Trump Administration to Begin FEMA Cuts, Dozens of Disaster Response Workers to Be Terminated

After previously threatening to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, President Donald Trump has approved plans to cut dozens of disaster response and recovery positions in the next few days.

Last June, Trump said FEMA could be dismantled as early as December, after the Atlantic hurricane season ended. He also said the agency would immediately distribute less money to states recovering from disasters, signaling a shift in how FEMA operates.

"We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it back to the state level," Trump said in June at the Oval Office.

Although a newly appointed council tasked with recommending changes to FEMA is not expected to complete its work until May, a new CNN report shows staffing cuts are among the first steps in the administration's plan.

According to CNN, some employees received emails on New Year's Eve informing them their positions would not be renewed and that their services would no longer be needed once their contracts expire in early January.

A review of internal emails obtained by CNN, along with information from sources familiar with the plan, shows the cuts are targeting FEMA's Cadre of On Call Response and Recovery teams, known as CORE, which are usually the first boots on the ground when a disaster strikes.

Sources said the reductions could mark the beginning of a broader effort by the Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to shrink the agency.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN the cuts were part of a routine staffing adjustment involving 50 employees out of roughly 8,000. However, sources said the department has discussed deeper reductions to CORE. They added that despite DHS characterizing the move as routine, internal actions suggest otherwise. The spokesperson also denied that DHS had implemented new policies affecting the workers who were cut and did not address questions about the terminations or plans to downsize FEMA.

"The CORE program consists of term limited positions that are designed to fluctuate based on disaster activity, operational need, and available funding," the spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. "CORE appointments have always been subject to end of term decisions consistent with that structure and there has been no change to policy."

Two sources with knowledge of the terminations said the decision came from FEMA's new acting administrator, Karen Evans. Employees were stunned by the notices, learning they would be let go within days. "Beyond cruel to be treated in such a way," one worker told CNN.

CORE employees make up more than 8,000 workers, or about 40 percent of FEMA's workforce, according to CNN. Under the proposed changes, several thousand of those workers could see their contracts terminated in 2026.

For years, CORE employees typically worked under multiyear contracts that were routinely extended. That practice changed in 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security restricted FEMA to renewing those agreements in 180 day increments while officials weighed a broader plan to scale back the agency.

Beginning Jan. 1, DHS also removed FEMA's ability to renew CORE contracts without sign off from Homeland Security leadership, according to internal documents obtained by CNN.

Under the new direction, FEMA has been instructed to let some contracts expire, requiring affected employees to leave once their terms end.

"FEMA cannot do disaster response and recovery without CORE employees," a former senior FEMA official told CNN. "The regional offices are almost entirely CORE staff, so the first FEMA people who are usually onsite will not be there. The impact is states are on their own."