How the U.S. Government Built an Underground City, and Other State Secrets
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Why do people view FEMA as a disaster agency and a political target?
Storms, floods, and fires are ever more extreme. And yet, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is fighting for its life. I've never been a big fan of FEMA. FEMA is very expensive, and it really doesn't get the job done. How did the agency tasked with saving America become so despised? FEMA's a disaster. FEMA's a dirty word. So distrusted. People are waking up in droves to the FEMA camps.
The FEMA plans to imprison American citizens have generated a lot of interest around the country and defunded.
We could see the next Katrina level disaster based on the stripping away of FEMA that we have seen. Can the agency survive the stories that have been told about it? And can we survive without FEMA? Whenever there's a disaster, the first thing people say is, where's FEMA? On this week's on the media from WNYC coming up right after this.
From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.
And I'm Michael Oinger. We're in the middle of hurricane season, so we thought it would be a good time to re-air the first episode of our American Emergency series, all about what the government should do when disaster strikes.
We've come to North Carolina with a simple message for all the people of this region who were hit so hard by Hurricane Halene.
At the beginning of his second term, amid all the chaos of the incoming administration, President Trump made his first trip to North Carolina.
That message is very simple. ЮАР на Forgotten any longer. You were treated very badly by the previous administration and
before he got on Air Force One, Trump called a press conference on the tarmac and casually dropped this bomb.
I'll also be signed an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency that stands between America and climate destruction. I think frankly FEMA's not good. The agency that helps people rebuild after they've lost everything. The agency that, while he was rambling, was providing aid to Californians suffering through the historic LA wildfires, as well as Helene survivors right there in North Carolina. It seemed like with a snap of his fingers, the president would be happy to see FEMA vanish.
I think we're gonna recommend that FEMA go away.
I learned that employees at FEMA broke down in tears when they heard the news. Some replayed the president's speech over and over. Anxious members of Congress spent the day calling into the agency's headquarters with a barrage of questions. Is the president serious? What happens when the next hurricane hits?
If the president came to you and said, You're my DHS secretary, do you think I should get rid of FEMA? What would you say? I would say yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.
Christy Noam, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
It has um been slow to respond. At the federal level, and that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today.
Before she got the boot this spring, NOME effectively set fire to FEMA. Preparedness programs were slashed. Unqualified leaders cycled in and out. Billions meant for survivors of storms, wildfires, and earthquakes were withheld, were denied. Lives hung in the balance. The death toll in Texas, the flooding tragedy, it's up to 104 dead across six counties. That number includes nearly 30 children. After deadly floodwaters inundated Camp Mystic and other parts of Central Texas, the agency's support lines left thousands of calls unanswered. FEMA's top leader at the time couldn't be reached for 24 hours.
We live about a mile down the road from Camp Michig and we've already got two little girls
who have come
down
the river
and we've gotten to them but I'm not sure how many
I'll Or out there.
The federal response to this disaster has come under scrutiny. Allegations that FEMA cutbacks meant delays in answering people's calls for disaster assistance and aid after the flood.
In one telling, the dysfunctional response was Doge's doing. It's true, at the start of 2025, no agency was safe from Elon Musk's chainsaw.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do people view FEMA as a disaster agency and a political target?
0:01–5:12
2
How did FEMA originate as a Cold‑War civil‑defense program?
5:12–12:55
3
What was the secret Mount Weather bunker and why was it built?
12:55–19:15
4
How did conspiracy theories about FEMA camps arise and spread?
19:15–26:14
5
What reforms did James Lee Witt implement to turn FEMA around?
26:14–33:10
6
Why did extremist groups target FEMA leaders in the 1990s?
33:10–39:36
7
How is modern FEMA dealing with staffing cuts, disaster funding, and detention centers?
39:36–45:02
8
What is the future of FEMA under the Trump administration and current leadership?
45:02–50:50