Episode 4 of American Emergency; The Movement to Kill FEMA
5/22/202652 min
The president has proposed a new leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week’s On the Media, a reckoning with the future of FEMA, and an interview with Trump’s nominee to lead the agency. Plus, a FEMA worker starts an anonymous newsletter to share how cuts are hurting the agency.
[00:00] Micah Loewinger brings us the final installment of OTM’s miniseries American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. Micah interviews Cameron Hamilton, an unqualified MAGA warrior brought in to take the agency down last year. When he refused to kill FEMA point blank, he was fired. Hamilton shares what it was like to work at FEMA under Kristi Noem. Earlier this month, Hamilton was nominated by the president to lead the agency – despite his lack of experience.
[00:00] Micah interviews an anonymous FEMA worker who started a newsletter amid the chaos of Kristi Noem’s leadership at DHS. The goal of the online publication, called Alt-FEMA, was to get the truth out about the agency’s capacity — at a time when it was bleeding staff and experience. Its stated mission is to record “what is being dismantled: institutional knowledge, coordination capacity, and the ability to serve communities in crisis.”
[00:00] Micah explores the future of FEMA, and the administration's plans to reduce the role of the agency in responding to disasters. We hear from a veteran FEMA staffer, MaryAnn Tierney, and a climate beat reporter at Grist, Jake Bittle, who wrestled with the proposed reforms. Micah also speaks to the Director of Emergency Management in Vermont, Eric Forand, and an emergency manager of a tribal nation on the West Coast about how diminished federal disaster funding could hurt their communities.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBrooke Gladstone· Host0:00
Hi, this is Brooke. You know, when Micah and Eloise, his producer, were out for long stretches working on the series, I did ask myself once or twice, "What is it about FEMA? What is it we don't already know?" But wow, this was new, gripping, painstaking original reporting. But as great as Micah and Eloise are, there is another person who made it possible, and that's you. Listener support is the largest and most reliable source of funding for our show and for the whole station. So support us today, make a donation, and get our brand-new On the Media jumbo tote with an extra-large On the Media logo. Just go to onthemedia.org/donate. Thank you. And now, the final episode of American Emergency.
Micah Loewinger· Host0:54
[upbeat music] On this week's On the Media from WNYC, the Trump administration has threatened to kill, or at least maim, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But FEMA isn't going down without a fight.
Donald Trump· Soundbite1:09
I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA's not good.
Mary Anne Tierney· Guest1:18
We were tasked to write a memo on how we would abolish FEMA.
Cameron Hamilton· Guest1:23
He proceeded to berate me over the fact that the media got ahold of a story and was running a topic that they felt