**Statement by Shana Udvardy, Union of Concerned Scientists**
WASHINGTON (March 19, 2025)—President Donald Trump signed an executive order late yesterday that aims to shift the burden for preparing for and responding to risks ranging from cyber attacks to hurricanes onto state and local governments in an apparent effort to reduce the federal role in disaster response.
The order calls on state and local governments to have a “more significant role in national resilience and preparedness” by making more infrastructure investments while also requiring the development of a “National Resilience Strategy” and a review of federal policies on critical infrastructure, disaster readiness and risk assessment over the next few months.
It follows recent staff cuts and program freezes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with the threat of deeper ones to come spearheaded by Elon Musk’s DOGE operation, and internal memos censoring the use of terms like "climate change.” It also comes at a time when the nation faces a mounting toll from disasters, including increasingly catastrophic wildfires, storms and floods worsened by climate change, and as many communities are reeling from a spate of recent and past disasters.
**Below is a statement by Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyst in the Climate and Energy program at UCS:**
“With this executive order, the Trump administration aims to shift most of the responsibility for disaster preparedness to state and local governments, asking them to make more expensive infrastructure investments without outlining what support the federal government will provide. Communities across the nation deserve clarity on what this executive order means in practice and how FEMA’s current role will change. Shifting the burden of disaster preparedness without accompanying financial resources and technical expertise doesn’t reduce risk and will harm people. The federal government must assure communities that it will maintain its indispensable role in responding to major disasters that overwhelm the abilities and capacities of state, local, tribal and territorial governments.
“Based on the indiscriminate way this administration has laid off staff with deep expertise and upended critical science and climate resilience-related federal agencies, policies and programs, I am very concerned that the implications of this order will mean less support for communities to help them prepare for and recover from the disasters to come.
“Given what is at stake, the lack of details in the executive order is baffling particularly considering the planning, time and level of funding that is needed for disaster preparedness and resilience and the freezes this administration has made to grant programs targeted for those purposes.
“On the heels of recent cuts to FEMA staff and the withholding of federal grants, today’s announcement is another dangerous step toward dismantling the agency and undermining the critical functions it performs to help safeguard people and communities.
“We will closely watch the outcomes of this administration’s efforts to overhaul FEMA because it’s crucial that communities are protected and not sacrificed in the name of harmful and disingenuous efforts purported to advance “efficiency” and “streamline” the federal government’s response to disasters. A national resilience strategy must be informed by the latest science and public input, and prioritize the needs of communities that have the fewest resources and are most harmed by disasters.”
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