FEMA says inexperience of Trump officials risks Katrina-style disaster

26/8/2025 6:17

Nearly three dozen staff at the U.S. agency that responds to natural disasters warned Congress in a letter on Monday that the inexperience of the Trump administration's top appointees could lead to a catastrophe on the level of Hurricane Katrina.



The letter, signed by 35 named employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was a rare airing of internal dissent at FEMA. It said the agency's current leaders, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA director David Richardson, lacked the qualifications to manage natural

disasters and were eroding its ability to respond to hurricanes and other emergencies.



Noem's requirement that she review all contracts and grants over $100,000 "reduces FEMA's authorities and capabilities to swiftly deliver our mission," the letter states.



It asks Congress to make FEMA an independent cabinet-level agency free from interference from DHS and to protect FEMA employees from politically motivated firings "to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself."