One day before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which caused $125 billion in damage and 1,833 deaths, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday reiterated President Donald Trump’s pledge to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it currently exists and replace it with a more localized response. She pledged to reform FEMA into an agency that can better respond to people “on their worst days during a time of crisis and disaster.”

Noem spoke during the third public hearing of the FEMA Review Council, which has been gathering information from leaders at the local, state and federal levels about how to transform the agency.

“Every disaster should be locally executed,” said Noem, who co-chairs the council with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “It should be stat

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