What's the plan for hurricane season? Don't ask FEMA's director

We're roughly two weeks from the start of the Atlantic hurricane season

and now the acting head of FEMA says the agency isn't ready for it

FEMA's acting director David Richardson made the omission in PowerPoint slides obtained by CNN and CBS to employees at a recent town hall

Richardson's disclosure comes as the U.S. hurricane season is expected to be above average

with forecasters predicting 17 named storms and four major hurricanes. Richardson also suggested larger states like Texas and California are capable of handling their own disasters, adding he wants the agency to move away from shouldering the brunt of disaster response, instead proposing a 50-50 model where states share the same responsibility in disaster response as the federal government

government. Richardson attributes the shift in priorities and lack of preparedness to staffing

cuts and contract issues. The agency, which has more than 20,000 workers, has seen its workforce

slashed by roughly 30 percent from the Trump administration's layoffs and buyouts

An operational leader within FEMA tells CNN the result of cuts to FEMA combined with some within the administration expressed desire to dismantle it may mean a federal response is nonexistent or inadequate when disaster strikes

A Department of Homeland Security official which oversees FEMA called the report

grossly out of context and contends the agency is fully prepared for hurricane season

Richardson also refutes the report, saying FEMA is ready and he'll be submitting a plan to his

boss, Kristi Noem, by next Friday. The official start to hurricane season begins June 1st

and while Richardson says the agency is ready now, he did it during the reported town hall

citing issues across federal agencies, including coordination, staffing, and cultural problems. Richardson took over as head of the agency just days ago after the firing of Cameron Hamilton

Hamilton's dismissal came after he told Congress he doesn't think dismantling FEMA is a wise idea

That conflicts with Trump's reported desire to eliminate or shrink the agency

Richardson has vowed to achieve Trump's intent to find avenues to push things down to the states and do more cost sharing with them

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kayleigh Carey