Noem Says Trump Wants FEMA ‘Remade,’ Not Eliminated Entirely

The homeland security secretary’s comments come as the death toll from floods in Texas has continued to rise.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington on July 8, 2025. Umit Bektas/Reuters

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said on July 13 that the Trump administration is working to remake the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rather than dismantle it.

“I think [President Donald Trump] recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response,” Noem told NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” responding to questions about the federal response to deadly flooding in central Texas.

“It’s not just FEMA that can respond in these situations. The federal government has all kinds of assets, and we deployed them,” Noem said, pointing to the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) helping with disaster response. Both groups routinely respond to disasters.

Earlier on in his administration, Trump suggested in an interview that he would consider eliminating or significantly overhauling FEMA, which is the main agency that responds to weather-related disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. In January, he ordered the creation of a review council for FEMA, citing concerns of political bias in the wake of how it handled Hurricane Helene’s aftermath in 2024.

In June, Trump told reporters that the administration wants to “wean off FEMA” and signaled that he wants states to respond to their own natural disasters. He made similar comments in January in explaining why he wants FEMA dismantled.

“A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor,” Trump said at the time.

In response to the recent floods in Texas, the homeland security secretary was also asked about a report from The New York Times, which cited anonymous sources, claiming that FEMA was struggling to answer calls from Texas flood victims because of contract issues. Noem denied the claim and described the article as “fake news” with “false reporting.”

“No employees were off of work,” Noem told NBC in response to The NY Times’ reporting. “Every one of them was answering calls. ... It’s discouraging that during this time, when we have such a loss of life and so many people’s lives have turned upside down, that people are playing politics with this because the response time was immediate.”

On July 12, officials in Texas said that the death toll from floods that occurred around the Fourth of July holiday weekend had risen to 129. That includes more than three dozen children, including campers who were at an all-girls Christian camp known as Camp Mystic.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve seen a lot of bad ones,” Trump said as he and First Lady Melania Trump went to Texas to see the damage firsthand on July 11. “It’s hard to believe the devastation.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.