FEMA Cut Its Workforce Without Assessing Whether It Could Still Do Its Job
Why It Matters
FEMA reduced its workforce during an active disaster period without conducting the workforce analysis that would tell leadership whether the agency could still meet its legal obligations. A GAO report published August 4, 2026 found that the agency employed approximately 25,134 employees on average in fiscal year 2025, but over 4,300 separated that same year — a 55 percent increase in departures compared to fiscal year 2024. Most FEMA regions lost 9 percent or more of their workforces under voluntary workforce reduction programs through January 2026, while FEMA headquarters lost roughly 5 percent.
The cuts were carried out in response to 2025 presidential directives ordering federal agencies to reduce workforce size. FEMA also submitted a staffing plan to the Department of Homeland Security that proposed cutting the agency's workforce in half, according to NOTUS, citing the GAO report. GAO found no evidence that DHS or FEMA leadership assessed the impact of reducing on-call employees who support disaster recovery. More than 100 FEMA employees were also transferred to immigration enforcement duties, according to a statement by Ranking Member Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS).
FEMA officials acknowledged the departures resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge and experienced personnel. The agency has been operating without a confirmed FEMA Administrator, and GAO stated explicitly that "continuing to wait for direction from a confirmed FEMA Administrator leaves FEMA at risk."
Broader Context
The report was requested by Democratic members of the House Committee on Homeland Security: Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member, and Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Emergency Management and Technology Subcommittee. GAO was asked to examine how FEMA's workforce changed in 2025 and 2026, the extent to which FEMA has strategic direction to identify workforce needs, and whether FEMA assessed its workforce's ability to meet mission requirements.
The inquiry sits against a longer institutional record. GAO added strengthening FEMA's disaster workforce to its High Risk List in February 2025, reflecting more than a decade of documented workforce management failures at the agency. The 2025 and 2026 reductions accelerated a problem GAO has tracked for years, rather than representing an isolated event.
FEMA rescinded its strategic plan in 2025, eliminating the foundational document that guides workforce planning. Without it, the agency has no framework for determining future workforce needs. GAO also found that FEMA deferred workforce planning for the 2026 hurricane season, citing a need to wait for recommendations from the FEMA Review Council. The report, covering workforce changes from January 20, 2025 through January 10, 2026, was built on interviews with FEMA officials at headquarters and all 10 FEMA regions.
The Bottom Line
GAO made three recommendations to the FEMA Administrator and two matters for congressional consideration, all currently open. The three executive recommendations direct FEMA to issue a strategic plan with clear goals and objectives, develop and implement a workforce planning process that includes a workforce analysis in accordance with OPM's Workforce Planning Guide, and ensure that its annual staffing plan developed under Executive Order 14356 is informed by that planning process. DHS agreed with all three.
For Congress, GAO recommends considering whether to require that significant FEMA workforce decisions be informed by workforce planning results, and whether to require FEMA to report on its workforce planning process before each hurricane season begins.
The core problem the report identifies is not simply that FEMA shed staff — it is that the agency made consequential decisions about its own capacity without the analysis needed to understand what those decisions would cost. Until FEMA conducts workforce planning and restores strategic direction, it cannot demonstrate it has the right people, in the right roles, to respond when disasters occur.
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