The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, created in 1979 to coordinate the response to natural disasters and other emergencies. The United States Information Agency (USIA) was an independent foreign affairs agency of the United States government, established in 1953 and dissolved in 1999. USIA's mission was to 'understand, inform and influence foreign publics' and promote 'a better understanding of the United States in other countries.'