He tried to eliminate FEMA. Now he says the Trump administration has changed course

David Richardson testifies before Congress in 2025, when he was leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In a new book, he describes his efforts to dramatically reduce the agency's size. "I quickly realized that I would not be the one to transform FEMA or shut it down," he says. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is no longer in the Trump administration's crosshairs, according to its former leader.

President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the country's top disaster agency. In the first week of his second term, he attacked FEMA, saying, "I think, frankly, FEMA is not good," arguing that the agency should be eliminated . That rhetoric was echoed by top administration officials, including then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, who controlled the agency's budget.

Other federal agencies have since been stripped down or even eliminated, including the Department of Education , Voice of America and USAID .

But despite his own significant efforts to dismantle FEMA, the man who ran the agency at the time says FEMA isn't going anywhere.

"I think they're probably in a go-along-to-get-along kind of mode," says David Richardson, who led FEMA as acting administrator for much of 2025 and has since left the federal government. "I don't see there being a whole lot of change."

That shift is apparent inside the agency. In recent months, the fear of wholesale agency abolition or mass layoffs has dissipated among FEMA workers, according to multiple current FEMA employees who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation for speaking to a journalist. But the attempts to kill it have compounded some of FEMA's longstanding problems, like understaffing, and delays in getting disaster recovery money to survivors.

Rescue workers are seen on land and on a boat as they search for missing people near Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, along the Guadalupe River after a deadly flash flood swept through the area in July 2025. Julio Cortez/AP hide caption