FEMA was eventually placed under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, creating even more centralization. The reason for FEMA according to the government is to aid Americans during and after a national level disaster event; anything from earthquakes to hurricanes to terrorist attacks.

That said, it should also be noted that FEMA was officially created on April Fool’s Day.

The true purpose of FEMA has long been obscured but some disturbing truths have been exposed in the past. The declassification of a program called Rex 84 (tied to Operation Garden Plot) revealed that FEMA was working directly with the Department of Defense on a hypothetical strategy to round up and detain large numbers of civilians considered a “threat to national security.” In other words, FEMA was to act as a tool for helping suppress civil disturbances, it was not necessarily designed to help Americans in times of need.

This was likely always the intent behind the founding of FEMA, but George H.W. Bush and Oliver North are cited as the men that truly militarized FEMA in the early 1980s. The goal to establish a mechanism for controlling domestic political dissent and suspending constitutional freedoms was exposed not long after FEMA’s founding. Oliver North was visibly enraged when the subject was broached in a congressional hearing during the Iran/Contra scandal.

It should be mentioned that the REX 84 documents do not list FEMA as a primary agency in control of civil disturbance response. This is where the accusations of “conspiracy theory” usually come from – FEMA is not the end-all-be-all agency in charge of locking down American rebellion. In fact, FEMA’s role is strangely ambiguous and is not clearly defined. All that is known is that they are indeed an element of Operation Garden Plot and have participated in REX exercises.

There’s no denying that the secrecy around civil disturbance programs is pernicious and suggests that there is far more going on than our own government cares to admit. To uncover FEMA’s real intent all we have to do is examine how they behave.

The recent Hurricane Helene disaster and FEMA’s handling of the response across the East Coast echos the agency’s crimes after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Their emergency “aid” is used as a cloak to hide efforts to actually STOP communities from helping each other and preventing outside civilian funded supplies from reaching affected residents in need.

Desperate residents during Katrina were treated like prisoners rather than citizens, gun confiscation took place in many areas and some people were shot for trying to leave locked down neighborhoods. (As a side note – this is why you should NEVER let anyone confiscate your firearms, especially if those people are sent by the government)

CNN reported in 2008 that FEMA confiscated at least $85 million in donated goods and prevented them from reaching Katrina disaster victims. This included clothing, bedding, food and medical supplies. They stored these materials for years and then GAVE AWAY the supplies long after Katrina was over. FEMA claimed the supplies were “in excess to their needs.” This report and all related articles now seem to be missing from CNN’s archives.

We just witnessed a repeat of this behavior from FEMA and the affiliated agencies within their oversight. We saw local EMS being advised to prevent civilians from helping their communities. Supplies were once agaun being blocked, people with drones were being told not to help find survivors, people with helicopters are were threatened for helping save survivors and little aid reached Helene victims for weeks. Elon Musk’s Starlink was even been prevented from providing satellite internet services to affected regions until the story went national and the Department of Transportation was forced to address the problem.

It’s Katrina all over again, and FEMA always seems to have excuses.

But why? You would think that with an election only weeks away Biden and Harris would be jumping at the chance to look competent and useful. Instead, they did nothing other that offer a $750 relief check to survivors (which might help people survive for a week) and then referred people to federal programs which take many months to benefit from.

I argue that this is all deliberate. FEMA and the federal government at large are still using Operation Garden Plot-like protocols with two goals in mind…

First, they are trying to acclimate the populace to the idea that civilians can’t help themselves and that they should do nothing. They do this by constantly interfering with civilian efforts and disrupting donations. If civilians are working on their own to save US communities from calamity then they might one day realize they don’t need the Federal Government for anything. The establishment NEEDS people to believe that they can’t survive without government aid and protection. Luckily, at least in the aftermath of Helene, it seems that many communities are working on their own to fix the situation.

If civilians start doing things for themselves, the establishment machine becomes obsolete.

Second, I suspect FEMA is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. Katrina was a clear beta-test for martial law disguised as an emergency response. Katrina was Garden Plot and Rex-84 realized. They want to see what Americans will put up with.  Helene is yet another opportunity for these agencies to apply overt control and see if Americans will conform or rebel.

