Kristi Noem: 'Get Rid of FEMA the Way It Exists'

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she supports the notion of shutting down the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Last month, when he visited the North Carolina region affected by Hurricane Helene and Los Angles amid its wildfires, President Donald Trump said that he was considering "getting rid of FEMA."

Trump said state governments, not federal, should handle disasters, and he signed an executive order establishing a council to review the agency.

During an appearance Sunday on CNN, Noem was asked whether Trump could and should shut down FEMA.

"He can, and I believe that he will do that evaluation with his team, and he’s talking about it, which I’m grateful for," Noem said. "He’ll work with Congress, though, to make sure that it’s done correctly, and that we’re still there to help folks who have a terrible disaster or crisis in their life.

"He’s been very clear that he still believes there’s a role for the federal government to come in and help people get back up on their feet, but there’s a lot of fraud and waste and abuse out there."

The former South Dakota governor said her experience during natural disasters was that local officials "made way better decisions than the people in Washington, D.C."

"I would say, yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today," Noem said. "We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters, like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California, but you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed."

Noem also said she supported Elon Musk and the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to agency data that includes personal information about disaster victims.

"Elon Musk is part of the administration that is helping us identify where we can find savings and what we can do and he has gone through the processes to make sure that he has the authority the president has granted him," she said.

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