Against the Grain II
By Vaughn Wilson
We are officially in the 2026 hurricane season and Florida residents should be alarmed. Not just at the warming temperatures which has heated the accelerant known as the Gulf waters, but because the FEMA response we’ve all needed and grown accustomed to has not been in place. Several cities and states have suffered drawn out disappointments as the gutting of FEMA left them without a federal safety net for natural disasters.
With Elon Musk at the helm of the fledgling Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the billions of dollars stacked in FEMA, estimated at 15.1 billion, to be doled out to states upon formal requests for emergency funds, were held. The funds would become a portion of the money Musk would claim he cut from the government as nothing more than a slush fund.
While President Trump himself was not a fan of FEMA and campaigned on getting rid of the agency, it was Kristi Noem who sent FEMA into dormancy. She would not sign releases of emergency funds that frustrated Democrats and Republicans alike. It was the threats by Republican congressmen and Senators that really brought this to light as it not just being another dysfunctional relationship between the country’s two major parties. Real disasters in the areas these elected officials left their constituents looking at them for answers and they pressed Trump for a resolution.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research has been targeted for dismantling by the Trump Administration. Likely due to Musk’s ill-advised recommendation. This action enraged national meteorological societies as it crippled their ability to save life, property and the economy. In our area, the contracts for sea monitoring devices used by the National Hurricane Center went unpaid. Fortunately, private companies have stepped in and deployed their water-based drones to try and fill the gap of the lost atmospheric information due to the Department of Homeland Security’s absence of investment. These are critical elements of storm prediction and path predictions.
In an article published by E&E News, the challenges FEMA will face has been exaggerated over the last year. “FEMA has lost a lot of higher level people with a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge over the past year and a half,” said Josh Morton, emergency management director in Saluda County, South Carolina, and current president of the emergency managers’ group. “FEMA staffing all the way around has dropped drastically.”
In a dramatic turn of events, the very man who led FEMA during its better times, Cameron Hamilton, has been tapped to resume his top position at FEMA after being fired by the Trump administration in May of 2025. I couldn’t make this up.
However it looks, the bottom line is the Trump Administration has realized the importance of FEMA and is ensuring the country that funds will be available for disasters and the level of response we as Americans deserve, will be issued without delay moving forward.