From HSToday: PERSPECTIVE: A Canceled FEMA Review Leaves Disaster Preparedness in the Dark. Some excerpts:
“As communities across the nation brace for another year of hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and extreme heat, the nation’s disaster-response system needs clarity, not suspense. Yet just one hour before the FEMA Review Council was set to convene publicly and release recommendations after ten months of work, the White House canceled the meeting. That decision leaves officials at every level planning in the dark about FEMA’s future authorities, priorities, and resources.”
Over the course of 2025, the council heard from state and local officials managing increasingly frequent and complex disasters and reviewed public comments and operational data submitted through its formal process. According to multiple reports, that process changed minds. Rather than endorsing the wholesale dismantling of FEMA, the council’s draft findings reportedly reflected the agency’s continued relevance and the risks of weakening it. Those conclusions placed the council on a collision course with the administration that created it.
On December 10, CNN obtained a leaked draft of the council’s report. Within hours, the White House canceled the final public meeting where the council was scheduled to deliberate, vote, and formally present its recommendations. Officials cited the leak as justification, claiming the report was “not final.” Different accounts offered different rationales—from concerns about internal vetting to concerns about the leak itself—but the practical effect was the same: the council could not complete the public step that gives such reviews credibility.
What is unusual is canceling a public meeting after ten months of work especially when that meeting was the only mechanism through which the council could fulfill its mandate. Advisory councils do not exist to produce unofficial drafts. They exist to deliberate publicly, vote, and present recommendations to the president and the public.
Recovery Diva 