Donald Trump, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, DC, in 2017Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Several employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been placed on administrative leave just a day after signing a public letter accusing the Trump administration of politically motivated firings and “uninformed cost-cutting,” multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.
As I wrote yesterday:
In an urgent letter to Congress on Monday, more than 180 current and former workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wrote to “sound the alarm” about the Trump administration’s handling of the agency and cuts to FEMA’s funding. The moves, they argue, have obstructed officials’ ability to respond to and protect the public from natural disasters.
The employees called out the Trump administration’s pursuit of job terminations, promotion of unqualified leadership, and censorship of climate science. Current working conditions, the letter states, “echo” the federal failures after Hurricane Katrina struck almost exactly 20 years ago—including “the inexperience of senior leaders” and “the profound failure by the federal government to deliver timely, unified, and effective aid.”
While most signers of the so-called “Katrina Declaration” are anonymous, more than 30 current and former federal workers used their real names. As CNN noted, it’s unclear how many had left the agency before signing.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Virginia Case, a FEMA staffer reportedly placed on leave on Tuesday, told CNN. “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.”
Monday’s declaration, as I previously reported, isn’t the first letter from federal workers warning about the administration’s policies—nor is it the first case of retribution:
The [letter] follows similar letters from Trump administration workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Science Foundation (NSF). Some of the letters have led to retaliation. As Inside Climate News reported in July, Trump officials put nearly all EPA employees who’d signed a letter of dissent on leave.
Reached for comment yesterday, FEMA Acting Press Secretary Daniel Llargués told Mother Jones in a statement, “For too long, FEMA was bogged down by red tape, inefficiency, and outdated processes that failed to get disaster dollars into survivors’ hands,” adding, “It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform.”