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FEMA Employees Warn Cuts and Mismanagement Threaten a Catastrophe on Par with Hurricane Katrina

HeadlineAug 26, 2025
Image Credit: FEMA

More than 180 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees sent a letter to Congress Monday warning FEMA’s Trump-appointed, inexperienced leaders are putting the agency’s work at risk, which could result in disasters as catastrophic as Hurricane Katrina. The dissenting staffers say Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson lack the qualifications and authority to oversee FEMA’s operations. The letter came just days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. At least 36 employees have signed their full names to the letter, titled the “Katrina Declaration,” and about 150 others have signed the letter anonymously.

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