<\/p>\n
Current and former staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) expressed outraged over reports that the agency has drafted plans to eliminate thousands of staff in 2026 \u2013 part of a broader restructuring effort being overseen by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump administration<\/a> seems determined to continue weakening the agency\u2019s efforts to help people before, during and after disasters,\u201d Jeremy Edwards, former spokesperson for Fema and the White House under Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n Fema has already seen a mass exodus of staff since Trump re-entered the White House in January. Further cuts would be \u201can affront to not only the law, but also to common sense when we are in a situation where states and local communities have been vocal about the fact they do not have the ability or the capacity to replicate what Fema does for them\u201d, one longtime Fema official, who requested anonymity, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n The response came after dozens of senior agency employees on 23 December reportedly received notice about the launch of a workforce planning exercise, asking them to identify which Fema positions are critically necessary for the agency\u2019s operations and which could be slashed. It also included a spreadsheet outlining a goal to cut Fema staff by more than 50% by the next fiscal year\u2019s start in October, though it reportedly no said decisions about workforce reductions have not been finalized.<\/p>\n Reached for comment, a Fema spokesperson said the agency \u201chas not issued and is not implementing a percentage-based workforce reduction.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no directive to reduce the agency\u2019s workforce by 50 percent, and no such target has been approved by DHS or the White House. The materials referenced from the leaked documentation stem from a routine, pre-decisional workforce planning exercise,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cAn accompanying spreadsheet was an internal working tool used to collect planning inputs. Any numerical assumptions reflected in that draft were not approved, were not adopted, and do not represent FEMA policy or leadership direction.\u201d<\/p>\n But the 50% target echoes recommendations from the the task force which Donald Trump set up last year to help overhaul the agency. A draft of that group\u2019s final report, which was leaked to CNN last month also called for cutting the agency\u2019s workforce in half and shifting many full-time staff out of Washington, DC, to nationwide regional offices.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitical leadership at Fema can pretend that this is just a training exercise, but anyone with eyes knows that Kristi Noem<\/a> has been hellbent on such workforce reductions and they have already successfully fired or laid off literally thousands of full time staff,\u201d said Edwards, the former spokesperson for Fema.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like an oddly specific exercise to do if it\u2019s not something you are actively preparing for.\u201d<\/p>\n Edwards said he participated in training exercises while at Fema, \u201cbut never something like this\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are usually situation-based and related to specific emergency events, in my experience,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s very strange to just randomly say: \u2018What if we cut the staff by 50%?\u2019 It\u2019s less strange when you remember that this type of staff reduction is something this administration has had its eye on.\u201d<\/p>\n