Overview
- A DHS Privacy Office report says FEMA field staff from 2021 to 2024 noted political expression in agency systems and in some instances used those observations to bypass or delay home visits, raising potential Privacy Act violations.
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem endorsed the findings, referred the matter to the Justice Department for review, and halted the door-to-door survey practice cited in the report.
- CNN reporting says investigators identified roughly 100 field notes out of tens of thousands of cases that mentioned campaign signs or political beliefs, with no documentation that assistance was denied because of those notations.
- Sources cited by CNN say many flagged entries documented gun signage for canvasser safety rather than political screening of survivors.
- A FEMA supervisor who told teams in October 2024 to avoid homes advertising Trump was fired, and investigators concluded her directive was not agency policy, while several current and former FEMA officials now accuse DHS leadership of advancing a political narrative unsupported by the evidence.