The Club PUBlication 09/01/2025

I DON'T MEAN TO JUMP IN ON OUR CLUB PUBLICATION BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO DO SO.

The Critical Case of FEMA
For a critical agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), appointing qualified individuals is not just beneficial—it's essential. The best outcomes are achieved when leadership positions are filled by professionals who possess the right combination of specialized education and practical experience in emergency management.  

While these leadership changes may occur quietly, their true impact will become tragically clear during the next major disaster. When a catastrophe strikes and the nation's resources are needed for a large-scale rescue and safety mission, the competence—or incompetence—of FEMA's leadership will be on full display, directly affecting the lives of the impacted population. ​​
Harv

​FEMA staff letter warns of disaster
They say Trump officials risk Katrina-level crisis.
By BRIANNA SACKS The Washington Post

​More than 180 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees sent a letter Monday to members of Congress and other officials, arguing that the agency's direction and current leaders' inexperience harm the agency's mission and could result in a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina.

The letter, on which three dozen employees signed their full names, says that since January, staffers have been operating under leaders — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting FEMA administrator David Richardson and former leader Cameron Hamilton — who lack the legal qualifications and authority to manage FEMA's operations.

This has eroded and hindered the agency's ability to effectively manage emergencies and other operations, including national security work, the letter says.

After Hurricane Katrina became one of the worst disasters in the nation's history, in part because of failures of local, state and federal governments, Congress passed the Post- Katrina Emergency Reform Act to give FEMA more power and responsibility. That hurricane made landfall in Louisiana in August 2005, leading to at least 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in damage. The resulting legislation let FEMA better prepare communities for and help them recover from disasters.

But the letter warns that the Trump administration is sending the agency and country back to a pre-Katrina era by not having a Senate-confirmed and qualified emergency manger at the helm; by slashing mitigation, disaster recovery, training and community programs; and by thwarting officials' ability to make decisions because of a restrictive new expense policy.

The letter demands that federal lawmakers defend FEMA from DHS interference, protect the agency's employees from "politically motivated firings," conduct more oversight and ultimately take FEMA out of DHS and establish it as an independent Cabinet-level agency in the executive branch.

"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, adding that they are sounding the alarm "so that we can continue to lawfully uphold our individual oaths of office and serve our country as our mission dictates."

During Katrina, the DHS secretary "had difficulty coordinating the disparate activities of Federal departments" 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," a federal review found.

Some of the same issues played out during the deadly Texas floods in July because Noem's budget restrictions kept teams from moving quickly. In their letter, the employees said that disaster "proved the inefficiencies, ineffectiveness, and dangers of the processes and decisions put forth by the current administration."

As of Sunday evening, 36 employees had signed their full name and about 150 others had signed anonymously.

In a statement, DHS said it is "committed to ensuring FEMA delivers" for Americans.

"The Trump Administration has made accountability and reform a priority so that taxpayer dollars actually reach the people and communities they are meant to help," acting press secretary Daniel Llargues said in a statement.

The statement referred to actions the agency had already undertaken during Noem's tenure, including awarding more than $6 billion in individual assistance for disaster recovery and more than $17 billion in public assistance.

The show of resistance from FEMA employees is the latest example of federal employees speaking out against the Trump administration's actions and policies, in many cases putting their jobs and safety at risk. It began in June when National Institutes of Health employees issued a letter modeled after Director Jay Bhattacharya's dissent against the government's COVID-19 policies in 2020. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Science Foundation followed suit.

Nearly 140 EPA employees were put on leave after their letter of dissent last month.

There are a number of other agencies coalescing and mapping out similar declarations to push back against the dismantling of their institutions, said Jeremy Berg, a board member for Stand up for Science, which has been helping advise federal workers on the declarations.

Berg served as director of the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences from 2003 to 2011.

"Some people are risking everything but can't live with themselves if they don't do it and are ready to struggle on unemployment if they get fired," Berg said. "It's a real profile in courage to watch."

FEMA has faced drastic institutional changes in recent months, from the loss of a third of its workforce to programs that help communities prepare for disasters and rebuild after they've been hit.

Over the past six months, the administration has cut funding or frozen major programs that FEMA employees said save lives and can reduce future devastation from climate change. Trump officials have also not given out hazard mitigation grants, which fund resilience projects, since February despite many states having applied for them after floods and winter storms. Administration officials have also scaled back or scrapped several programs related to climate and science, arguing they are cutting costs and preventing fraud.
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"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.