If FEMA is truly sincere in their efforts to help Americans they certainly don’t act like it. The criticism surrounding Helene is ramping up and FEMA’s indignant attitude towards their own failures in unacceptable. They should be punished for failing in their duties. That is assuming they are actually failing.

Maybe they consider the tragedy of government inaction surrounding Helene a success?  The underlying point is, when disaster comes your way, it’s not enough to merely count FEMA out as a source of aid.  That’s obvious. But you will also have to consider the possibility that the agency will work directly against you and your neighbors should you try to help yourselves.

If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

That help is being provided by teams of patriots that are working around the clock to get food, generators and supplies where they need to be.  In many cases, life-saving assistance is arriving just in time.  I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if everyone had just sat back and waited for the federal government to come riding to the rescue.

According to the New York Post, a massive rescue and supply operation that has enlisted the help of “hundreds of special operations personnel” is being run out of a Harley-Davidson dealership…

Hundreds of special operations personnel in North Carolina have formed their own homegrown rescue and supply operation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene after they grew tired of waiting for the federal government to get its act together.

The Post found an all-volunteer operation being run out of a Harley-Davidson dealership with ruthless efficiency and military precision.

“Who’s FEMA?” ex-Green Beret Adam Smith derisively responded when asked about the agency’s presence on the ground since the deadly storm ravaged the rural western part of the state.

When is the last time that you saw the phrases “ruthless efficiency” and “military precision” used to describe an operation being run by the federal government?

While FEMA fumbles the ball, these men are stepping up and getting the job done. It is being reported that they have put together a fleet of 35 helicopters…

This Harley-Davidson dealership has become a forward operating base, complete with a fleet of 35 helicopters that have flown hundreds of rescue, reconnaissance and resupply sorties.

Organizers were calling the effort the “Savage Freedoms Relief Operation,” but Smith says they’ve proudly adopted an alternate moniker — “the Redneck Air Force.”

The dealership teems with current and former soldiers decked out in camo pants and army boots with handguns strapped to their chests and hips. Crop duster pilots, helicopter tour guides and special operations pilots — most of them off-duty or retired military — have answered the call from Smith and others in North Carolina’s extensive military community.

I was so encouraged to hear about what they are doing.

Of course they aren’t the only ones that have stepped up to the plate.

Dr. Phil McGraw says that Samaritan’s Purse is doing an absolutely amazing job of getting desperately needed aid to victims of the storm…

Dr. Phil McGraw praised the work that Franklin Graham’s relief organization Samaritan’s Purse is doing to help the victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

It is putting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s work to shame.

“Let me tell you, these [Samaritan’s Purse] guys don’t have meetings to fill out forms to plan a meeting to get something going. They have verbs in their sentences. They have springs in their step, and they’re out making things happen,” McGraw said.

“FEMA, all these other people are talking, thinking. No, not Samaritan’s Purse. They’re out doing things,” he added.

A video of Dr. Phil discussing what Samaritan’s Purse has been doing has been getting a lot of attention.

Over the years, Samaritan’s Purse has helped millions of people all over the globe when disaster has struck, and once again they are showing why they are so highly regarded.

Why can’t our federal government be more like Samaritan’s Purse?

According to one patriot that is involved in private relief efforts in a very remote part of North Carolina, the only government donation that has shown up in his area so far are pallets of electric chainsaws…

We are on the mountaintop in Little Switzerland collecting airlifted donations and distributing them to homes that have no power or are inaccessible. The community is self organizing incredibly well

This is the only federal government response I’ve seen so far. Almost all the pallets we have received are donations coming in from citizens and orgs.
Feds usually don’t come this far up into the mountains

This has been the government donation: pallets of electric chainsaws to communities that have no power

There are a lot of homes and communities that still don’t have power, cell service, or water. There are teams going out to these communities, and are still finding people who haven’t yet made contact since the storm.

Our little project involves receiving airlifted donations and distributing them both to the ATV teams, as well as directly to houses we can access via road.

