Members of Congress received a letter Monday from nearly 200 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees arguing that the inexperience of its current leadership could lead to a disaster response similar to that of Hurricane Katrina.
The letter was signed by more than 180 employees as of Monday who say that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson and former Administrator Cameron Hamilton aren’t qualified to manage the agency’s operations. Employees asked members of Congress to protect both FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security from “politically motivated firings.”
“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,” the letter states. They go on to argue that they think change is necessary “so that we can continue to lawfully uphold our individual oaths of office and serve our country as our mission dictates.”
The employees, dozens of whom signed their full name, say in the letter that their aim is “to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people such an event would represent.”
Daniel Llargués, a spokesperson for FEMA, told NOTUS in a statement that the DHS under Noem’s leadership “is committed to ensuring FEMA delivers for the American people. For too long, FEMA was bogged down by red tape, inefficiency, and outdated processes that failed to get disaster dollars into survivors’ hands. The Trump Administration has made accountability and reform a priority so that taxpayer dollars actually reach the people and communities they are meant to help.”
“It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform. Change is always hard,” Llargués continued. “It is especially for those invested in the status quo. But our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems.”
One of the people involved in organizing the letter spoke to The Washington Post anonymously, telling the paper, “I think the unfortunate reality is that our agency is on such a dangerous trajectory and drastic action is needed.”
August marks the 20th anniversary of Katrina striking Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The aftermath of the storm cost billions of dollars in damage and resulted in nearly 2,000 deaths. The storm exposed cracks in FEMA’s coordination and planning when it came to distributing aid, and the federal government received widespread criticism over its response to the storm.
President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to eliminate the agency, though his plans remain unclear. In January, he said he’d “rather see the states take care of their own problems,” and Noem promised to “eliminate FEMA.” But following Trump’s visit in July to Texas after deadly flash flooding, White House officials said that they are no longer planning to abolish the agency.
Some lawmakers and first responders who saw the response to Katrina play out firsthand have argued that the administration’s reform proposals would prevent the agency from being able to respond to natural disasters, and say it should instead receive robust funding. And state lawmakers have said that the unclear future of FEMA has left them in limbo when it comes to planning.
The letter from FEMA employees is addressed to members of several House and Senate committees, as well as to members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council.
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Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.