Overview

• More than 20 FEMA employees who publicly signed the Katrina Declaration received emails Tuesday night placing them on paid administrative leave effective immediately.
• Notices said the move was non-disciplinary and put staff in a non‑duty, paid status, barred access to facilities and systems, and required they remain available during business hours.
• The letter, published by Stand Up for Science and signed by roughly 191 current and former workers with about three dozen using their names, cited workforce reductions, curtailed programs, leadership qualifications, climate science censorship, and new $100,000 spending approvals.
• FEMA defended the changes as reform and accountability, calling the signatories entrenched bureaucrats and saying the agency will focus on survivors under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
• Advocates called the suspensions unlawful retaliation and urged Congress to make FEMA an independent Cabinet-level agency and protect employees from politically motivated firings, noting some affected staff had worked on the Texas flood response.