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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has moved to address staffing issues that triggered concern and uncertainty among and about its workforce, including reinstating employees put on leave for publicly opposing agency policies, and extending contracts for some workers whose terms were set to expire soon.<\/p>\n
The changes come as FEMA prepares for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup, both beginning in June.<\/p>\n
Fourteen FEMA employees who signed a public letter of dissent last August sounding alarms about the agency’s capacity to respond to disasters were told by email Wednesday that an investigation into the matter was closed and they were to return to work Thursday after being on paid administrative leave for eight months, according to two FEMA staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty vindicated, and like we did the right thing,\u201d said Abby McIlraith, a FEMA emergency management specialist who was among the suspended workers. Their reinstatement was first reported by NBC News.<\/p>\n
FEMA leadership also told some employees this week that it will be extending certain term-limited employees\u2019 contracts, according to documents seen by The Associated Press, in the midst of extended uncertainty over the future of those positions and a related lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n The actions are the latest indications that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is moving away from his predecessor Kristi Noem’s harsher approach toward FEMA, before she was fired as DHS leader.<\/p>\n Soon after assuming the post, Mullin reversed Noem\u2019s policy that her office approve any DHS expenditure over $100,000<\/a> and has released more than $1 billion in backlogged FEMA grants and reimbursements to states, tribes and territories since being sworn in last month.<\/p>\n A FEMA spokesperson told The Associated Press that while it does not comment on specific personnel actions, the agency is taking \u201ctargeted steps to stabilize our workforce and strengthen readiness.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cUnder new leadership, FEMA is addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The reinstated employees were among over 190 current and former FEMA employees who signed the letter, known as the \u201cKatrina Declaration,\u201d but were the only active employees who included their names. <\/p>\n The statement called out multiple policy decisions by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration that the signatories said risked a catastrophe like the one seen after Hurricane Katrina<\/a>. It specifically named the $100,000 approval policy, along with DHS’ decision to reassign some FEMA employees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>, the administration’s failure to appoint a qualified FEMA administrator as stipulated by law, and cuts to grants, training and the FEMA workforce.<\/p>\n The letter also called for FEMA to be taken out from under DHS and restored to a Cabinet-level agency.<\/p>\n One day after its Aug. 25 release, the 14 staffers were put on indefinite paid administrative leave<\/a>. They were reinstated in early December only to again be placed on leave after one day. A DHS spokesperson at the time blamed \u201cbureaucrats acting outside of their authority\u201d for the reinstatement. <\/p>\n McIlraith, 24, said that experience left her feeling slightly tentative that their reinstatement would be permanent this time. Nonetheless, she was back at work at a FEMA office in Maryland Thursday, waiting to regain access to her work devices. She called her time away \u201ca waste of taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n The expected contract extensions also announced this week will apply to some of FEMA’s 10,000 term-limited disaster workers who make up roughly half the agency’s staff.<\/p>\n Cadre of On-Call Response\/Recovery Employees, or CORE, work on two- to four-year assignments, though they traditionally have been routinely renewed, a system that allows the agency to build up and taper down its capacity as needed. <\/p>\n FEMA abruptly stopped renewing some of those CORE employees\u2019 contracts at the start of 2026 as they expired, and extended others only 90 days at a time. An email to some staff this week said COREs with contracts ending between January and May who were previously extended for 90 days \u201cmay be reappointed for up to one year,\u201d along with those whose contracts end after May.<\/p>\n The email also said that \u201celigible\u201d FEMA reservists will be renewed for two years. The 7,000 reservists in the agency’s surge workforce have contracts expiring May 2.<\/p>\n \u201cOur readiness directly impacts our ability to help Americans in need,\u201d the email said, \u201cand every employee plays a critical role in meeting these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n While FEMA has not confirmed whether it will bring back CORE workers who were already dismissed, a FEMA employee who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity told The Associated Press they knew of at least one CORE who has been called back.<\/p>\n An ongoing lawsuit is challenging the dismissals of hundreds of CORE staff between then and late January, when FEMA paused the nonrenewals<\/a>. <\/p>\n McIlraith said her apprehensions over FEMA\u2019s future persist as the agency continues operating without a permanent administrator and recovers from the record-long DHS shutdown that ended Thursday. <\/p>\n Trump on Thursday signed a bill<\/a> that funds all aspects of DHS besides immigration enforcement. The bill will replenish FEMA\u2019s dwindling disaster fund with over $26 billion.<\/p>\n The president has repeatedly criticized FEMA and even threatened to abolish it completely. Next week, the Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council will present its highly anticipated and months-overdue recommendation report<\/a>. It is expected to propose sweeping changes to the agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n