Currently limited to 300 high priority positions (I didn't catch which).

Just announced by Cynthia Cooch (AA for Mission Support) at the agency-wide town hall.

She also announced that COREs stand to be up for renewal for one year at a time, going forward. I really hope they revisit this plan and bring back the two and four year appointments... I don't want to have to wonder if I need to search for a job every single year.

(Edited to correct Cooch's first name)

When Cam said it was great to be back and see so many familiar and new faces what was he talking about? He was part of the hiring freeze implementation so what new faces is he referring to? Was it a reference to all the people who have come over to FEMA from DHS? I was confused. Does anyone know what he was talking about? Was it these new WMD people? Also where are they coming from, I assume DHS.

I’m sure most of you know already (can’t remember if an email went out) but if you don’t, Bob Fenton, the Region 9 Administrator, is the newest FEMA SOPDA. Karen is officially gone. This is probably the only time we’ll have someone who’s actually qualified to run the agency…

There was a bottom-of-the-pile news article that KT was leaving. Or was this just the usual media informants that “speaking under anonymity” that don’t always get it right?

Any credence to this rumor?

H.R.4669 - FEMA Act of 2025 (119th Congress) Sponsor: Rep. Graves, Sam [R-MO-6] (Introduced 07/23/2025)

Has changes in:

Cosponsors (1 new, 72 total) Cosponsor: 05/12/2026: Rep. Craig, Angie [D-MN-2]

What is the FEMA Act

Cabinet-Level Independence: The bill re-establishes FEMA as an independent, cabinet-level agency (moving it out of the Department of Homeland Security) to provide the Administrator with a direct line to the President.

Regional Empowerment: It grants FEMA Regional Administrators increased authority to make funding decisions and work directly with state governors and local officials.

Public Assistance (PA): Transitions from a reimbursement model to a grant-based model. It introduces block grants for small disasters ($1 million–$10 million) and requires FEMA to provide 25% of emergency work funding within 10 days of a declaration.

Individual Assistance (IA): Mandates a universal application system to consolidate various federal aid programs. It also requires "plain-language" communications to survivors to replace complex legal jargon.

Mitigation & Resilience: Expands eligibility for projects involving utility resilience, broadband, and cybersecurity. It also offers higher federal cost shares for communities that adopt modern building codes.

Real-Time Dashboards: FEMA must establish public portals to track project approvals, cost estimates, and disbursement statuses.

Safe Harbor Protections: Protects local governments from retroactive penalties if they followed FEMA's written guidance in good faith.

Anti-Politicization: Strictly prohibits political discrimination in the delivery of disaster assistance and requires a GAO review of all existing FEMA regulations.

Last thing i checked, we stanned for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Not FIFA Entertainment Management agency, then we ended up being called FIFAEMA.

Bad dad jokes aside, I feel like this agency's priorities are all twisted just to try to appease some person who has nothing to do with helping recovery from storms and floods.

unless FIFA literally destroys a city ( which i very much doubt unless Ice starts s*** again)

Employees who were released in January and are now being rehired still have to complete the new hire orientation week in Anniston. Since FEMA doesn’t appear to be actively hiring externally right now, I’m assuming it’ll mostly be returning employees attending.

Does anyone know if the orientation content will be exactly the same? Trying to figure out whether it’ll mostly be a repeat of topics we already completed before. I'm really hoping it's not full days of information we already know but I have doubts, considering how last minute all of this is.

My original orientation was 10 years ago when they still did them in Leesburg, VA.

Had a conversation with a hiring manager earlier about possibly bringing a few former staff (that left during DRP) back once he’s cleared to hire. He said he was on the fence because although they were great employees they 1) jumped ship with no plan and enjoyed the money until it ran out and 2) were absolutely aligned with this administration’s policies UNTIL they realized that it now affected them. My question is would you rehire staff that didn’t align with your morals that left your team to fend for self, knowing they more than likely voted for the current administration?

Has anyone else noticed that Karen Evan’s photo has gone missing from fema.gov and is now an error page? Also her bio is no longer a live link. It is hard to tell if she still works for FEMA since she never really attended the morning briefs but at least in the past she existed online. Recent emails that used to come from the administrator or chief of staff (both her according to the org chart) now just come genetically from FEMA. Does anyone know what is going on-factually?

So, last year, I was in process of being hired as a hazard mitigation reservist. As late as April 2025, my hiring manager affirmed that everything looked normal and I was really just waiting for an EOD; she insisted that there was always need for hazard mitigation specialists. And then I never heard from her again.

In the meantime, I scrambled to find another job, which took all of my time and energy, and then the new job took all my time and energy, and I was just depressed about the state of affairs.

I’m still sad about that job not materializing. I wasn’t expecting it to be glamorous, but I’ve wanted to work for FEMA for years. Shortly after I got my TJO, I spent a day in the field office getting fingerprinted for my sf-85 and generally oriented, and everyone just seemed like really good people. I was so excited to work there.

I suspect my hiring manager must have taken one fork in the road or the other—she was on the senior side and it likely would have made sense for her to retire—but I have no way of knowing.

Anyways, is there any way of finding out what actually happened to my file/hiring action? Should I try contacting her manager (who also interviewed me)? Is it even worth it? Should I just keep an eye on USAjobs? Would I show up in the system as having received a TJO before and/or as having an approved SF-85p?

I’d be so grateful for any shred of insight. 🩵