Federal Emergency Management Agency staff have been hoping for months to hear the news that landed Thursday afternoon: President Donald Trump is removing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from her post.
Trump’s pick to replace Noem at the Department of Homeland Security, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, drew shrugs internally from staff, who were rejoicing Noem’s departure.
“Anyone is better than that dog murderer,” said one longtime FEMA employee, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
“I’m just relieved. I hope this allows us to actually function again,” another said. “Mullin is a Trumper and MAGA to the core, but I don’t see him being as awful as her.”
For months, employees across FEMA have shared the countless ways that Noem has complicated and slowed disaster-relief efforts.
Noem’s policies, like her rule that all contracts over $100,000 must have her personal sign-off, slowed disaster response, FEMA staff told NOTUS.
Employees also lamented her antagonistic attitude toward people with decades of experience, which they said led to the loss of critical talent: The head of urban search and rescue operations, the head of the disaster command unit and three chief lawyers left within six months of Noem’s arrival. Her determination to personally control FEMA reform plans led to the efforts collapsing entirely, staff said.
Those frustrations haven’t only been internal. Republican lawmakers have had to fight to unlock funds for their states and, more recently, publicly attacked Noem for her slow-walking of disaster aid.
“You failed at FEMA,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is retiring at the end of his term and has previously called on Noem to resign, said in a hearing Tuesday. “The Homeland Security Act of 2002 expressly prohibits the secretary of Homeland Security from restricting or diverting FEMA resources from the agency’s mission. Based on your disaster response, the chart that I just showed you, I have reason to believe that you’re violating the law, either knowingly or unknowingly.”
But while Republican lawmakers never went so far as to call for Noem’s ouster, inside FEMA, staff have been waiting for this day to come.
For the last several months, several employees have occasionally reached out to NOTUS reporters to inquire about whether Noem might be fired — and if so, when it might happen. False rumors of Noem’s firing circulated among staff at least two times in the last six months, each time accompanied with the same delight that staffers shared with NOTUS on Thursday after learning that her dismissal was official.
As for what’s next, staff expect considerable chaos as DHS transitions leadership. Mullin, who must be confirmed by the Senate, has no experience in emergency or disaster management and is better known as a fierce, unquestioning ally to Trump and his immigration agenda.
“Hopefully someone from Tornado Alley will be more willing to actually help survivors,” one employee said.
“I think the only thing I can say is I hope the senator comes in with a sense of accountability and mission-oriented success, rather than the self-serving enrichment position Noem viewed this as,” another employee said.
Torrence Banks, a NOTUS reporter and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow, contributed to this report.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS — a publication from the nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute — and NEWSWELL, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.
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