Current and former staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) have welcomed the firing of homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of making the US more dangerous through micromanagement and cuts to the agency. Noem was dismissed on Thursday, becoming the first cabinet-level official to be fired during Donald Trump's second presidential term.
Since her confirmation in January, Noem faced criticism for degrading Fema, the nation's primary disaster management and recovery agency, and repeatedly expressing support for its elimination. She argued the overhaul was necessary to reduce bloat and inefficiency. However, former Fema chief of staff Michael Coen said: 'Kristi Noem failed as a leader of DHS. Her micromanagement of Fema eroded Fema’s capability and withheld critical funding from states and communities across the country.'
One longtime Fema official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: 'Am I relieved she is gone? Yes. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Fema who isn’t on that spectrum from relieved to celebratory.' The official described Noem as 'such a singularly destructive force' and warned that the effects of her tenure would be felt for years.
Criticism centred on Noem's insistence on personally approving all agency spending over $100,000, which reportedly delayed disaster response during deadly floods in Texas. A second anonymous Fema manager said: 'All staff watched in horror while urban search and rescue resources were delayed and call center contracts lapsed, knowing these decisions affect whether people can reach help in a timely fashion and, in some cases, whether people live or die.'
Noem also sought to eliminate thousands of Fema staff and postponed billions in disaster reimbursements, with the agency's backlog reaching $17bn last month. She supported shifting disaster recovery responsibility to states. Trump, while publicly defending Noem, reassigned her to a role as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, replacing her with Senator Markwayne Mullin.
