Federal Emergency Management Agency
United States disaster response agency
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| May 2025 | Interim FEMA leader Cameron Hamilton was dismissed after testifying against FEMA's elimination. He was replaced by Marine Corps veteran David Richardson, who pledged to implement the president's intent. |
| March 24 2025 | Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced plans to eliminate FEMA. |
| February 17 2025 | The Trump administration cut FEMA staff, firing more than 200 new and veteran employees. |
| 2024 | FEMA administered over $3 billion across its suite of homeland security grants, including programs like State Homeland Security Grant Program, Urban Area Security Initiative, Operation Stonegarden, and Nonprofit Security Grant Program. |
| August 2024 | EMI was officially organized under the newly established National Disaster and Emergency Management University (NDEMU), consisting of three specialized schools. |
| April 24 2024 | Donald Payne Jr. concludes his membership on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology in the 118th Congress. |
| 2023 | Subcommittee reverted to its original name: Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology. |
| April 12 2022 | FEMA reintroduced its flag, which was originally used between 1981 and 2003, as announced by Deanne Criswell. |
| September 30 2021 | A bipartisan bill, H.R. 5410 or The National Security Reforms and Accountability Act (NSRAA), was introduced to Congress by James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI). The bill borrowed language from the REIGN Act regarding PEADs and aimed to provide clarification and limitations on national security powers. |
| 2020 | Harper's magazine published an article discussing controversies surrounding Presidential Emergency Action Documents, including former Senator Gary Hart's efforts to obtain information about these secretive plans. |
| July 22 2020 | Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced Senate bill S.4279, known as The REIGN Act of 2020, which was the first legislation to directly acknowledge Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs). The bill proposed forcing the President to submit PEADs to congressional scrutiny within 30 days, mandating declassification of active PEADs within 180 days, but ultimately died in committee. |
| April 2020 | FEMA seized medical supplies from states and hospitals in seven states, including orders for thermometers (Florida), masks (Texas Association of Community Health Centers), and testing supplies (PeaceHealth hospital system). |
| April 2020 | FEMA seized 5,000,000 masks intended for Veterans Health Administration hospitals and redirected them to the Strategic National Stockpile. |
| April 24 2020 | San Francisco Mayor London Breed publicly criticized FEMA for confiscating ordered medical supplies through Customs and diverting them to other locations. |
| March 2020 | President Donald Trump's White House press briefing statement about having 'the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about' led to public discussion and media coverage of Presidential Emergency Action Documents. |
| March 20 2020 | FEMA claimed an order of 400 masks from MSC Industrial Supply using force majeure. |
| March 18 2020 | Federal government impounded a shipment of 3 million masks negotiated by Massachusetts from BJ's Wholesale Club at the Port of New York and New Jersey. |
| 2019 | FEMA introduced Risk Rating 2.0, a new flood insurance program that prices house insurance based on individual flood risk, accounting for distance from flood sources, flooding types and frequency, and rebuilding costs. |
| 2019 | Subcommittee was renamed to the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery. |
| April 7 2019 | Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen submitted her resignation less than a month after Long's resignation. |
| March 8 2019 | FEMA Administrator William 'Brock' Long resigned following criticism of his Hurricane Maria response and an ethical complaint over misuse of official vehicles, costing $151,000. |
| 2018 | FEMA received an annual budget of $30 billion, which was allocated and distributed to different states based on their emergency needs, with a commitment to transparently disclose the fund usage on their website by year-end. |
| October 3 2018 | FEMA conducted its first national wireless emergency system test, broadcasting an alert to an estimated 225 million electronic devices at 14:18 EDT. The test included a text message, flashing warning sign, and warning tone, demonstrating the agency's national emergency communication capabilities. |
| October 2017 | Lieutenant General Todd Semonite reported that Puerto Rico's electricity grid was functioning at only 14% capacity, with 376 megawatts available out of the required 2,700 megawatts. |
| September 2017 | Hurricane Maria struck Dominica and Puerto Rico with 175 mph sustained winds, causing massive devastation and power loss. FEMA had prepositioned 124 staff members and some provisions, but was widely criticized for its inadequate response to the humanitarian crisis. |
| 2013 | Congress passed the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act, allowing federally recognized tribes to directly request presidential emergency declarations. |
| 2011 | NDEMU celebrated its 60th anniversary of Emergency Management Training and Education for the United States. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Federal Emergency Management Agency, Presidential Emergency Action Documents, Emergency Management Institute & United States House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.