Federal legislation enacted following Hurricane Katrina influences the content of a public missive penned by FEMA staff members

Headline: FEMA Staff Warn of Agency's Unreadiness in Letter to Congress

More than 190 current and former FEMA staff members have signed a letter, known as the "Katrina Declaration," urging Congress to make FEMA an independent, cabinet-level agency. The letter, addressed to the FEMA Review Council, points to the administration's "ongoing failure to appoint a qualified leader" for FEMA and calls out cuts to FEMA preparedness programs as conflicting with the law's requirement to build state and local capacities through funding, training, and other support.

The bipartisan bill introduced by leaders on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in July aims to make FEMA an independent agency and implement substantial reforms to its disaster assistance processes. However, Michael Coen, former FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations, believes major reforms like making FEMA an independent agency face a difficult political path in the near term.

The letter was inspired by similar efforts at other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. Nearly three dozen of the named signatories are current FEMA employees, including Annie Ginzkey, a former FEMA analyst, who signed out of fear that the United States will be unprepared for another Hurricane Katrina if FEMA continues on its current path.

The second FEMA employee expressed concern that the agency cannot keep up with its steady state, and FEMA staff express concern about their ability to coordinate activities across multiple states in the event of a major hurricane or disaster. The letter warns that FEMA is enacting processes and leadership structures that echo the conditions PKEMRA (Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act) was designed to prevent.

In addition, FEMA put those current employee signatories on paid administrative leave. There are no search results addressing who signed the "Katrina declaration letter" from FEMA employees warning against changes by the Trump administration and appealing to Congress. Max Stier, President and Chief Executive of the Partnership for Public Service, argued that FEMA is "even less ready today to respond to a major catastrophe than it was after Hurricane Katrina in 2005."

Moreover, FEMA employees confirmed reports that Noem's requirement to review all DHS grants and contracts over $100,000 has led to delays in approving call center contracts that would have helped field calls from survivors of the Texas floods. The letter pushes back against the Trump administration's changes and petitions for action from Congress.

Neither Richardson nor his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, have experience specific to emergency management. The letter petitions Congress to make FEMA an independent, cabinet-level agency, a move that could potentially address the concerns raised by the FEMA staff and ensure the agency's readiness to respond to future disasters.

Federal legislation enacted following Hurricane Katrina influences the content of a public missive penned by FEMA staff members