FEMA employees placed on leave after criticizing the Trump administration in open letter

WASHINGTON — At least 21 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees have been put on administrative leave after they signed an open letter criticizing the Trump administration's disaster preparedness and response capabilities, the founder of the organization behind the letter confirmed to NBC News.

Colette Delawalla, who is also the executive director of the group, Stand Up for Science, said Wednesday that two of the employees who were placed on leave were working in Kerr County, Texas, on the ongoing response to the devastating floods in July when they learned they were placed on leave.

The letter, which began by emphasizing the overhaul of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was signed by nearly 200 of the agency's employees, about three dozen of whom used their names. It said the agency's "current trajectory" under President Donald Trump "reflects a clear departure" from the intent of the post-Katrina overhaul, adding they meant to "sound the alarm" to their superiors at the agency, Congress and the public.

The agency's current and former head lacked "legal qualifications, Senate approval, and the demonstrated background required of a FEMA Administrator," the letter said. The decisions those leaders and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem have made "erode the capacity of FEMA and our State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) partners, hinder the swift execution of our mission, and dismiss experienced staff whose institutional knowledge and relationships are vital to ensure effective emergency management," it said.

The authors said Noem's requirement that her office review agency expenditures of more than $100,000 had slowed response times, which contributed to delays in assignments during the deadly flooding in Kerrville. They also expressed outrage over cuts to risk reduction efforts, what they said was interference with preparedness programs aimed at helping state and local partners, the censorship of climate science and the significant decline in FEMA's workforce.

The Washington Post first reported that employees involved in the letter had been placed on leave.

Reached for comment on the letter, a FEMA spokesperson said it was “not surprising” that “the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform.”

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“Change is always hard. It is especially for those invested in the status quo, who have forgotten that their duty is to the American people not entrenched bureaucracy,” the spokesperson said. “Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, FEMA will return to its mission of assisting Americans at their most vulnerable.”

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Delwalla said that the decision to put employees on leave "underscores the many issues these public servants described in their declaration and their bravery in standing up for Americans in need."

"Once again, we are seeing the federal government retaliate against our civil servants for whistleblowing — which is both illegal and a deep betrayal of the most dedicated among us," Delwalla added. "DHS said that these employees are simply 'afraid of change' which is an insult to anyone working at FEMA, the agency directly responsive to rapidly intensifying and changing circumstances. Stand Up for Science is proud to have hosted their Katrina Declaration and we stand by the FEMA 36.”

In addition to targeting FEMA with severe cuts, the Trump administration has sent mixed messages about whether the agency should continue to exist. The president said in June that he wanted the federal agency to wind down after the hurricane season ends. Just a few weeks later, in June, Noem said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that Trump didn't want the agency to be eliminated but to undergo an overhaul.