politics
FEMA Reinstates 14 Employees
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reinstated 14 employees placed on leave for signing a public letter criticizing Trump administration cuts to disaster preparedness. The move comes under new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has also reversed other policies and released backlogged funds. FEMA is addressing workforce stability ahead of hurricane season and the World Cup.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reinstated 14 employees who signed a public letter addressing U.S. disaster preparedness, after they spent eight months on administrative leave. The employees returned to work this week following emails received on Wednesday, according to statements from FEMA and accounts from the employees.
The letter, titled the Katrina Declaration and released in August 2025 to mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, was signed by these 14 active FEMA staff members along with others no longer at the agency.
The reinstatements occurred under new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who was sworn in last month. According to a FEMA spokeswoman, Victoria L. " Mullin also reversed a policy that required approval from his predecessor for any DHS expenditure over $100,000, and he released more than $1 billion in backlogged FEMA grants and reimbursements to states, tribes, and territories, as detailed in agency announcements.
The Katrina Declaration outlined specific concerns, including the reassignment of FEMA employees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the failure to appoint a qualified FEMA administrator as required by law, and cuts to mitigation programs, preparedness training, and the FEMA workforce.
It recommended removing FEMA from DHS and restoring it as a cabinet-level agency. One day after the letter's release, the 14 active employees were placed on indefinite paid administrative leave. They were briefly reinstated in December 2025 before being returned to leave, which a DHS spokesperson at the time attributed to actions by bureaucrats outside their authority, according to reports in The New York Times and other outlets.
FEMA is also taking steps to address staffing, including offers to rehire some of the approximately 200 temporary disaster workers let go in January 2026 and extensions for term-limited employees known as CORE staff. An internal email cited in sources indicated that CORE employees with contracts ending between January and May 2026 may receive up to one-year extensions, while eligible reservists will get two-year renewals.
