Federal Emergency Management Agency employees warned members of Congress about their concerns that the agency is unprepared for another large-scale disaster under the Trump administration.
In a letter to Congress titled the “Katrina Declaration,” more than 100 employees pushed back against President Donald Trump’s plan to drastically scale down the agency and shift more responsibility for disaster response to the states.
The letter came just days ahead of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. The storm was one of the deadliest and costliest in the country, in part due to state, local, and federal failures.
“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 employees wrote.
The employees added that they are making the warning “so that we can continue to lawfully uphold our individual oaths of office and serve our country as our mission dictates.”
Thirty-six employees signed the letter with their names, and another 150 signed anonymously.
“This administration’s decision to ignore and disregard the facts pertaining to climate science in disasters shows a blatant disregard for the safety and security of our Nation’s people and all American communities regardless of their geographic, economic or ethnic diversity,” the FEMA employees said in their letter.
The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act required that FEMA administrators have a “demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management” and prohibited the homeland security secretary from interfering with FEMA’s “authorities, responsibilities or functions,” among other items.
The FEMA employees in the Monday letter, however, said the Trump administration has ignored both of the law’s requirements.
The Trump administration installed another acting FEMA administrator, David Richardson, who does not have experience in emergency management or disaster response. In June, he told FEMA employees he did not know the United States had a hurricane season.
Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have both said the administration should dismantle FEMA. Trump has proposed eliminating FEMA after the 2025 hurricane season. Noem recently walked back those comments and said the agency should be “remade” rather than dismantled entirely. The Trump administration has additionally pushed states to further fund their own disaster relief programs.
More than 2,000 employees have left the agency since Trump took office. They accounted for one-third of its permanent workforce.
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During Hurricane Katrina, a federal review found that the homeland security secretary “had difficulty coordinating the disparate activities of Federal departments and agencies” and “lacked real-time, accurate situational awareness of both the facts from the disaster area as well as the on-going response activities of the Federal, State, and local players.”
Hurricane Katrina resulted in an estimated 1,833 deaths and $161 billion in property damage in Louisiana and Mississippi. President George W. Bush faced intense criticism for the slow federal response to Katrina’s devastation. The slow federal response resulted in FEMA Administrator Michael D. Brown’s resignation and the passage of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act.