Final Report: The President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency: May 7, 2026 by FEMA Council Review

What should America expect from its disaster response system when the next hurricane, wildfire, flood, earthquake, cyberattack, or national emergency arrives? This book examines one of the most consequential public policy questions facing the United States: how to rebuild the nation’s emergency management system so that disaster response is faster, more accountable, more locally grounded, and more resilient. Drawing from a comprehensive review of FEMA’s current structure, programs, costs, delays, and operational challenges, this book presents a clear argument for transforming the way America prepares for, responds to, and recovers from disasters. At its center is a simple but powerful doctrine: disaster response should be locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported. For decades, FEMA has been the central symbol of federal disaster relief. Yet as disasters have grown more frequent, more complex, and more expensive, the system has become increasingly burdened by bureaucracy, slow reimbursement models, administrative overhead, duplicative programs, outdated processes, and unclear responsibility among federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, private-sector, nonprofit, and faith-based partners. Read more