Inside the Failed Mission to Eliminate FEMA FEMA's role in disaster response and recovery has been a cornerstone of American resilience for decades.
The agency was created in 1979 as an independent entity within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to coordinate federal relief efforts during natural disasters.
The origins of FEMA are closely tied to Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005, which exposed glaring inadequacies in the country's disaster response and recovery infrastructure. In response, President George W.