Washington DC - President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sunday in what he describes as a bid to "drastically improve" the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The executive order calls for the establishment of a Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council to conduct a full review of the agency and submit recommended changes to the president.

The body is to consist of no more than 20 members and be co-chaired by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The council is tasked with producing a report within 180 days of its first public meeting assessing FEMA's disaster relief efforts over the last four years, comparing FEMA responses with private-sector responses, providing a historical account of how the US responded to disasters before FEMA's founding, and more.

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The order comes as Trump has ramped up his threats against FEMA, even as extreme weather and natural disasters grow in frequency and intensity across the US – in large part due to continued fossil fuel extraction which the president aims to expand.

On Friday, Trump said he was considering "getting rid of FEMA" while touring disaster areas in North Carolina and California.

Over the last months, Trump has targeted FEMA in a steady barrage of misinformation.

"There are serious concerns of political bias in FEMA," the order states, claiming the agency "has lost mission focus, diverting limited staff and resources to support missions beyond its scope and authority, spending well over a billion dollars to welcome illegal aliens."

Resources from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund were not used to support the Shelter and Services Program, which grants financial assistance to state, local, tribal, and nonprofit organizations that provide humanitarian aid to migrants after their release by the Department of Homeland Security.

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Trump has repeatedly accused the agency under the Biden administration of diverting disaster relief funds to support people without documentation.

While that claim is not true, Trump's own prior administration did divert FEMA disaster relief funds to boost US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention capacity and temporary locations for asylum court hearings.