00:00So just days before the nation marks the landfall of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast,
00:05two decades ago, more than 100 current and former FEMA employees are sending an urgent warning,
00:10saying the Trump administration is gutting the capabilities and the authority of the agency.
00:16CNN's Gabe Cohen joins us now with this story.
00:18Gabe, tell us more about what's being described as the Katrina doctrine.
00:22Yeah, so Boris, first I want to take you back 20 years,
00:24because if you remember after Katrina, Congress investigated and felt there had been this
00:28major federal failure, both local, state and federal failure, when it came to the response to Katrina.
00:35So they passed these reforms because they wanted to strengthen emergency management in this country.
00:39And so they did several things.
00:41They set higher standards for FEMA leadership.
00:43They aimed to strengthen FEMA's autonomy so that it could function on its own
00:47and function capably when it mattered most.
00:50Now you talk about this letter.
00:51This is about 180 current and former FEMA workers who essentially say that this overhaul of FEMA
00:58that we have seen at the hands of the Trump administration in recent months really is reversing,
01:03is rolling back a lot of the changes and what they see as progress over the past couple decades.
01:08They point to a couple things specifically.
01:10We talk about FEMA's autonomy.
01:12Well, we know Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA,
01:16she's implemented at least one policy that essentially says any payments, any grants,
01:22contracts over $100,000, they now need her approval.
01:26We saw it hamper FEMA's response during the Texas floods.
01:30There was a lot of concern that that is violating the changes that were put in place after Katrina,
01:35that FEMA is supposed to have autonomy.
01:36And yet we're seeing the DHS secretary say, no, no, no, you go through me if you want to spend
01:42a serious amount of money even during a disaster.
01:44Then there are questions about FEMA's leadership.
01:47Acting Administrator David Richardson came in with no experience managing natural disasters
01:53appointed in May by Secretary Noem.
01:56And that, again, is what these employees are saying goes against what was put in place
02:00after Katrina to make sure it doesn't happen again.
02:02They want experienced leaders at the top, but that's not what they're seeing right now
02:06with either Richardson or the front office at FEMA, which at this point is just about all DHS officials.
02:12Well, Gabe Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting.
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