On Tuesday, Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to shift the responsibility for disaster preparations from the federal government to state and local authorities, deepening his endeavor to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The order, which was first mentioned by the White House on 10th March, calls for a comprehensive review of all infrastructure, continuity, and preparedness and response policies in order to update and simplify federal approaches.
The White House highlighted that “common sense” investments made by state and local governments in addressing risks such as wildfires, hurricanes, and cyber-attacks would enhance national security. However, the order failed to specify what these investments entail or how they would be funded. According to the order, preparedness is most effectively handled at the state, local, and individual levels, with the federal government playing a competent, accessible, and efficient supportive role. Empowering states to make informed infrastructure decisions would benefit taxpayers.
The order also calls for revising critical infrastructure policy to better reflect assessed risks, moving away from the “all-hazards approach” previously adopted. This information was provided in a fact sheet released by the White House. The order creates a “National Risk Register” to identify, describe, and assess risks to US national infrastructure, aimed at streamlining federal functions to facilitate better collaboration between states and Washington. Trump had previously ordered a review of FEMA in January, but it was confirmed that the latest order is not intended to shut down the country’s primary disaster response agency. Critics, like Rob Moore, the director of the flooding solutions team at the Natural Resources Defense Council, accuse the Trump administration of systematically weakening US disaster readiness. Moore stated that the Trump administration has been eroding the nation’s ability to plan for, respond to, and recover from disasters, citing the dismissal of 1,000 FEMA staff and withholding funding from local and state governments working on risk reduction projects. Shana Udvardy, a senior researcher at the Union of Concerned Scientists, expressed concerns that the order represents another dangerous step that will leave communities with fewer resources to prepare for future disasters. According to Udvardy, the executive order shifts the responsibility for disaster preparedness to state and local governments and expects them to make more expensive infrastructure investments without clearly defining the federal government’s role in this process.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/trump-executive-order-fema-disaster-preparation