On Jan. 27, 2025, FEMA disbanded its National Advisory Council (NAC), as ordered under a DHS memo issued on Inauguration Day terminating all current members of agency advisory committees. Congress established the NAC after Hurricane Katrina to advise FEMA on all aspects of emergency management. Since 2019, the NAC consistently focused on equity-related concerns in federal disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in its annual reports.
Background
On Dec. 31, 2024, FEMA announced the membership of the National Advisory Council, with ten new members and three returning members.
The Council’s 2024 annual report included recommendations to remedy gender-based violence, address mis/disinformation, and address disparities in current tools and indices used by the agency that do not fully include tribes, territories, rural, insular, and disadvantaged communities.
FEMA appointed 16 new members and three returning members to the National Advisory Council on Oct. 27, 2022. Jeff Hansen, Director of Community Safety for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and former vice chair of the council, became the first Tribal representative to serve as council chair. The council expanded from 35 to 40 members in 2023, adding positions specific to climate change. On Oct. 27, 2022, the Choctaw Nation hosted the National Advisory Council meeting, marking the first time a Tribal Nation hosted the annual council meeting since the council was established in 2006. Discussions at the meeting focused on “improving Nation-to-Nation relationships and supporting tribal sovereignty”.