The electric chainsaws would help if there was actually power in the region.

But for communities that have no power, electric chainsaws are essentially worthless right now.

FEMA gets a ton of funding, but I don’t know what they are doing with it.

According to the New York Times, only 1,217 FEMA employees are “available to respond to Hurricane Milton and other disasters as of Monday”…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is currently stretched thin on manpower even as an incoming category 5 hurricane moves toward the U.S.

Just 1,217 FEMA workers, which is less than 10% of their personnel, were available to respond to Hurricane Milton and other disasters as of Monday, according to The New York Times.

It appears that Hurricane Milton could be one of the most destructive hurricanes in the entire history of our nation.

Will the federal response to Hurricane Milton be as pathetic as the federal response to Hurricane Helene was?

I have been watching so many videos that have absolutely horrified me.

There have even been instances where the feds appear to be doing far more harm than good.

In one case, a mysterious helicopter was actually “caught on video destroying a volunteer donation site for hurricane victims”…

An unmarked military-style helicopter was caught on video destroying a volunteer donation site for hurricane victims in Burnsville, North Carolina on Sunday.

The helicopter was seen swooping in low over the distribution staging area and performing a “rotor-wash” maneuver that used the powerful downward gust forces to blow away supplies and canopy tents.

One of the individuals who recorded the incident claimed the area was established as a “no fly no drop” zone, and claimed the “ghost” helicopter pilots wore masks, suggesting they were special forces or government contractors.

“They could clearly see the supply setup, blue tents etc and see this was NOT a clear landing zone,” they captioned in the video.

In the old days, our government could be counted on to exhibit at least a minimal level of competence.

Sadly, those days are long gone.

When everything hits the fan, don’t count on the government to save you.

During the very difficult times that are approaching, local communities will have to be united and we are all going to have to learn to work together, because there is no other option.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

While FEMA is expected to ask Congress for new money, budget experts note a surprising fact: FEMA is currently sitting on untapped reserves appropriated for past disasters stretching back decades.

An August report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General noted that in 2022, FEMA “estimated that 847 disaster declarations with approximately $73 billion in unliquidated funds remained open.”

Drilling down on that data, the OIG found that $8.3 billion of that total was for disasters declared in 2012 or earlier.

Such developments are part of a larger pattern in which FEMA failed to close out specific grant programs “within a certain timeframe, known as the period of performance (POP),” according to the IG report. Those projects now represent billions in unliquidated appropriations that could potentially be returned to the DRF (Disaster Relief Fund).”

These “unliquidated obligations” reflect the complex federal budgeting processes. Safeguards are important so that FEMA funding doesn’t become a slush fund that the agency can spend however it chooses, budget experts said, but the inability to tap unspent appropriations from long-ago crises complicates the agency’s ability to respond to immediate disasters.

‘Age Old-Game’

“This is an age-old game that happens and it doesn’t matter what administration is in,” said Brian Cavanaugh, who served as an appropriations manager at FEMA in the Trump administration. “It’s unfortunate how complex disaster relief has become, but it’s skyrocketing costs.”

Cavanaugh said neither action from Congress nor an executive order from the White House would be required to tap those funds because FEMA is operating on the sort of continuing resolutions Congress routinely authorizes. If the money is part of “immediate needs funding,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could draw from the billions in untapped money to help the victims of Helene and then inform lawmakers he was compelled to do so, leaving elected officials facing charges they sought to pinch pennies when Americans were desperate.

FEMA did not respond to a request for comment about whether it could access the earmarked funds.

Mayorkas, whose Department oversees FEMA, stressed the agency is not broke, and both he and other FEMA officials said this week there was enough money in the Disaster Relief Fund to meet the needs of victims of Hurricane Helene, which with a death count of more than 200 stands as the most lethal storm to hit the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Most of Helene’s bills will come due in the future, and Mayorkas said FEMA can meet the day-to-day needs of operations right now in afflicted states but might be hard-pressed if another storm like Helene were to hit this year. Hurricane season officially lasts until the end of November, but historically, September and October have been the months in which the occasional monster smites the U.S.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas told a press gaggle Oct. 2 on Air Force One. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and … what is imminent.”

