The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to rehire more than 100 disaster-response employees who had been fired months ago in time for hurricane season, according to FEMA officials.
The agency is planning to bring back most of the staffers from the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE), FEMA’s largest workforce, who were suddenly terminated this past winter as part of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s plans to cut the agency by 50 percent. These employees are among the first on the ground after a disaster and often stick around for years to help communities recover. They work under two- to four-year contracts that are usually renewed, barring any performance issues, because disaster recovery efforts can span years, if not decades.
“As we approach the 2026 hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup, FEMA is taking targeted steps to stabilize our workforce and strengthen readiness. Under new leadership, FEMA is addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters,” said Victoria Barton, FEMA’s associate administrator of the Office of External Affairs. “Despite the ongoing lapse in DHS appropriations, FEMA remains committed to operational readiness for all major challenges in 2026.”
In an email obtained by The Post, FEMA officials said they wanted to “promote transparency” and update employees on steps the agency was taking to ensure “it was suited to meet mission requirements.” This included beefing up the workforce that has significantly dwindled the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The CORE firings took place over the holidays, with some employees finding out they no longer had a job on Christmas and New Year’s. The group of responders was terminated despite supervisors submitting justifications explaining why their roles were critical to ongoing disaster work.
The Post previously reported on documents that outlined Noem’s plans for drastic reductions.
At the time, Cameron Hamilton, who led FEMA as acting administrator in the early months of Trump’s second term, said that losing a large number of disaster-specific workers over a short period “would mean greater delays in processing and survivors not being dealt with as quickly as they had been before.”
Trump is expected to nominate Hamilton to again lead the agency as its administrator. Hamilton has been seen at headquarters several times and has been working with DHS officials, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation who, like everyone interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The rehiring of these employees is the latest example of how Secretary Markwayne Mullin is differentiating himself from his predecessor. Mullin also rescinded most of Noem’s controversial review processes, such as the need to submit memos for any expense over $100,000.
The January CORE firings sparked outrage across the agency, and triggered a lawsuit alleging that Noem had been involved in making the decision to not renew CORE contracts, which would violate the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act provisions that prevents DHS from making sweeping changes to FEMA.
Attorneys for a coalition of civil servant and government unions have been deposing officials over the CORE firings, including Karen Evans, FEMA’s acting top official. Noem is also set to be deposed.
A current FEMA official said the agency has been contacting some of the people who had been fired, asking if they would return to their old roles. Other employees across the agency expressed elation at the move, saying it signifies a welcome change in direction.
The agency has also been bringing back employees who have been on administrative leave, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation.
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