Overview

• DHS said the dismissed employees accessed pornographic material during work hours, including content described as racially charged and in one case involving bestiality.
• The workers were based at FEMA’s Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Bluemont, Virginia, a facility with access to sensitive continuity-of-government and disaster-response systems.
• Investigators cited two documented cases: a July incident involving sexually explicit chatbot entries and an August case in which a contractor accessed Reddit 578 times in 30 days and engaged with explicit content.
• DHS reported that about 47% of FEMA staff regularly use social-media platforms during work, which officials flagged as a distraction and a potential security risk.
• Last week DHS removed roughly two dozen FEMA IT employees for security failures, including the lack of multi-factor authentication, and a GAO report found about 2,500 staff left the agency between January and June.