled water.

Even some Democrats are beginning to admit the shift is working. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, recently praised FEMA’s ground efforts under Trump, calling them “a credit to his administration.” That kind of praise is rare and telling.

Meanwhile, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is exposing how deep the rot really goes inside the old FEMA structure.

"These [FEMA] career bureaucrats had Support Service contracts for everything they do... They hardly did anything themselves," a DOGE spokesperson said. "No wonder they have time to write letters to the Hill."

That’s what this letter is really about: entrenched bureaucrats protecting their sinecures. They’re not angry about disaster response they’re angry they’re finally being held accountable.

Kristi Noem is right to cut through the noise. Americans don’t need another alphabet agency that vanishes when the storm hits. They need a focused, fast-acting force ready to serve the people not itself.

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