Overview

• FEMA’s urban search-and-rescue teams were not deployed for more than 72 hours after June’s memo requiring Noem’s sign-off on expenses over $100,000.
• Call-center contracts allowed to expire on July 5 sent answer rates plummeting to 15.9 percent before they were renewed on July 10.
• Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS have publicly labeled reports of unanswered survivor calls and contractor firings as false and misleading.
• Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz and senators including Elizabeth Warren have demanded formal investigations and called for Noem’s resignation.
• With FEMA staff cuts eroding capacity, the administration is now pursuing a plan to remake the agency rather than abolish it.