Above photo: Protesters rally outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images.
Employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were placed on leave on Tuesday after signing their names to a public letter criticizing the agency’s leadership, according to a group that helped facilitate the letter’s publication.
More than 180 current and former FEMA staffers signed a public letter warning that the Trump administration is weakening the disaster response agency’s capacity and preventing it from carrying out its mission.
Thirty-six staffers signed their names, the group told The Hill, while others signed anonymously.
The letter was published online by the group Stand Up for Science but was addressed to the FEMA Review Council, which the Trump administration set up to explore ways to reform the agency. It also was sent to various congressional committees.
By Wednesday morning, the group’s website was updated with a statement notifying the public of the administration’s response to the letter.
“24 hours after receiving the Katrina Declaration from the brave FEMA workers, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Chief of Staff has summarily sanctioned the public signatories with immediate suspension,” the group’s website reads.
The group issued a statement of solidarity with the “brave” FEMA staffers who signed their names to the letter.
“A brave group of FEMA employees have written a Declaration, calling out their opposition to the administration’s deeply troubling actions and inactions that threaten to lead to additional failures,” the statement reads.
“We stand in support of these courageous public servants who have courageously spoken out in defense of the integrity of FEMA and its mission to respond fearlessly to American emergencies.”
Jennifer Forester, a reports analyst at FEMA who signed onto the letter, said Wednesday she was among the staffers who was placed on leave. She said she joined the effort because she agreed with it and does not regret her decision.
“That’s why I signed it with my name on it — because I agree with what it says. I think that right now, we’re in the middle of a situation where they are gutting the organizations that help us, prevent, foresee and manage disasters,” Forester said.
“I’m not the victim of this…The victims are the disaster survivors who are going to suffer,” she said.
The Hill has reached out to FEMA for comment.
The letter on Monday pointed specifically to an administration policy requiring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to conduct a “personal review and approval of all contracts, grants and mission assignments over $100,000.”
They said this “reduces FEMA’s authorities and capabilities to swiftly deliver our mission.”
“Consequences of this manual review became tragically clear during the July 2025 floods in Kerrville, Texas, when mission assignments were delayed up to 72 hours; FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue Branch Chief resigned, citing these delays as cause,” the staffers wrote in the initial letter.
They also lamented there is no congressionally approved administrator helming the agency and said its current leader is not qualified for the position.
The letter comes as the Trump administration has floated the idea of eliminating the agency altogether, and has generally sought to diminish its role while placing more responsibility on states.
The current and former staffers said such policies are making things worse.
“Cuts to these programs prioritize the appearance of cost reduction and empowerment of SLTT partners but will result in an opposite outcome,” they wrote, using an acronym for state, local, tribal, and territorial.
In July, the Environmental Protection Agency placed staffers who signed a letter of dissent against the Trump administration’s actions and policies on leave.
Rachel Frazin contributed.
