Aug. 27 (UPI) -- More than 20 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were suspended after signing an open letter to Congress that criticized the agency under the Trump administration.
Tuesday evening, the employees received an email telling them that they would be on paid administrative leave effective immediately, and that they were not to access FEMA facilities, communication systems or do any of their official duties. But they were also told to be available to work during business hours, CBS News, CNN, and The Washington Post reported.
The letter published Monday is now known as the "Katrina Declaration." It was signed by 191 current and former employees, though only 35 gave their names. The others stayed anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
"It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform. Change is always hard. It is especially for those invested in the status quo, who have forgotten that their duty is to the American people not entrenched bureaucracy," a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement. "Our obligation is to survivors, not to protecting broken systems. Under the leadership of Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem, FEMA will return to its mission of assisting Americans at their most vulnerable."
