FEMA didn’t reply to WIRED’s request for remark.
“It isn’t shocking that among the identical bureaucrats who presided over many years of inefficiency at the moment are objecting to reform,” the company informed The Guardian, which reported on the retaliation in opposition to the workers who signed the letter. “Change is at all times exhausting. It’s particularly for these invested in the established order, who’ve forgotten that their responsibility is to the American folks not entrenched paperwork.”
The concentrating on of letter signers at FEMA echoes an earlier transfer on the Environmental Safety Company in July, when that company suspended about 140 staff who signed onto an identical public letter.
A FEMA worker who signed this week’s letter expressed concern to WIRED that the company could attempt to hunt down those that didn’t embrace their names on the letter—particularly given how DHS reportedly administered polygraphs in April making an attempt to determine staff who leaked to the press. “I am involved they could use comparable techniques to determine nameless signers,” they are saying. This worker spoke to WIRED on the situation of anonymity, as they weren’t approved to talk to the press.
On Tuesday morning, a day after the workers’ letter was printed, former FEMA performing administrator Cameron Hamilton, who was fired from his place a day after testifying in protection of the company to Congress in Could, posted a criticism publicly on LinkedIn.
“Stating that @fema is working extra effectively, and chopping purple tape is both: uninformed about managing disasters; misled by public officers; or mendacity to the American the general public [sic] to prop up speaking factors,” he wrote. “President Trump and the American folks deserve higher than this…FEMA is saving cash which is nice because of the astronomical U.S. Debt from Congress. Regardless of this, FEMA workers are responding to thoroughly new types of paperwork now that’s lengthening wait occasions for declare recipients, and delaying the deployment of time delicate assets.”
“I made my submit to make clear statements made by some at DHS that I consider are mischaracterizing issues with FEMA,” Hamilton tells WIRED. “I’ve been annoyed at how FEMA has been scapegoated and firmly consider that the position of FEMA needs to be one in every of excellence, and success for the federal government.”
Each Hamilton’s submit and the open letter name out a brand new rule, instituted in June, mandating that any spending over $100,000 must be personally vetted by Noem. That cap, FEMA staff allege in Monday’s letter, “reduces FEMA’s authorities and capabilities to swiftly ship our mission.” The coverage got here below hearth in July after numerous retailers reported that it had brought about a delay within the company’s response following the flooding in Texas that killed a minimum of 135 folks. The company’s chief of city search and rescue operations resigned in late July, partially resulting from frustrations with how the DHS spending-approval course of delayed assist throughout the catastrophe, CNN reported.
Screenshots of contract knowledge seen by WIRED present that as of August 7, the company nonetheless had greater than $700 million left to allocate in non-disaster spending earlier than the tip of the fiscal yr on September 30, with greater than 1,000 open contract actions. The company appears to be feeling the strain to hurry up contract proposals. In early August, a number of FEMA workers had been requested to volunteer to work over a weekend to assist evaluate contracts to arrange them for Noem’s sign-off, in keeping with emails reviewed by WIRED. (“A lot of work over the weekend,” learn the notes from one assembly.)
“Catastrophe cash is simply sitting,” one FEMA worker tells WIRED. “Each single day candidates are asking their FEMA contact ‘the place’s my cash?’ And we’re ordered to only say nothing and redirect.”
As the workers’ open letter states, roughly a 3rd of FEMA’s full-time workers had already departed by Could, “resulting in the lack of irreplaceable institutional data and long-built relationships.” These workers departures could additional hamper efforts from the company to implement monetary effectivity measures just like the contract evaluations. A former FEMA worker tells WIRED that whereas the company started the yr with 9 legal professionals on the procurement workforce that helps evaluate monetary contracts throughout a catastrophe, virtually your complete workforce has both left or been reassigned, leaving a dearth of expertise simply as hurricane season ramps up.
“I don’t know what occurs,” the previous worker tells WIRED, when a hurricane hits “and we want a contract lawyer on shift 24/7.”
Replace: 8/29/2025, 2:30 PM EDT: This story has been up to date with remark from Cameron Hamilton.
