The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suspended roughly 30 employees who publicly signed an open letter warning that the Trump administration’s budget cuts and leadership changes have left the disaster-response agency ill-prepared for a major storm. Internal notices reviewed by multiple media outlets placed the workers on paid administrative leave “effective immediately,” instructing them not to perform official duties while retaining salary and benefits. The move came a day after more than 180 current and former FEMA staff released the so-called “Katrina Declaration” to Congress and the agency’s review council. The signatories—35 of whom attached their names—said post-Katrina safeguards were being dismantled, citing reductions in mitigation grants, transfers of personnel to immigration enforcement and the absence of a Senate-confirmed administrator. They warned that the agency’s current trajectory could result in a catastrophe on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, which struck 20 years ago this week. The nonprofit Stand Up for Science, which published the declaration, said the suspensions target employees who attached their names to the letter. FEMA defended the action, calling the whistle-blowers part of an entrenched bureaucracy resistant to reform, while reiterating the administration’s push to streamline disaster funding. FEMA has already lost about one-third of its workforce—roughly 2,000 employees—through firings, buyouts or early retirements this year, and the Trump administration plans to cut about $1 billion in grant funding. Lawmakers from both parties are now seeking clarification on how the leave orders will affect the agency’s readiness as peak hurricane season begins.