FEMA is the Titanic

I have watched the entire drama unfold over the past fourteen months. My conclusion: I think FEMA is the Titanic. The Administration steered her into an iceberg on purpose and she has begun to sink. I don’t know how long she will stay afloat, but as I described in my earlier post, I abandoned the ship this month and am now rowing away in a lifeboat.

Image generated by ChatGPT, March 2026

The Analogy

On January 20, 2025, the new administration launched a defined and voter-backed mandate: shrink government, cut duplication, balance the budget, and return authority to the states. These theoretically echoed the Republican Party's historic core principles. 

Like many of those who gathered to watch the launch of the RMS Titanic in 1911, I was optimistic. I believe the federal government should not spend more than it generates. Why must individuals and states have balanced budgets but not the federal government?

Yes, federal spending has ballooned, due to structural redundancy, bureaucratic inertia, duplication in laws, and an out-of-control legislative process. There is too much duplication embedded in layers of authorizing statutes and appropriations (see my January 2025 post, Government Can be Inefficient and Redundant). Having served the executive for 20 years, I am convinced that continuous reform is a necessary and reasonable requirement.

I would have taken a rational approach to reform by identifying duplication in laws, amending or repealing the relevant sections, eliminating or consolidating programs in law, and then, only then, started an orderly reorganization, downsizing, and transition of programs to the states. Any mergers and acquisition management consultant would tell you how to do it correctly. 

What Other People Said

So what about FEMA? More on this in future posts, but for now recall that FEMA covers disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and flood insurance. The Project 2025 report's vision for FEMA was quite extreme:

The bloated DHS bureaucracy and budget, along with the wrong priorities, provide real opportunities for a conservative Administration to cut billions in spending and limit government’s role in Americans’ lives. These opportunities include privatizing TSA screening and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program, reforming FEMA emergency spending to shift the majority of preparedness and response costs to states and localities instead of the federal government, eliminating most of DHS’s grant programs, and removing all unions in the department for national security purposes. (p. 135)

What Do I think

Reform, including an effort to privatize or eliminate grant programs, requires design and not demolition. You phase out programs and not cut them with an axe (see the Court's opinion on this). You phase out staff with a plan; not fire haphazardly.

This February 2026 article, by NRDC, covers all elements of what happened really well, allowing me to focus on a personal perspective.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies. 

It's All About the Staff

An organization is nothing without its staff. Yet, thanks to DOGE, staffing cuts began immediately at FEMA. I would joke every morning when swiping my card at the office door. Will I get a green light today or a red light saying I am fired? My heart actually skipped a beat every morning. Some of my colleagues did get the red light. They were not being phased out as part of a sequenced reorganization plan, but with an out-of-control chainsaw. 

I've witnessed 14 months of chaos with four uncoordinated tactics to downsize the Agency's staff: 

• First the forced eviction of the most vulnerable, Probationary employees were placed on administrative leave — irrespective of their workload, contributions, expertise, or role — because they were the easiest to remove. But at FEMA, many people move around and get new contracts. Someone may have 10-15 years of experience but are back on probation because they started a new job under a new contract. The Agency did not end up jettisoning new employees with less than a year of experience, they lost significant talent. 
• Second, the bribe. This was the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation program, offering pay through October 2025 in exchange for separation. 
• Third, the axe. The elimination of any program and person related to diversity, equity, and climate. 
• And fourth, the torture. Make day-to-day work completely unstable and unappealing that voluntary attrition would cull the rest. The Head of the Office of Management and Budget had previously said he wanted to put us intro trauma  or make our lives miserable. Supervisors would get weekly reports of those who, heaven forbid, turned on their laptops at home or on their commute to catch up with work, used their cell phones outside of the office, or remained unplugged from the network for a full 8 hours a day. 

Here is one of my former colleague's graphical representation of how FEMA's workforce is being demolished.

Here is the irony: these measures did not generate any savings. Instead, they actually increased costs to the taxpayer. For example, administrative leave meant paying hundreds of employees not to work. Deferred resignation meant paying people to stay home before they separate in 6-9 months. Those of us still on the ship had to covering our multiple workloads while our colleagues sat at home on paid status. And we could only work in the office. We had to take a whole day off for a mid-day's doctors appointment instead of teleworking before and after the doctor. Great for us if we had accrued sick leave; terrible for the workload and taxpayers.

The federal bureaucracy, inefficient, indecisive, and slow as it is, got worse. 

Titanic Analogy

The ship was launched with pomp and circumstance. Those on board, like me, had high expectations of a reasonable if not great voyage. Then President jettisoned the captain (he has yet to appoint a head of FEMA), gave us a series of acting captains that had no relevant experience, co-president Musk came in with his chainsaw and some key departments were hamstrung, and then we hit the iceberg. Some of the late-boarding passengers (probationary workers) and those working on cancelled programs (DEI, Equity, Climate) were the first to be thrown off the ship. Others were enticed into early lifeboats (fork in the road).

I was not probationary. I did not take the “Fork in the Road.” A few months of pay in exchange for immediate uncertainty did not appeal to me. I also wanted to complete the cutting-edge effort I was leading. I was still on the ship.

What happened to those that stayed on board? Over the last six months, I have watched colleagues fall into four types. The first two types are in complete denial. I'm sorry to say this and I apologize to them up-front. They are welcome to disagree (including by responding with an anonymous comment below and yes it is truly anonymous). But this is my personal perspective and a generalization. There are always people who fall outside of any generalization, who have specific circumstances, and who are on either side of the normal bell-curve. That's why it's a bell curve.

Some continue “playing the orchestra” — producing memos, holding meetings, and conducting pretend work. Others rearrange deck chairs — reorganizing, working on mythical staffing plans, and updating procedures. They do not believe we’ve hit anything and that the engines will restart. For them, life will soon be back to normal. What they don't realize is that grant programs are cut and are unlikely to return (see my previous post on this), and the number of disasters being approved has dropped significantly (see an independent analysis of this); those that are being approved are only getting a slice of the benefits pie which means much less work than normal.

These two types of colleagues crave stability in a completely chaotic world and just have to hope for the best. Or, my favorite, those that adhere to the classic ostrich policy, but in this case, instead of burying their heads in the sand, they are staring at the horizon and ignoring the rising waterline.

The Other Two Types

The other two types are different. I can empathize with both. There are those that held on, taking the time to strategize and find a solid lifeboat. Like me. We wanted to leave on our own terms and exhibited patience and perseverance. Not jumping on the first life boat, which ended up being a leaky one that capsized. 

One type are those that are fully committed to the staff. They are the captains that want to be the last one off the ship. They know they ship is sinking and do not want to go down with it, but feel that they can give the crew hope by staying on board.  

The second type are those that for a number of reasons (personal, professional, close to retirement, alimony, under educated, 20th century skills, or don't want to move to where the jobs are) cannot get off the ship but are not in denial. These include people that can't make themselves apply for jobs, don't like interviewing, or unfortunately, do not have confidence in their resumes or skill sets.  

Why Should You Care?

Its our tax dollars being wasted. Or we may be the victim of a natural disaster in the near future. FEMA is the operational backbone for national disaster response. Yes, all of 2025’s hurricanes veered away. Perhaps CBP in DHS had a role in preventing their landing?! But that will not last. Wildfires will be worse this summer because the weather has been hotter and dryer; the snowpacks are lighter. Mitigation projects have been effectively halted. The ship is sinking. 

On Project 2025's vision for privatization, shift to local government, and cutting grant programs, stay tuned for future (weekly) posts. Each of those topics deserve their own analysis. Together, they will explore the various components of the sinking ship.