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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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An employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who is among those placed on leave after signing a letter of dissent has warned in an exclusive Newsweek interview that it will only further diminish the agency's capacity to respond to disasters.
Jennifer Forester, 41, a FEMA reports analyst who was placed on leave on Tuesday, told Newsweek that "because FEMA is already a fairly lean agency, many of us undergo training to assist other departments, including verifying documents so that survivors can receive benefits, or taking phone calls from survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.
"Every worker pulled from the field right now out of already-understaffed places like Texas is an incalculable loss to response."
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Forester, who said she has worked for FEMA for a year and a half, was among 191 current and former FEMA employees that signed a letter to the FEMA Review Council and Congress on Monday, called the "Katrina Declaration." The majority remained anonymous for fear of retribution, but Forester was among the 35 who publicly signed their names.
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The letter, which came days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst disasters in the nation's history, said the Trump administration's recent cuts have diminished the agency's capacity to respond to disasters.
They said they hope the warnings would "come in time to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people such an event would represent."
More than 30 employees were informed on Tuesday that they would be placed on administrative leave indefinitely with pay, The Washington Post reported. A notice sent to the employees from FEMA's Office of the Administrator, which Newsweek reviewed, said it "is not a disciplinary action and is not intended to be punitive."
Last month, about 140 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency were placed on leave after signing a letter against the Trump administration's policies.
A FEMA spokesperson did not did confirm how many staff were placed on leave or whether it was in response to the letter.
Asked for a response to Forester's concerns, the FEMA spokesperson told Newsweek in an email: "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."
The spokesperson added: "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."
'This is wrong'
Forester, who is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said she feels "anxious" about being placed on leave though she was aware she may face consequences for publicly signing the letter. Though her name is listed first, she said she was not involved in the organizing or writing of it.
"I knew this was likely to happen, but of course I am anxious," she said. "However, I trust that I have the same First Amendment rights as any other resident of this country, and that my position as a federal employee will not be used as justification to abridge them."
Forester added that she signed her name despite the risk because FEMA's response to last month's deadly floods in Texas were hampered by a recently enacted rule that requires every purchase, contract and grant over $100,000 to be personally approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
"There are families burying loved ones who could have been saved had FEMA been permitted to perform our duties as we would have just one year ago," she said.
"This is wrong, and it is going to keep happening unless enough people say something. The only thing I have to give to right this wrong is my name. The risks are insignificant compared to the inestimable cost of inaction."
Go Deeper: Q&A with Jennifer Forester
Can you tell me about your role with FEMA? How long have you been working at the agency?
I am a reports analyst. I work with a lot of personally identifiable information from disaster victims and we take great pains to protect the data that we receive, so I am not comfortable sharing more.
I have been working for FEMA for a year and a half, and do not work on only one disaster by nature of my work. What I do helps to ensure alignment between our data and the data that our partners (the states, local governments, and organizations we provide support for) send us.
Your name is listed as the first public signatory. Did you have a role in organizing the letter?
I was concerned that would be the perception! I did not write, organize, or set up anything to do with this letter. It was just happenstance that my name was the first to appear, whether because I was the first to sign publicly or just by the way it organized.
What made you want to sign the letter publicly?
We are in the middle of a full-blown climate emergency. Extreme weather events are happening with greater frequency and severity, and the programs that help to monitor, mitigate, and provide aid in the aftermath of events are being slashed and done away with.
The results have already been catastrophic in Central Texas, where there was inadequate warning as to the viciousness of the storms that hit and then lifesaving intervention was prevented by newly-placed restrictions on FEMA grants.
There are families burying loved ones who could have been saved had FEMA been permitted to perform our duties as we would have just one year ago.
This is wrong, and it is going to keep happening unless enough people say something. The only thing I have to give to right this wrong is my name. The risks are insignificant compared to the inestimable cost of inaction.
How do you feel about being placed on leave?
I'm anxious. I knew this was likely to happen, but of course I am anxious. However, I trust that I have the same First Amendment rights as any other resident of this country, and that my position as a federal employee will not be used as justification to abridge them.
Do you believe it is retaliation for signing the letter?
The agency says it is not. I cannot, of course, speak to the inner motivations of any other person; however, you may extrapolate as you will.
What impact do you think that you and other signatories being placed on leave could have on disaster response?
It is important to understand that we often do not perform only the role we have been assigned. Because FEMA is already a fairly lean agency, many of us undergo training to assist other departments, including verifying documents so that survivors can receive benefits, or taking phone calls from survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.
Every worker pulled from the field right now out of already-understaffed places like Texas is an incalculable loss to response, but even the workers who are not in the field play important roles both inside and outside their purview.
It is hurricane season, and any number of workers removed from the possibility of helping in whatever way they can is going to make it much harder to hear the voices and meet the needs of the real victims in this situation: those impacted by disasters.
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