Nearly 200 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took the extraordinary step of signing a public letter to Congress on August 25, denouncing what they described as the Trump administration’s sabotage of disaster preparedness and warning that the country could face another Hurricane Katrina-level catastrophe. More than 30 signatories publicly identified themselves, while the rest signed anonymously out of fear of retaliation.
The letter, titled the Katrina Declaration, was issued as the nation marked the 20th anniversary of the devastating 2005 hurricane that killed 1,833 people in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast. “Hurricane Katrina was not just a natural disaster, but a man-made one,” the signatories wrote. “The inexperience of senior leaders and the profound failure by the federal government to deliver timely, unified, and effective aid to those in need left survivors to fend for themselves. Two decades later, Fema is enacting processes and leadership structures that echo the conditions PKEMRA was designed to prevent.”
The declaration accused the administration of violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA), passed in 2006 to overhaul FEMA’s leadership, coordination, and capacity after its failures during Katrina. Employees charged that FEMA, under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been stripped of resources, overloaded with bureaucracy, and pressured to ignore climate science. “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 letter stated.
Among the most urgent concerns is a DHS directive requiring that all grants over $100,000 be personally approved by Secretary Kristi Noem. Employees say the rule has created massive backlogs, delaying contracts with vendors that staff FEMA helplines and slowing aid for communities hit by storms. The bottleneck left disaster survivors in states like Texas and North Carolina waiting weeks for assistance. In July, floods in Texas killed at least 135 people, including 37 schoolchildren, and experts said FEMA’s weakened capacity may have contributed to the death toll.
One signatory described the stakes in stark terms. “I knew that if I didn’t sign this letter I would feel as though I was failing in my duty to protect the public I swore an oath to serve; that I would feel complicit in the false narratives this administration has been working so hard to drive about their intentions with FEMA when I’ve seen only evidence to the contrary,” she said. “In the end, I knew that more people would die if I did not help raise the alarm. So I did. And I am. And I will continue to do so.”
The administration’s hostility toward climate science has further alarmed employees. In December 2024, FEMA released its Future Risk Index, analyzing how natural hazards would intensify with climate change and identifying which communities were most vulnerable. In February 2025, following executive orders restricting climate change research and diversity-related programs, FEMA was forced to take the index offline and remove climate-related language from its website. “The executive orders are forcing us to turn a blind eye to where the best science is,” said Katherine Landers, a geospatial risk analyst who helped develop the index. “It’s forcing us to turn our heads and completely ignore the science. It’s scary. Our hands are tied right now.”
The letter also raised concerns about FEMA’s leadership. Since January 2025, the agency has been overseen by acting administrators without Senate confirmation or disaster management backgrounds. Current acting administrator David Richardson, identified by staff as unqualified, came under fire after reportedly telling employees he did not know the United States had a hurricane season. His predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, was fired after opposing Trump’s proposal to abolish FEMA entirely. “Since January 2025, Fema has been under the leadership of individuals lacking legal qualifications, Senate approval, and the demonstrated background required of a Fema administrator,” the signatories wrote.
Employees say the dysfunction has triggered a mass exodus from the agency. More than 2,000 staff—roughly one-third of the permanent workforce—have departed since Trump’s inauguration. “Without the hub, your spokes don’t fit in; your wheel can’t turn,” one mitigation specialist said, describing FEMA’s role coordinating disaster preparation and response nationwide. Others pointed to burnout and low morale as widespread, with some employees calling in sick or taking leave without pay rather than work in what they described as a toxic environment.
The Katrina Declaration’s release was met with swift retaliation. Within days, the more than 30 employees who signed their names, including Landers, were placed on administrative leave, locked out of government email accounts, and barred from entering FEMA offices. “It was very sudden,” one signatory recalled. “I was at work and we all received emails that we were placed on administrative leave. We’re in a state of purgatory. We can’t do our jobs but we’re also not free to do anything else. That’s very unusual.”
Yet employees have continued to sound the alarm. “The public is currently staring down the barrel of a gun held by the administration as it plays Russian Roulette, with natural disasters serving as the bullet,” one explained. “It may not be the next pull of the trigger—or tomorrow—but the outcome is inevitable unless meaningful, lasting change, as outlined in the Katrina Declaration, is implemented and with haste. And this isn’t just hyperbole for the sake of it; the danger posed to our collective communities, especially those on the coast, in tornado alley, or in areas prone to fire and flooding, is very real.”
Michael Coen, former FEMA chief of staff under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, praised the signatories. “I am proud of the current and former Fema employees for having the courage to speak up. Lessons were learned from Katrina and Congress took action. Those lessons and actions are being disregarded by the Trump administration.”
FEMA’s acting press secretary Daniel Llargués dismissed the letter, saying, “It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform.” He said the administration “is committed to ensuring Fema delivers for the American people” and to cutting “red tape, inefficiency and outdated processes.”
Despite such assurances, FEMA employees warn that the agency is hollowed out at the very moment when hurricane season, tornado outbreaks, wildfires, and floods are intensifying due to climate change. The declaration calls for FEMA to be elevated to Cabinet-level status and insulated from DHS interference. Until then, workers say, Americans remain vulnerable.
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