Trump administration launches investigation into FEMA workers who warned disaster agency was at risk
By Gabe Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration has launched an internal investigation into FEMA employees who signed a public letter to Congress warning that the administration’s overhaul of the disaster relief agency is undermining emergency response and endangering the public.
As part of the probe, the agency has ordered the employees — who were placed on leave in August — to sign non-disclosure agreements and schedule interviews with investigators, according to five sources and internal emails reviewed by CNN.
At least seven FEMA staffers received emails Tuesday from investigators at the Office of Professional Responsibility, which included the non-disclosure forms, the sources told CNN.
Of the more than 180 current and former FEMA staffers who signed the August letter, most did so anonymously. Only 36 signed publicly, though it is unclear how many were still employed at the time of its release.
FEMA has not disclosed the total number of workers the agency placed on paid leave.
The emails indicate that the inquiry is not a criminal investigation and direct the FEMA employees to contact investigators for more information. Some were ordered to submit for interviews within 24 hours, even as they requested time to consult legal counsel, multiple sources said.
The non-disclosure form reads: “As this inquiry is sensitive in nature, you are hereby instructed not to disclose information relating to this official inquiry to any other person(s), except as may be appropriate under applicable law. Failure to comply with this directive may subject you to disciplinary action under appropriate charges, such as failure to follow instructions or interfering with or impeding an official investigation.”
The non-disclosure specifies that the agreement does not supersede existing whistleblower protections. However, lawyers for the FEMA employees argue that the investigation is an intimidation tactic and likely constitutes illegal retaliation against the workers for exercising their first amendment and whistleblower rights.
CNN has reached out to FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, for comment.
In late August, FEMA placed at least a dozen employees on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, one day after they publicly signed an open letter to Congress criticizing the Trump administration’s dismantling of FEMA in recent months.
The letter, titled “Katrina Declaration,” accused Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of undermining FEMA’s authority, ignoring congressional mandates and appointing unqualified leaders. Those signing the petition called for FEMA to be protected from political interference and for its workforce to be shielded from politically motivated firings.
“It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement to CNN at the time. “Our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems. Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, FEMA will return to its mission of assisting Americans at their most vulnerable.”
Several signers have sought support from attorneys with the Government Accountability Project and Lawyers for Good Government, two whistleblower protection organizations.
“This is intimidation and patently violates the whistleblower laws,” Government Accountability Project Senior Counsel David Seide said of the investigation. “(These workers) filed a petition and were put on administrative leave immediately. That’s retaliation. Now they’re being investigated, and that’s retaliation too.”
When they were put on leave, the workers were ordered to “conduct no business, visit no FEMA/DHS facility and contact no FEMA/DHS personnel,” according to an August email to FEMA employees reviewed by CNN. They were also required to provide personal email addresses after their FEMA accounts were suspended.
Amy Powell, litigation director for Lawyers for Good Government, said the organization “is deeply concerned about reports that FEMA is gagging whistleblowers and launching retaliatory investigations.”
In a statement to CNN, Powell added, “We sincerely hope that FEMA is instead investigating the mismanagement of disaster preparedness described by the Katrina Declaration and the retaliation against whistleblowers.”
Seide said the administration’s latest tactics mirror its efforts to punish more than 100 staffers from the Environmental Protection Agency, who were placed on leave after signing a similar letter in July.
Earlier this month, Seide and other attorneys sent a letter to congress urging lawmakers to investigate the “illegal retaliation” against the FEMA workers and ensure their reinstatement, writing, “These actions blatantly violate the federal laws protecting whistleblowers.”
Last week, four Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Noem and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, expressing concern that the administration had retaliated against the workers for making protected whistleblower disclosures.
“The actions your offices took will produce a chilling effect on any civil servant who wishes to respectfully dissent or provide competing opinions to the Administration, even if backed by evidence,” the lawmakers wrote. “You must follow the law and return these employees to their regular status immediately.”
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