Multiple outlets report the Federal Emergency Management Agency has rescinded its strategic plan, a multi-year document that sets policy and priorities for the department as it responds to natural disasters and other emergencies.
In a memo to agency staff, Administrator David Richardson said the canceled plan "contains goals and objectives that bear no connection to FEMA accomplishing its mission. This summer, a new 2026-2030 strategy will be developed. The strategy will tie directly to FEMA executing its Mission Essential Tasks."
The change comes just days before June 1st, the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Officials told multiple outlets Richardson plans to run FEMA in a manner that keeps its operations entirely "within the law," by doing nothing more or less than what those laws require. This has prompted concerns that such a narrow focus will reduce FEMA's ability to plan for and mitigate damage from storms and emergencies.
But that focus is likely to align with the administration's plans for the agency. President Donald Trump has called FEMA slow and ineffective. He and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have long said they plan to dismantle the agency and place more responsibility for disaster management under control of individual states.
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Richardson, meanwhile, has sought to make it clear to agency staffers that he plans to execute President Trump's vision for the agency.
"I will run right over you," he told staffers when he took over, warning that delays or attempt to undermine his direction of the agency would not be tolerated. "I will achieve the president’s intent."
Richardson replaced the agency's previous acting administrator Cameron Hamilton, who was fired a day after he told members of Congress he does not believe the FEMA should be dismantled.