On Oct. 3, FEMA, which handles state and local government relief aid as well as the federal flood insurance plan and individual emergency requests, said it had spent at least $20 million in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida – three of the states that bore the brunt of Helene as it ripped ashore last week. The figures FEMA provided did not include Georgia, another state hard-hit by Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane.

Longtime FEMA critics said the looming shortfall is not surprising, given its main job is to use federal taxpayer dollars to reimburse state and local governments for recovery costs, in addition to more immediate money it provides to victims on an individual basis.

“It doesn’t strike me as too weird,” said Chris Edwards, policy scholar at the conservative Cato Institute. “Right now, $20 million is peanuts, but it’s not necessarily unreasonable to think the upcoming bills will be much, much higher.”

Skyrocketing Costs

The skyrocketing costs associated with disaster recovery are one of the main drivers of FEMA’s predicted budget woes. Last year, the U.S. saw a record 28 storms that caused more than $1 billion in damages, and the $1 billion threshold has been reached 19 times thus far in 2024. Since 2001, there have been nine times that FEMA nearly ran out of money in its Disaster Relief Fund, forcing it to pause hundreds of non “life-saving services” the agency runs.

The price tag on some of those services, such as those associated with assistance to immigration, has seen an unprecedented surge due to millions of illegal entrants during Biden’s term. FEMA has spent more than $640 million on those programs in 2024, leading to criticism this week from Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and others.

FEMA rebutted the claims by insisting those sums did not come out of the Disaster Relief Fund. Yet as Cavanaugh, Edwards, and others noted, the relief fund isn’t the main driver of FEMA’s expenses, which are primarily reimbursements to state and local agencies that handle things like debris removal, road and power grid repairs, and the like.

Thus far, FEMA has been getting mixed reviews from elected officials for its response to Hurricane Helene in afflicted states. While five state officials in North Carolina’s hard-hit Buncombe County did not respond to questions from RCI, some Tar Heel residents have complained in media reports about the agency’s invisibility.

While FEMA rarely initiates or administers contracts to clean debris, restore power, or search for survivors, the agency does provide emergency cash to storm victims who apply for it. Flood insurance protection comes not from private homeowners policies but from a federal program run by FEMA.

‘Crazy’ Numbers

Generally, FEMA, along with state or local officials and a neutral third-party civil engineer, will estimate the cost of such work, and then the final figure will come through negotiations. But given those settlements are far in the future, they should not have any bearing on FEMA’s current budget.

“It’s just crazy how expensive the numbers have gotten,” said Jeremy Portnoy of OpenTheBooks, a nonpartisan watchdog of government spending. “They’ve been warning for months now they are running out of money.”

Portnoy first called attention to FEMA’s unspent funds in conversations with RealClearInvestigations on Sept. 8. He said it seems bizarre that federal officials would have a pot substantial enough to cover a projected shortfall while adding billions to the Disaster Relief Fund, but fail to draw on it.

“There is all that money just sitting there,” Portnoy said. “They’re saying they don’t have enough money but when you juxtapose it with the more than $8 billion, well, why not use that right now in Florida and other places?”

The “unliquidated obligations” have stayed on FEMA’s books because it “subjectively” extended the deadlines on some projects. The deadline for 2012’s Superstorm Sandy has been extended to 2026.

“As a result, the potential risk for fraud, waste, and abuse increases the longer a program remains open,” a DHS report concluded.

Although DHS could probably reach into such unliquidated obligations to help restore order in areas devastated by Helene, experts note that bureaucracies are loath to resort to such tactics when budget negotiations are near, as they are when the fiscal year ends this month.

“The bridges that have been washed out, that’s not something FEMA will have to pay tomorrow,” Cavanaugh said.

SpaceX Engineer In North Carolina Has Dire Warning: Biden-Harris' FEMA "Actively Blocking Shipments" For Relief  https://t.co/aydr7R3wrd

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 4, 2024

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dropped the bombshell last week: FEMA “does not have the funds” to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season. The federal agency drained the funds by prioritizing taxpayer funds for illegal and legal aliens versus US citizens as the Biden-Harris globalist team rolled out the red carpet to anyone, even terrorists, via the open southern borders.

