The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday positioned a number of workers on administrative leave efficient instantly, simply sooner or later after they signed an open letter warning Congress that the Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul of the agency might result in catastrophic failures in catastrophe response.
Titled “Katrina Declaration,” the letter accuses President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose division oversees FEMA, of undermining the agency’s capabilities, ignoring its congressionally mandated authority and appointing unqualified management. The group requires FEMA to be shielded from political interference and for its workforce to be protected against politically motivated firings.
Of the greater than 180 present and former FEMA staffers who signed the letter, most did so anonymously. Only 36 signed publicly, although it’s unclear what number of have been nonetheless employed when the letter was launched.
Among them was Virginia Case, a supervisory administration and program analyst, who informed NCS she acquired discover Tuesday night that she’d been positioned on paid leave.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Case mentioned, including that she was conscious of at the very least six different FEMA workers who acquired related emails. “I’m also proud of those of us who stood up, regardless of what it might mean for our jobs. The public deserves to know what’s happening, because lives and communities will suffer if this continues.”
Workers who’re positioned on leave “will conduct no business, visit no FEMA/DHS facility and contact no FEMA/DHS personnel,” in response to an e-mail to FEMA workers reviewed by NCS.
Employees have been additionally ordered to share their private e-mail addresses as a result of entry to their FEMA/DHS accounts had been suspended.
NCS has reached out to FEMA for remark.
The “Katrina Declaration” letter warns that vital reforms enacted after the failed response to Hurricane Katrina are being unraveled, as the Trump administration strikes to both abolish or drastically shrink FEMA’s function.
The transfer echoes actions taken earlier this summer season, when the Trump administration suspended roughly 140 employees from the Environmental Protection Agency days after they signed a public letter elevating considerations about the therapy of federal workers and the Trump administration’s rules on local weather and public well being.