The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has placed more than 20 of its employees on administrative leave after they signed an open letter warning that the Trump administration’s policies were undermining nearly two decades of post-Hurricane Katrina progress.
The letter, released Monday, August 25, 2025, and referred to as the “Katrina Declaration,” carried the signatures of 191 current and former FEMA personnel. Of that number, 35 openly disclosed their identities, while the others chose anonymity due to concerns about possible retaliation.
According to copies of internal communications reviewed by CBS News, some FEMA staffers who revealed their names received emails on Tuesday evening notifying them that they were being placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately, and continuing until further notice.” The notices emphasized that the action was not punitive, stating: “While on administrative leave, you will be in a non-duty status while continuing to receive pay and benefits.”
Employees were instructed to avoid FEMA facilities, refrain from accessing the agency’s systems, and suspend all official duties, except for responding to inquiries from the Department of Homeland Security. They were also required to remain available during regular business hours.
In response to the suspensions, FEMA issued a sharp statement dismissing the signatories as “the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency” and asserting that they had “forgotten that their duty is to the American people not entrenched bureaucracy.” The agency added: “Our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems. Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, FEMA will return to its mission of assisting Americans at their most vulnerable.”
The Washington Post first reported on the suspensions.
The open letter came as the nation marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. The disaster spurred sweeping reforms in America’s emergency management system, reforms the letter’s authors argue are now at risk of being reversed.
The declaration criticized President Trump for appointing individuals it described as unqualified to lead FEMA, cutting staff levels, and eliminating grants designed to help states strengthen infrastructure against future disasters. It warned that these changes could “prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people such an event would represent.”
Earlier this year, President Trump openly suggested either “getting rid of FEMA” altogether or restructuring it by shifting responsibilities to state governments. Since then, the agency has reportedly lost about one-third of its workforce through a mix of terminations and resignations.
Defending the administration’s record, FEMA’s acting press secretary, Daniel Llargues, rejected the criticisms in the letter. He argued that the agency had been weighed down for years by inefficiency, saying: “The Trump Administration has made accountability and reform a priority so that taxpayer dollars actually reach the people and communities they are meant to help. It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform. Change is always hard. It is especially for those invested in the status quo. But our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems.”
