Overview

• More than 180 current and former FEMA employees sent Congress a "Katrina Declaration" warning that cuts and centralized controls are eroding the agency’s ability to respond, with most signatories remaining anonymous.
• Staffers cite a policy requiring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to approve spending over $100,000, saying it delayed mission assignments up to 72 hours during July’s deadly Texas floods and contributed to a senior Urban Search and Rescue leader’s resignation.
• The signers argue FEMA lacks qualified leadership, noting there is no Senate-confirmed administrator, Acting Director David Richardson has no emergency-management background, and he reportedly said he did not know the U.S. has a hurricane season.
• They report roughly one-third of the permanent workforce has departed, criticize cuts to mitigation and preparedness programs, and object to reassignments of FEMA personnel to other agencies such as ICE.
• The group urges Congress to establish FEMA as an independent Cabinet-level agency and protect employees from politically motivated firings, while the White House and DHS defend their reforms as reducing red tape and shifting more responsibility to states.