The decision to reshape the hiring process for the agency's disaster relief foot soldiers comes just months before hurricane season.

Summary

The Trump administration is overhauling FEMA’s hiring process, requiring over two-thirds of employees to submit contract renewals to DHS for approval.

This affects Cadre of On-Call Response (CORE) employees and reservists who handle disaster response and comprise most of FEMA’s workforce.

The agency has already fired 200+ probationary (new) workers, frozen external hiring, and directed contract renewals to DHS “for decision.”

Critics fear this will effectively dismantle FEMA ahead of hurricane season, aligning with Trump’s statements that “you don’t need FEMA, you need a good state government” and Project 2025’s goal to shift disaster costs to states.