FEMA workers warn agency at risk of Hurricane Katrina-type failures

CNN

More than 180 current and former Federal Emergency Management Agency employees – most signing anonymously – sent a sharply worded letter to Congress on Monday, warning that the Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul is gutting the disaster relief agency’s authority and capabilities, undoing two decades of progress since the failures of Hurricane Katrina #CNN #News  # news #breaking #24x7

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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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