More than 180 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency published a letter on Monday, which is a weakening reduction in the agency, which, with the processing of federal exams, is a disaster like that after the hurricane Katrina.
“Our joint commitment to our country, our notice of office and our mission to help people before, during and after disasters force us to warn the congress and the American population of the cascade effects of decisions from the current administration,” the letter said.
The statement in it is not only remarkable for their content, but also for their general existence; A violent approach to critics of the Trump government caused many in the federal government to hesitate before locking their heads with the white house.
The letter coincides with the 20th anniversary week of the hurricane Katrina when more than 1,800 people died and gave a profound failure in the reaction of the federal government to pass the law on the reform of the after-Katrina emergency management from 2006.
The letter warns that bad management and eroded capacity could make excessive progress in Fema to improve the agency through this law.
“Two decades later, Fema does processes and management structures that reflect the conditions that prevent Pkemra,” says the conditions, “it says.
It comes in the middle of uncertainty for the Fema
The letter is directed to the Fema Review Council, a 12-member group of elected civil servants, emergency managers and other leaders from Republican states that President Donald Trump commissioned to propose reforms from an agency that he has repeatedly threatened with the removal.
It comes after months of upheaval at the Fema. A third of the agency’s full -time population is left or released, including many high -ranking employees. The incumbent head of the agency, Cameron Hamilton, was released in May and replaced by another acting head, David Richardson. Neither has previous experience in emergency management.
The reaction of the Fema to the Texas floods in July, in which at least 136 people were killed, were criticized after reporting that Survivor calls were unanswered at the FEMA, and the search and rescue teams of the city, according to which the secretary of the Minister of Homeland, Kristi NoEM, must personally approved the expenditure over 100,000 US dollars were used.
The letter contains six “opposition statements” on current guidelines on the FEMA, including the expenditure guideline, which the signatories say that Fema’s ability to carry out its missions will reduce.
In addition, the DHS decision is criticized to assign some FEMA employees to an immigration and customs authority, the failure to appoint a qualified FEMA administrator as legally defined, and to cut off the legally required reduction programs, standby training and Fema staff.
In an E -Mail on Monday, Fema spokesman Daniel Llargues said that the Trump administration “made the accountability and reform a priority so that taxpayers should actually reach the people and communities to help them.”
“It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats that led inefficiency over decades now lean against the reform,” said Llargues. “Change is always difficult.”
Fema is said to be a letter as an agency at cabinet level
The letter was also sent to several congress committees and asked the legislators to establish the Fema as an independent agency at cabinet level in the executive department. The cross -party emergency management for Americans or Fema law, which was introduced in the house last month, suggests the same.
Thirty -five signatories contained their names. The anonymous signatories “decide not to identify themselves due to the culture of fear and oppression cultivated by this administration,” the letter said.
Employees of other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency, have published similar statements. About 140 EPA employees in the administrative vacation were provided for the signing of an opposition letter.
The Fema Review Council will meet for the third time this week on Thursday.
