Govind Tekale
Nearly 200 FEMA workers signed concerns about disaster readiness as hurricane season looms.
Agency Faces Internal Storm
About 36 FEMA employees found themselves suddenly on paid administrative leave on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, after joining 191 current and former staff in signing the “Katrina Declaration” letter to Congress. Released Monday, August 25, 2025, just before Hurricane Katrina’s 20th anniversary, the document warns that recent agency changes threaten disaster response capacity nationwide.
“FEMA has lost approximately one-third of its workforce in 2025 through firings, buyouts or early retirements,” states the letter, which was signed by 36 employees publicly, with others remaining anonymous fearing repercussions.
Virginia Case, a supervisory management and program analyst among those sidelined, told CNN, “I’m disappointed but not surprised. The public deserves to know what’s happening, because lives and communities will suffer if this continues.”
Flood of Concerns
The whistleblowers outlined six specific objections:
Cuts to staff, grants, and mitigation programs leave communities vulnerable Unqualified leadership lacks emergency management experience New DHS contract approval requirements for anything over $100,000 create response delays FEMA personnel reassigned to Immigration and Customs Enforcement duties Reduced funding for programs that prevent future disaster damage Diminished capacity to handle multiple simultaneous disasters
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Jeremy Edwards, a former FEMA press secretary and signatory, noted, “The fact that 180 people signed on to the letter, with a supermajority of them still working in the building, and dozens of those people wanted to attach their real names, signifies the severity of the problem.”
Shelter from the Storm?
FEMA representatives maintain the administrative leave is “not a disciplinary action and is not intended to be punitive,” according to notices sent to affected employees. A spokesperson defended the changes, stating they remove “red tape” and “broken systems.”
“Our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, FEMA will return to its mission of assisting Americans at their most vulnerable.”
President Trump, who took office January 2025, has previously suggested shifting more disaster response responsibilities to states. Former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, now Homeland Security Secretary overseeing FEMA, has not directly addressed the letter.
The FEMA situation follows a similar July 2025 incident at the EPA, where approximately 139-140 employees were placed on leave after submitting a dissent letter.
Stand Up for Science has called the suspensions “illegal retaliation” against federal whistleblowers, stating, “Once again, we are seeing the federal government retaliate against our civil servants for whistleblowing—which is both illegal and a deep betrayal of the most dedicated among us.”
Climate of Change
The 2006 Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act significantly strengthened FEMA after its failures during Hurricane Katrina, which killed nearly 1,800 people. The legislation established professional qualification requirements for leadership, expanded authority, and increased mitigation funding.
Workers placed on leave “will conduct no business, visit no FEMA/DHS facility and contact no FEMA/DHS personnel,” according to an email to FEMA employees reviewed by CNN.
Congressional staff have received the letter, but no public response has emerged from Capitol Hill as of August 27, 2025.
The Katrina Declaration was signed by 191 current and former FEMA employees, with 36 named signatories placed on paid administrative leave shortly after its release. The letter alleged that recent reforms have weakened FEMA’s disaster response capacity. FEMA and DHS have defended the changes as necessary reforms.
