FEMA aims to rehire fired disaster-response staff before hurricane season

13 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Apr 30

Officials said more than 100 employees from the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery, FEMA's largest workforce, are set to return after being dismissed this winter.
The workers are typically among the first deployed after disasters and often remain for years, helping communities through long recoveries under renewable two- to four-year contracts.
The firings were part of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's plan to cut the agency by 50%, but FEMA is now reversing some losses as storm season nears.

As FEMA scrambles to rehire staff, can it rebuild its lost expertise in time for the next major disaster?

Do the recent staffing crises at FEMA signal a need to rethink America's entire approach to national disaster management?