The complaints directed at FEMA leadership keep coming weeks after Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina and the 2024 presidential election flipped U.S. leadership.
Savage Operations founder Adam Smith, whose group assisted hurricane relief, claimed FEMA led with a culture of "fear" under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris amid the reported skipping of homes with Donald Trump campaign signs.
"And one of the interesting thing was, is it was stated that, Hey, we can't have our fingerprints on this, which I think leads back to the actual question, which is, What sort of culture and what sort of fear is there in place at some of the lower levels of FEMA personnel where they're afraid they're going to lose their job if they don't speak up against actions that are blatantly not aligned with what the organization is supposed to be doing?" Smith said in a TV interview, as reported my Mediaite.
"To say that I was surprised would be a lie — I don't necessarily want to demean or demonize every FEMA employee or worker that’s out there; I think there are a lot of them that have a good heart that want to help people," he said.
"The question that it leads me to is to ask the question of what sort of culture has been established in order for, you know, FEMA personnel on the ground or leadership, for that matter, to provide this sort of instruction to FEMA personnel that want to provide help."
Even local FEMA workers had the mission of helping all people at heart, he added.
"I had an interaction with local FEMA officials as well, and they wanted to help people, help people," he concluded.