Washington – At least 21 employees of the Federal Emergency Emergency Management Agency have been put on administrative license after they signed an open letter criticizing the preparation and disaster response capacities of the Trump administration, the founder of the organization behind the letter confirmed to NBC News.
Colette Delawalla, who is also the executive director of the group, defends himself by science, said on Wednesday that two of the employees who were placed on a license worked in Kerr County, Texas, on the continuous response to the devastating floods in July when they knew they were licensed.
The letter, which began by emphasizing FEMA review after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was signed by almost 200 employees of the agency, of which three dozen of their names. He said that the “current trajectory of the agency” under President Donald Trump “reflects a clear exit” of the intention of the review after Katrina, adding that they intended “the alarm” sound to their superiors in the agency, the congress and the public.
The current and previous chief of the agency lacked “legal qualifications, the approval of the Senate and the demonstrated history required of a FEMA administrator,” said the letter. The decisions of the leaders and the secretary of the homeland Kristi Noem have made “erode the capacity of FEM and our state, local, tribal and territorial partners (SLTT), hinder the rapid execution of our mission and discard experienced personnel whose knowledge and institutional relationships are vital to guarantee effective emergency management,” he said.
The authors said that Noem’s requirement that the agency of the agency of his office of more than $ 100,000 would have slowed the response times, which contributed to the delays in the tasks during the mortal floods in Kerville. They also expressed outrage due to cuts to risk reduction efforts, what they said was the interference with preparation programs aimed at helping state and local partners, the censorship of climate science and the significant decrease in the FEMA workforce.
The Washington Post reported for the first time that the employees involved in the letter had been placed licensed.
He reached to comment on the letter, a FEMA spokesman said that “it was not surprising” that “the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency now oppose the reform.”
“The change is always difficult. It is especially for those invested in the status quo, who have forgotten that their duty is for the American people who are not entrenched bureaucracy,” said the spokesman. “Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, Fema will return to his mission of helping Americans in their most vulnerable form.”
Delwalla said that the decision to put employees with a license “underlines the many problems that these public servants described in their statement and courage to defend Americans in need.”
“Once again, we are watching the federal government against our officials to go to light, which is illegal and a deep betrayal of the most dedicated among us,” Delwalla added. “DHS said these employees simply have” fear of change “, which is an insult to anyone who works in FEMA, the agency directly answered to the circumstances that intensify and change rapidly.
In addition to aiming FEMA with severe cuts, the Trump administration has sent mixed messages about whether the agency should continue. The president said in June that he wanted the federal agency to be reduced after the hurricane season ends. Only a few weeks later, in June, Noem said in “Meet The Press” of NBC News that Trump did not want the agency to be eliminated but to review.
