Trump administration suspends FEMA employees who warned about disaster response

FEMA has suspended at least 30 employees after they warned that spending limits, staffing cuts, and gaps in leadership hurt the agency’s ability to respond to disasters. The employees received emails notifying them that they’d been put on administrative leave on Tuesday night, according to The New York Times, which reviewed copies of the email.

With the deadly July 4th flooding in Kerrville, Texas, “FEMA’s mission to provide critical support was obstructed by leadership who not only question the agency’s existence but place uninformed cost-cutting above serving the American people and the communities our oath compels us to serve,” the letter says.

FEMA did not answer questions from The Verge about how many employees were suspended nor the reasons for their suspension. “It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform,” FEMA acting press Secretary, Daniel Llargues, said in an email to The Verge.

This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has cracked down on federal employees who’ve voiced concerns about their agency’s ability to meet its mission. The Environmental Protection Agency placed 144 workers on administrative leave after they penned a letter to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin saying, “EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety.”

Update, Aug. 28th: This post has been updated with a response from FEMA.