Gulf state officials say they are prepared for Hurricane Isaias, but the storm could be the first major test of Fema’s ability to deploy a large surge workforce after the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts and restructuring of the agency, emergency management experts say. The Trump administration has said it wants to eliminate, or drastically downsize, Fema, putting more burden on states. More than 4,300 employees left the agency in fiscal year 2025, about 17% of the workforce, according to a recent US government accountability office (GAO) report.
The agency’s staffing reductions were not carried out systematically to ensure Fema could still meet its statutory obligations, said Chris Currie, director of homeland security and justice at the GAO. They’re going to respond. It’s more about the depth,” Currie said.
One of the ways that staff was reduced at the agency was through early retirement, meaning many of those who left were more experienced people. From January 2025 to January 2026, 58 senior executive service employees left Fema, according to the GAO report. In the prior three fiscal years, the agency reported about 13 senior executive service separations on average per year.
Among the top officials who left the agency last year was the region four administrator, who oversees eight states, including Florida and Alabama, where Hurricane Isaias is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Deanne Criswell, who led Fema under the Biden administration, said it was less about the number of people who left the agency and more about the loss of experience. You lose the people who had been through these big disasters in the past,” she said.
In a written statement, Fema said the agency is actively monitoring and preparing for Hurricane Isaias. Fema is also prepositioning emergency supplies at Maxwell air force base in Montgomery, Alabama, to supplement state resources if requested.” Governors of Florida, Georgia and Alabama have declared states of emergency for counties projected to be affected by Hurricane Isaias. State emergency management personnel in Louisiana and Mississippi said they have been in regular contact with Fema and received full support from the agency earlier this year during Tropical Storm Arthur, which brought flash flooding and tornadoes across the Gulf coast.
At a news conference on Thursday, Jared Perdue, the Florida division of emergency management executive director, said the state has had very close coordination with their federal partners at Fema. But Currie warned that the agency could quickly find itself stretched thin if it has to respond to more than one natural disaster, a possibility that could become quickly consequential as El Niño strengthens and the agency heads into the fall and winter months. For example, In 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall in Florida less than two weeks apart.
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