FEMA has welcomed back at least 15 whistleblowers who were placed on indefinite administrative leave in August after signing a public letter protesting moves by the since-ousted Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem.
The decision to allow the employees to return to work marks the latest sign of the new DHS leadership breaking from the more aggressive policies pushed by Noem, who was replaced last month by Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.
DHS confirmed the decision in an email exchange with Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., and one of the whistleblowers told NBC News he received the news Wednesday. The move comes a month before hurricane season is set to begin.
A FEMA spokesperson said Thursday the agency does not comment on specific personnel actions or cases, but acknowledged that the agency was "addressing outstanding personnel actions."
“As we approach the 2026 hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup, FEMA is taking targeted steps to stabilize our workforce and strengthen readiness," the spokesperson said. "Under new leadership, FEMA is addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters. FEMA remains committed to operational readiness for all major challenges in 2026.”
The 15 employees were among those who signed a letter in August, known as The Katrina Declaration, complaining that agency staff were being gutted. It noted that a third of full-time FEMA staff had already left the agency.
The writers of the letter also strongly disagreed with Noem’s policy requiring all expenditures over $100,000 to be approved by her. That policy has now been rescinded, the agency has said.
The whistleblowers alleged that the requirement led to tragic holdups in FEMA response, including the delay to send urban search and rescue workers to Texas in the wake of the Hill Country floods last summer. The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue cited the delays when resigning from FEMA, according to the letter.
James Stroud, a FEMA statistician whose job is to estimate how many people will be impacted by disasters, said he received an email out-of-the-blue Wednesday morning saying he could now return to work. He showed up at FEMA's headquarters at 8 a.m. Thursday morning ready to work.
In an interview, Stroud said it felt "weird" to be back.
“It seems random and it’s really not clear what sparked this,” he told NBC News. “And it’s so wild that we have been paid to do nothing for eight months. This just seems like such an obvious thing that never should have happened.”
It was not immediately clear how many others returned to work Thursday.
Members of Congress, including Sen. Kim, had protested the agency's decision to place the workers on leave for months. Kim received confirmation of the decision to reinstate the workers after emailing the agency on April 16, following the confirmation hearing for Mullin.
DHS wrote Kim: “All employees associated with this matter were placed on paid administrative leave and were offered a return to duty status effective April 30, 2026," according to the Wednesday email shared with NBC News.
Kim said in a statement Thursday that "these public servants never should have faced retaliation for raising the alarm and trying to keep Americans safe."
"I’ve called for these whistleblowers to be reinstated and applaud their bravery and dedication in the face of attacks from this administration," he added.
