WASHINGTON — Nearly 200 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees are warning that President Donald Trump’s policies could leave the nation vulnerable to a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
In a letter to Congress, the employees said they “have come together to sound the alarm” as forecasters predict heightened hurricane activity through early October. The group cited staff shortages, unqualified leadership, and new policies from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that they say undermine FEMA’s ability to respond to natural disasters.
“Hurricane season has begun, yet FEMA continues to lack an appointed administrator with the mandated qualifications to fulfill this role,” the letter said, pointing to acting administrator David Richardson, who has a military background but no emergency management experience.
The letter also criticized Noem’s new rule requiring her personal approval of all funding requests over $100,000, which employees say has delayed reimbursements in disaster-hit states such as Texas. They warned the change, coupled with the loss of roughly one-third of FEMA’s workforce since Trump took office, could paralyze the agency in a major storm.
The employees urged Congress to shield FEMA from further interference by DHS and to elevate the agency to an independent, Cabinet-level department. They also asked for protections against retaliation, saying many signees withheld their names “due to the culture of fear and suppression cultivated by this administration.”
FEMA and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
The warnings come 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people and caused $160 billion in damage. In their letter, the employees compared the current situation to 2005, when inexperienced leadership and delayed aid compounded the disaster.
Trump and Noem have both suggested FEMA should be downsized or dismantled, shifting disaster response to individual states.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30. While activity has been quiet so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast an “above-normal” season.
