Staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been warned they’ll face termination if they don’t tattle on who signed an open letter criticizing Kristi Noem and Donald Trump’s disaster response plans.
FEMA employees are reportedly being grilled by goons for Homeland Security Secretary Noem—dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her love of cosplay-style photo ops.
The staffers are being pressured in the interviews to give up the names of the staffers behind the letter that warned the Trump administration’s rollback of emergency response systems introduced after Hurricane Katrina could have disastrous and deadly consequences.
The “FEMA Katrina Declaration,” released in August, warned that the agency will be unable to properly respond to future natural disasters because of drastic cuts overseen by the Trump administration and an unnecessary layer of red tape imposed by Noem, which requires her personal sign-off on any contract or grant over $100,000.
Of the 192 current and former FEMA employees who signed the damning open letter, 154 chose to remain anonymous. A division within FEMA that investigates employee misconduct is now interviewing staff members and pressuring them to reveal who signed or distributed the letter under threat of dismissal if they refuse to comply, sources told Bloomberg.
Several people who signed the letter were placed on administrative leave from FEMA the following day. It remains unclear how many were placed on “non-duty status” or whether those suspended were among the employees who signed their names publicly.
Those facing interviews were also sent a letter, seen by Bloomberg, warning that any information they provide “will not be used in criminal proceedings except to prosecute you for knowingly making false statements.”
Colette Delawalla, founder of the nonprofit Stand Up for Science, which helped publish the damning letter, said FEMA workers are also being denied the right to bring legal counsel or union representatives to their interviews.
“They are not really given an option not to comply,” Delawalla told the outlet. “They don’t have guidance while they’re in there.”
The open letter, which was also sent to Congress, warned that FEMA would be unable to respond adequately to another national catastrophe like 2005’s devastating Hurricane Katrina—which the George W. Bush administration was widely condemned for mishandling—because of the Trump administration’s “dismantling cuts and devastating attacks” on FEMA’s programs and mission.
In 2006, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA), which added safeguards to prevent another botched response to a natural disaster.
The letter cited a new rule imposed by Noem requiring her to review all DHS contracts and grants over $100,000 as a key concern.
That added layer of bureaucracy was blamed for delaying the approval of vital federal aid for flood-ravaged parts of Texas in July—which left around 135 people dead—for three days.
“The agency’s current trajectory reflects a clear departure from the intent of PKEMRA,” the letter reads. “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 Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
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