DHS Says FEMA Chief Was Joking About Hurricane Season Awareness

Calling the anonymously sourced reports ’meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy,‘ the agency said ’FEMA is laser focused on disaster response.’

A FEMA worker attends a claim by a local resident affected by floods following Hurricane Helene, in Marion, N.C., on Oct. 5, 2024. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Tuesday that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was joking when he remarked that he didn’t know that the United States has a hurricane season.

Multiple media reports that cited anonymous sources claimed that FEMA Acting Administrator David Richardson made the comment during a meeting with staff.

In response, a DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times that those reports were “meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy.”

“There is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season. FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people,” the statement said.

Reuters, which cited anonymous sources in the agency, said that Richardson’s remark was made during a briefing. He has led FEMA since early May. Before joining FEMA, he was assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security’s office for countering weapons of mass destruction, which he has told staff he will continue to lead.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration and FEMA following the publication of the Reuters report.

“I’m unaware of why he hasn’t been fired yet,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a post on social media after Richardson’s alleged comment was published. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said on social media platform X that “people will die” in response to the report.

In the statement on Tuesday, the DHS spokesperson also told The Epoch Times that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Richardson are shifting FEMA “from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens.”

“The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades,” the statement noted. “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, and the efforts of Acting Administrator Richardson FEMA is fully activated in preparation for Hurricane Season.”

Since President Donald Trump was sworn into office in January, he has made several comments signaling that he wants to dismantle or even eliminate FEMA and have states handle their own disaster relief efforts.

An order that Trump signed in January established a review council and cited concerns that FEMA was operating under a political bias. It called for evaluating whether “FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response ultimately harms the agency’s ability to successfully respond.”

During a tour of flood-ravaged areas in North Carolina earlier this year, Trump told reporters that the council likely is “going to recommend that FEMA go away.” And in an interview with Fox News in January, Trump said that he wanted states to handle their own disaster response efforts.

Richardson was appointed as head of FEMA last month after his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, was dismissed, a spokesperson confirmed in May.

In late May, Trump issued FEMA declarations allowing Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas to access financial support through the agency.

Hurricane Season Underway

The Atlantic Hurricane Season started on June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. Three to five major hurricanes of a Category 3 or greater and 13 to 19 named storms are expected this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a report released on May 22.

NOAA also said that there is a 60 percent chance of an “above-normal season,” a 30 percent chance of a “near-normal” hurricane season, and a 10 percent chance of a lower-than-normal season.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a June 3 morning update that there was a small chance that a tropical storm may form off the coast of the southeastern United States within the next 48 hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.