“Connect the dots, if you can,” Tim Murtaugh, an adviser to former President Trump’s campaign, wrote on X, adding, “DHS says FEMA might not have enough cash to help people through hurricane season. But in 2 years of a new Biden-Harris program, they’ve spent $1 BILLION on housing and other services for migrants.”

Connect the dots, if you can.

DHS says FEMA might not have enough cash to help people through hurricane season.

But in 2 years of a new Biden-Harris program, they’ve spent $1 BILLION on housing and other services for migrants.https://t.co/BUCIKT65urhttps://t.co/YMLe1x4yDZ pic.twitter.com/dDGXeKaRnP

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 3, 2024

Shedding a whole heck of a lot of color on the situation, Savanah Hernandez, a reporter for Turning Point USA, wrote on X that she has uncovered some of the “first looks” inside fully furnished luxury apartments for migrants that received free rent and utilities for two years.

Hernandez wrote in a note on The Post Millennial:

The Brunswick Landing apartments in Maine sparked controversy earlier this year when it was discovered that homeless migrants in the area were getting the opportunity to live in the units rent-free for up to two years. Migrants living in the apartments shared that not only is the rent-free, the utilities are paid and we got an inside look at the furnished apartments that would run the average American about $2,300 dollars. –

FIRST LOOK: Inside the furnished Maine apartments where migrants are getting up to 2 years of free rent & utilities

This apartment is in the same county which received $6.1 mill in funding from the FEMA program that spent $1 billion on housing migrants:pic.twitter.com/W0xIr5uMSy

— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) October 4, 2024

“This apartment is in the same county which received $6.1 mill in funding from the FEMA program that spent $1 billion on housing migrants,” Hernandez pointed out on X.

This apartment, located in Cumberland county, is one of many throughout Maine which is allowing migrants to live rent free for up to two years.

In this video, we also went undercover at Catholic charities Maine where they detailed their plan to continue bringing 150 more…

— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) October 4, 2024

She continued:

LEWISTON-I made my way up to Maine to see how the migrant crisis has affected the area and found migrants from Angola, Somalia and the Congo

While migrants enjoy the area, one resident expressed an uptick in shootings, drugs & crime related to migrants: pic.twitter.com/0s3iy4eg1l

— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) October 3, 2024

Biden-Harris administration has prioritized illegal and legal aliens over citizens. The botched relief response in the US Southeast exemplifies this great failure unfolding in a Katrina-like event.

At the top of the list of people who should be all over this is Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security which oversees FEMA. Unfortunately, the American citizens who are in the most dire of circumstances are being put on hold as Mayorkas spends his time buying luxury clothing at Sid Mashburn, a high-end menswear store.

Twitter user Joe Gabriel Simonson noticed Mayorkas there for the second time in a month, this time snapping a photo:

For context about all the FEMA stuff, I saw Alejandro Mayorkas this afternoon at Sid Mashburn, which is the second time I’ve seen him there on a Saturday afternoon in about a month. So, suffice to say, the guy isn’t working around the clock pic.twitter.com/NC5yNzikET

— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) October 5, 2024

Elon Musk wasn’t impressed:

He’s shopping for fancy clothes while people are suffering from hurricane damage. This is some Hunger Games shit.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2024

According to The Gateway Pundit:

The photo, first uploaded to the X platform, caught the attention of Elon Musk, who was less than impressed by Mayorkas’s actions.

“He’s shopping for fancy clothes while people are suffering from hurricane damage,” Musk wrote. “This is some Hunger Games shit.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents a district in the neighboring state of South Carolina and has led efforts to force the federal government to provide additional funding to the hurricane’s victims, suggested that Mayorkas should be impeached again.

Already voted to impeach @SecMayorkas once.

Who thinks we need to do it again?

— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) October 4, 2024

The UniParty Swamp and their subsidiaries in the Bureaucratic State know Americans are suffering. Not only do they not case, but they also don’t care that we know they don’t care.