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The name of the document, called the “Katrina Declaration,” was designed to send a message. Around the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, several dozen current and former Federal Emergency Management Agency employees warned Congress and the public that the Trump administration’s plans for FEMA run the risk of creating another Katrina-level disaster in the coming months and years.
Some of the 191 signatories chose to remain anonymous, fearing retaliation from an administration that’s earned a reputation for political vengeance. But many of the signatories attached their names to their concerns, knowing that it might lead to reprisals.
They didn’t have to wait too long to find out. The New York Times reported:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday suspended around 30 employees after those workers wrote to Congress warning that the Trump administration had gutted the nation’s ability to handle hurricanes, floods and other extreme weather disasters. ... Those who used their names received emails on Tuesday night saying they had been placed on paid administrative leave ‘effective immediately, and continuing until further notice,’ according to copies of the emails reviewed by The New York Times.
I don’t imagine many were surprised by the developments, but the fact remains that these officials should be rewarded not punished.
“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,” their joint statement had said.
They added that the point of their warnings was to ring the alarm “in time to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people such an event would represent.”
The signatories, in other words, didn’t raise concerns because they wanted to undermine FEMA and interfere with vital public services; they raised concerns for the opposite reason.
For all intents and purposes, these FEMA employees effectively played the role of whistleblowers: They identified problems within a federal agency. They brought these problems to the attention of policymakers. And they urged those in positions of authority to make things better in order to better protect Americans.
For their trouble, they were suspended for having done the right thing, as Trump appointees at the agency derided them in the press as “bureaucrats” who are “objecting to reform.”
As the United States reaches the halfway point of this year’s hurricane season, it’s increasingly difficult to be optimistic about FEMA’s future.