Bloomberg – no paywall: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare a memo on how to abolish itself and create a re-branded, radically smaller disaster response organization, according to a copy of the document reviewed by Bloomberg News. As recently as last week, President Donald Trump and Noem said they wanted to wind down FEMA but offered few details publicly. The March 25 memo offers insight into how the administration has weighed which of its current functions to cut. Technically, only Congress can eliminate the agency.

Titled “Abolishing FEMA,” the memo was addressed from then-acting FEMA head Cameron Hamilton to his bosses at the Department of Homeland Security and outlines a number of functions that “should be drastically reformed, transferred to another agency, or abolished in their entirety,” possibly as soon as late 2025. Potential changes included eliminating long-term housing assistance for disaster survivors, halting enrollments in the National Flood Insurance Program and providing smaller amounts of aid for fewer incidents — moves that by design would dramatically limit the federal government’s role in disaster response…

The existence of the seven-page memo has not been previously reported. While Trump and other officials have continued to press for abolishing FEMA in its current form since the memo was created, it’s unclear which specific recommendations from the document are still on the table.

“This just means you should not expect to see FEMA on the ground unless it’s 9/11, Katrina, Superstorm Sandy,” said Carrie Speranza, who used to advise the agency and is now president of the US council of the International Association of Emergency Managers..”