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Official urges FEMA to prioritize local control and immediate response after disasters
Summary
A senior administration official at a Nashville news event said FEMA should support state and local disaster response rather than lead it, cited recent Texas response as a model of quicker federal support, and said the federal role should be to supply resources requested by local and state officials.
At a press event at Nashville International Airport, a senior administration official criticized prior federal disaster responses and said Federal Emergency Management Agency roles should emphasize support for state and local officials rather than federal control.
"All emergencies and disasters should be executed by local officials," the official said, adding that the state should manage the disaster response and the federal government should "come in and support, which means what do you need, what can we get you, how can we help." The official cited recent operations in Texas as an example of faster deployments, saying the Coast Guard, Border Patrol and more than 700 FEMA personnel were on the ground to assist rescue and recovery.
The official contrasted the described response with slow or incomplete federal responses to past disasters, saying that in future FEMA would be more immediate and responsive and that claims left unpaid after events such as Katrina represented a problem the administration intended to fix. The official said decisions about how to run disaster response should be made by state and local leaders, with the federal government providing resources and coordination.
What was stated and what was not
The official said more than 700 FEMA personnel had been deployed to a recent response and that other federal agencies were active in rescue operations, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of tasks, costs or specific timelines for reforms to FEMA.
Ending
The official said the administration seeks immediate, accountable federal support for disasters and invited further questions at the event. No new FEMA regulations, funding authorizations or formal policy documents were announced at the briefing.
