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WASHINGTON – Nearly 30 staff members from the US agency responding to natural disasters warned Congress in a letter that the inexperienced experience of top Trump administration appointees could lead to catastrophes at the level of Hurricane Katrina.
The letter, signed by 35 appointed employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said current leaders of the agency, including representatives of Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem and David Richardson, are not qualified to manage natural disasters and are eroding their ability to respond to hurricanes and other emergencies.
NOEM requirements review all contracts and subsidize contracts worth over $100,000.
Congress calls for FEMA to be an independent cabinet-level agency to free it from interference from the DHS and protect FEMA employees from “politically motivated firing” to prevent “not just another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but also the effective dissolution of FEMA itself.”
DHS and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Noem and Richardson’s criticism. The Trump administration has said FEMA is ready to respond to the hurricane this year.
The letter of protest was sent days before Katrina’s 20th anniversary, causing catastrophic floods in New Orleans and catastrophic destruction along the Gulf coast in August 2005, killing more than 1,800 people.
It also released two months into the US hurricane season, leaving individual states far more burdens to deal with natural disasters when President Donald Trump said he wanted to significantly reduce the size and mission of FEMA.
Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in US history. This is part of a breakdown of leadership and response at the city, state and federal levels. Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act in 2006, giving FEMA more responsibility and introducing safeguards that mitigate other failed responses.
The letter warns that the Trump administration is revoking these reforms, sending FEMA back to pre-Katrina levels by cutting funds, reducing disaster recovery and training programs, and hindering its ability to act quickly for strict new surveillance policies.
The letter urges Republican-controlled Congress to protect FEMA from fundraising and staff cuts, which is guided by administrators with the qualifications and experience to manage disaster response.
The current proxy administrator, Richardson, is a former US Marine and DHS civil servant with no experience in emergency management.
Many FEMA staff were confused when Richardson said he didn’t realize that the US had a hurricane season that began in June and continued into November.
