OPENING LINES LOCAL GOVERNMENTS NEED TO STEP UP AS FEMA’S FUTURE REMAINS UNCERTAIN, EXPERTS SAY Source: www.smartcitiesdive.com, Robyn Griggs Lawrence, Editor, First Published Dec 16th, 2025 The upheaval in emergency management could ultimately strengthen a long-overlooked profession, former FEMA leaders said Monday during a Carnegie Institute panel. On Monday, the Carnegie Institute convened a panel of Federal Emergency Management Agency experts to talk about the agency’s future based on a highly anticipated FEMA Review Council report that was to be released last week. But after the abrupt cancellation of the meeting where that report was to be discussed Thursday, “we’re really left without a vision and without leadership about the way forward,” said Sarah Labowitz, the panel’s moderator. “There was this feeling last week that the bottom had just kind of dropped out,” Labowitz, a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program, said.“People are hungry for clarity and for leadership.” Without the report, which former FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor described as a“North Star,”the emergency management community remains in limbo. Will staff continue to be cut? Will responsibility for disaster preparation and response shift to cities and states? Could the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives provide the reform and direction the community seeks? “Where it leaves us now, at the end of the year, is still just wondering what is going to be next, what is going to be the future of FEMA as we go forward,” said former FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell.“It just leaves so much uncertainty as states and locals are trying to plan for their next year, as well as the federal government trying to plan for their budget.” At the state and local level, Gaynor said, “everyone is just kind of holding their breath about making major investments.” “It stifles innovation,” he said. “It stifles hiring.” “A BRIGHT LIGHT” Meanwhile, disasters continue to happen. “There’s never a dull day at FEMA,” Gaynor said. “There’s always something going on.” So, in the midst of all the disarray at the federal level, local governments need to pick up the slack, the panelists said. “We have not yet seen enough conversation about 11 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 12
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